I’ve been in marketing for 20+ years, too. My experience is that when they consistently talk ROI, it’s almost always shorthand for “please tell me how your work is going to earn back the money I spend on it because sales are weak and I hope I’m buying a miracle…”

Often, they don’t even know “what” they need and brand is a buzzword, so they think a rebrand is going to knock sales out of the park.