Is your business able to meet its Brand guidelines? – Part 1
This week we will be discussing how your business maintains its Brand Consistency. We’ll then discuss the solutions out there that will enable you to stick to your brand guidelines a lot easier. Throughout this blog we will discuss what can happen if your organization does not have brand consistency. We will also provide you some examples of this occurring in real-world environments.
Your brand is more than just products/services
One of the most important assets an organization has is its brand. Beyond the front facing design of a logo a brand represents more than just the products and services you are selling. It also represents the beliefs and expectations surrounding it, an emotional statement which consumers or business customers recognize at a psychological level. For example, think about the companies Lego, Apple, PlayStation, Netflix and Spotify . Many of these would likely stir up a sense of affection and affinity in the minds of many consumers? This is precisely why, as reported by CityWire, that these brands are in the top 25 “Consumer’s Brand Choice”.
These companies were not always revered and rated as such. It took significant brand management work over many months and years to develop these incredible brands. As such, and in order to further the work of the marketer’s efforts, brand consistency is of ever-increasing importance in any business. Ensuring your brand is sticking to the right guidelines will reflect how outside users see your business. What might these brand guidelines consist of you might ask?
Brand guidelines consist of numerous components
consists of several things such as logos, house colors, font types, image size, file type, images, and many other factors. These reflect your business’s identity. So, you can see how it is an increasingly important protection for any business. Many have fallen foul of this simple advice, brands not delivering the right message, such as Levi’s ‘hotness comes in all sizes’ campaign back in 2016.
In principle it sounded like the makings of a great campaign. It began by promoting fashion to cater for everybody shape, reminiscent of typical campaigns delivered recently by the Simple Be Women’s brand. That campaign had successfully promoted body acceptance. Sadly, for Levi’s it’s own campaign would simply not be a fanfare of praise and attention. Following the imagery that accompanied the slogan, it all went a bit Pete Tong for the brand . . .
Where brand guidelines didn’t fit for Levi’s
The campaign was brought to a halt when the accompanying images (above) of 3 women displayed similarly sized and slim models. The campaign sparked quite a flap, as reported by CBS News at the time .This in turn generated significant anger and ridicule, consumers confused by the off-point messaging. As you can see not only does your brand guidelines ensure your brand looks consistent but ensures that your message reflects what you are portraying. You don’t want to be making a mistake when promoting your organization do you?
In this digital era, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there are technologies that can help avoid these nightmares. The digital market has specialized to ensure businesses can stick to their brand guidelines. It has even affected how we as a Digital Asset Management (DAM) specialists deliver our software. Brand consistency features are now a standard feature in the system we offer to our corporate customers.
