Build brands - don’t dilute them with poor creative control

Monday, 6th January 2014

Categories: Creative

Here’s something you can do today to get a clear idea on the way you are managing the perception of your brand. Gather together everything that has your brand on it – i.e. business cards, flyers, posters, brochures, screen grabs from your websites, banners, letterheads, sales letters, financial illustrations, invoices, statements, direct mail items, etc.

Now place them on table and take look at what you see – ask yourself these 3 simple questions:

• Does each of item look like they all come from the same company?
• Does the brand look dated?
• Does everything look professional and aspirational?

If the answer is YES YES YES then well done –you obviously have a brand guidelines programme in place and more importantly the protocols to make sure the guidelines are adhered to.

If on the other hand you in all honesty have to acknowledge that all is not exactly perfect with what you see – then it’s time to make changes.

It’s all about how you mange or control the creative process that goes into everything you produce with your brand on it.

In addition another fun thing to do is to leave all the items on the table and get hold of what your competitors have. Request brochures and take screen shots of their website and social media sites etc. Then take a view on how your brand identity stands up.

Make a list of what is right with what you currently have and what needs to change and then decide on what’s really achievable given the constraints of time and available budget. What matters is being commercially realistic and recognising that investing in good design and creativity is a necessity rather than an indulgence.

Author: Gamze Bilgili