Brand Form
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Oil changes make all the difference in the world. It can help bring a near dead car back to life. High octane gasoline does the same. It brings new life into an already great car. Don’t believe it? Try it in your car and see the difference. After your next oil change, take the car down to Chevron and drop a few bucks or high octane gas in that tank and see what happens.
What if you start with high octane gas from the beginning?
If you start with the best, you only ever know the best. And if you switch from premium to standard, not only do you notice the difference in how your car runs, your car knows it too. If you drive a Mercedes, you not only feel it, you hear it. #pingping
Your brand deserves the best from the start.
Look at it with these two principles in mind:
- Brand Management = Alignment
- Brand Maintenance = Consistency
Brand management allows your brand to stay aligned visually and philosophically. Brand maintenance allows your brand to stay on top of its game, consistently leading with its core values and promises. Give up on oil changes, and the engine burns out. Forget about everything else, your car dies.
Brands lose value. And brands die.
But your brand can have new life. If you go back to what made you special in the first place, you will rekindle the fire that once got you out of bed early every morning. If you start with the end in mind from the very onset, then you’ve already got this covered.
Alright. We messed up.
The biggest mistake you can make with your brand is to allow it have wings. While we want it to breathe, we want to give it flight within specific parameters. That is why your brand form must never:
- Change the color of the original brand
- Change the aspect ratio
- Re-order your brand logo
- Switch font-type pairings
Are there more guidelines? Sure. We could come up with dozens of guidelines, but these are the four guidelines brands break the most often. So if you’re breaking these guidelines, stop. If you aren’t, make sure you have a management and maintenance plan in place.
You were given a Brand Guide when you created your brand. That sets your guidelines. Make sure you use it.