Is your business able to meet its Brand guidelines? – Part 2

This week we will be expanding on what we talked about in last week’s brand guidelines blog. Previously we discussed how your business can meet it’s brand guidelines  We did so by providing a real-world example of how a business has been affected by not ensuring it’s digital assets are compliant. We will be going into more detail in discussing reasons why ignoring brand guidelines may not only be bad for PR, but also how these deviations put the business at risk.

The basics

First things first, have you been eagerly working on a live content schedule, designing and developing deliverables ready for outbound,. However you have realized just before it goes out that it looks off-brand. Well, you aren’t alone. Unlike your designs being slightly off-tone or unformatted, there are some incredible off-brand products /campaigns in the world, as reported by Lucy Huber. Prongles and packs of Bitcoins were our personal favorites.

Perspective is a beautiful thing

It’s all about perspective, but of course, it makes it no easier. When digital assets deviate away from your Brand Guidelines, it puts to waste the time and effort that has been invested into a deliverable – 😠.  This is particularly hard to manage for any marketing professional that supports or oversees a large sales force. Worse, when added to the mix are subsidiaries or media partners/agencies which represent the brand on the business’s behalf. It is easy to find humor in the hilarious and incredible misrepresentations of the brand but they also serve as lessons.That learning has led to the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) in the States calling for brands to hire ‘Chief Media Officer’s. This in their mind would ensure transparency and media accountability in the industry, as reported by the Drum.

How does this apply in your business environments though?

So, let’s say your organization probably can’t afford a CMO and you already understand the risks of not sticking to brand guidelines. What therefore are the typical pitfalls you might face?

• Wrong House Colors
  Have you ever associated Coca Cola with blue? Colour misuse, verging on the extreme in terms of a different colour schemes being used is a common mistake. When you look at a certain colour or colour combination, as you know, you instantly know the brand before you’ve seen the name or even the logo.

• Which logo?
  If you’ve ever completed a re-branding process, you know you will double take whenever someone asks, ‘can I have the logo?’… ‘Which logo?’. During the re-branding process you’ve been through every conceivable logo, every resizing option, every color variation etc. Yet, it is amazing how many differing versions amass within organizations despite these great efforts.

• Wrong Font in Your Latest Campaign
  Not using the font you agreed on in your brand guidelines in the latest campaign is a typical mistake. For example, can you imagine Vogue replacing there glamorous Bodoni font for a comic sans type face?

Get the basics right before your brand is recognized by the masses

These are just a few examples of how some organizations/businesses may be affected by not having a well thought out brand guidelines in place 😲. However, if you can avoid these mistakes and manage your stakeholders well, there is enormous power in branding. As stated correctly by the Design Council, brands are on a constant evolution, and especially in an era of viral content possibilities, your brand could be front and centre in the minds of millions of consumers/customers.

How can you automate and police your brand guidelines?

Need some help automating and policing your brand guidelines? One such way, is using a Digital Asset Management (DAM) Solution. What is a DAM you might ask? It is a digital library from which you can manage your imagery, content and digital assets easily to fit around how your organization’s works. Part of the system will monitor and check that your most up to date brand guidelines are being adhered to as imagery/content is being downloaded for use. In so doing, you’ll save time and catch out mistakes by stakeholders through the system. Phew, that’s one less thing to worry about . . .