The Brand Book – a Curiosity or Indispensible Guide

Brand books and style guidelines are curious beasts. In a way, they hark back to a time where brands operated in a strange ether – halfway between the world of business and consumer. They told us what the business wanted the brand to be.

Skittles Brand Book

Of course, they were often a great way to get up to speed for new people brought into the marketing team – or the agency. A good brand book (if one was to actually read and absorb it) was, in this way, invaluable.

But things have changed a great deal since I first saw my first brand book (funnily enough I think it was for IBM). If a brand really is in the hands, minds and conversations of your customers (or other stakeholders), what is the role of the brand book? Should it go beyond design and aspiration? Should it help to set the tone for brand engagement and conversation? And should it even be a “book”?

I’m not asking because I have the answers. I just have the questions. And I think that there’s much we need to revisit from a branding perspective. It seems that social media provided some new opportunities for brands and for branding, but we’ve only really scraped the surface. And in some cases, we coming full circle – using social media as broadcast rather than as a competitive differentiator.

Maybe we need to start with the brand book itself. Otherwise it’s just a curiosity – a remnant from a bygone era rather than an indispensible guide for maintaining relevance with our customers.

5 thoughts on “The Brand Book – a Curiosity or Indispensible Guide

  1. I actually had no idea these brand books even existed. Not on my radar. Brands need to be doing something different from their competitors so maybe in this social media world we are currently in it may stand out in itself?

  2. I actually had no idea these brand books even existed. Not on my radar. Brands need to be doing something different from their competitors so maybe in this social media world we are currently in it may stand out in itself?

  3. I’m just finishing up doing our brand for Gravity (my new brand : customer experience design firm – i know catchy) — and we had talked about doing a culture book. I think it’s essential for new employees and it’s interesting that so few companies bother to bother. Once ours is done maybe i’ll throw it up n scribed. 🙂
    Thanks for sharing this. it’s a good one.

  4. While I agree with you that brands are formed and held in the minds, hearts, and souls of the stakeholders, they still hold an invaluable role in creating a consistent message from the Brand, marketing team, and employees. If a message is consistent there is an increased likelihood that it will accurately reflect the position of the company.
    The not so inconsequential part, is that a strong and consistent brand costs LESS to execute with BETTER results, and spreads FASTER.
    You don’t have to spend a lot to create a great brand, or brand book, in fact – I’m working on a follow-along brand book series in my blog, FindingBrand.com right now. Check it out if you’re interested.

  5. I think it’s essential for new employees and it’s interesting that so few companies bother to bother. I actually had no idea these brand books even existed. Not on my radar..thanks for the good blog..

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