Evolving your Brand
A theory that can be proven through the echoes of time, evolution has surely conquered its non-believers.
If you remain unsure, you might want to stop reading now, as the premise of this piece relies on an element of sanity (and healthy self-criticism, hence my apt brutality).
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Apparently misquoted as something Darwin himself once said.
Nonetheless, extremely true and, even more importantly, most definitely relevant to my point.
Illustration by Keeping Studio
Thinking laterally
A business does not need to be particularly intelligent or, indeed, strong in order to survive, but it most certainly must adapt as times change.
There are many businesses we can point to, some of which are the most highly valued in the world, which are simply the most effective at adapting to the requirements of the future.Their business models do not stack up, they do not make a profit, but they have the most “interesting” concept and therefore have billions of dollars thrown at them in investment.
I’m not saying “don’t have a strong business model” or “don’t be clever” - quite the opposite, most of us do not have a choice, and this is the subject of another blog post - I am simply pointing out that there is an important third dimension.
The third dimension
As the platforms that our customers interact with us through continue to evolve, so too must we continue to interrogate the way that our brand “lives” on these platforms.
If your brand stays still for too long, it’ll be eaten. It makes sense really, doesn’t it?
I see it far too often:
a brand that once looked good and compared favourably to competition, hasn’t evolved for years and is now put to shame by its peers;
a brand guideline document that hasn’t been updated for over a year points new designers in the wrong direction, only to cause further costs in fixing the understandable mistakes;
a document/proposal/piece of stationery that hasn’t been revisited since the last rebrand, and now looks at odds with the files that accompany it.
Where the symptoms can be found to be at their worst, there tends to be an element of sentimentality or nostalgia that leads to the lack of change.
The obvious result of the above is an ever increasing job of reconciliation, when the time finally comes around that the issue is acknowledged.
Often, the problem begets further problems. For example, those who do not change because of sentimentality will only find it harder when the significant changes that will soon be required are finally actioned.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand that the idea of continuously updating a brand guideline document and constantly updating templates is much easier said than done.
However, what if there was a way that you could continue to make progress along this third dimension, without taking your attention away from everything else you have to focus on?
This gradual approach will extract the highest day-to-day value, and avoid the exponential issues you would otherwise find yourself facing in the months and years to come.
How can my brand survive?
To answer this question in a meaningful way, we first have to understand that at the crux of the issue is how time-starved we all are. This is often especially true for those who - not so coincidentally - the responsibility of “brand” falls upon.
The first actionable item I would suggest, is taking the step of making sure that your Brand Guidelines are up to date, accurate, and digestible.
They need not be too large. In fact, the smaller the better; as people are more likely to read them that way. However, they should take into consideration all of the ways that you use your brand in the real world.
Some of them will only have come to light since you last underwent a brand refresh.
The best and most maintainable guidelines are usually digital, using platforms such as https://www.frontify.com/.
My second actionable item would be to, as you move forwards, find a studio that you are in a position to trust with keeping this document/digital resource up to date.
In terms of what you should ask to be treated as a trigger for an update to be made, you might want to consider the following:
When you adopt a new pattern/finish (perhaps only for the season) - to ensure clarity between your core brand and your “current” look.
When a new leaflet/piece of print collateral has been designed - to ensure that the new assets which have been created are documented.
When your internal team comes across a limitation of your current suite of assets, and requires a new template/set of rules to be added.
It’s not uncommon for the small overhead that is associated with achieving the above to be considered as an unnecessary cost.
This is especially true if you are sensible enough to not try and embark on this mission internally to avoid the natural politics, blockers, and reasons to stall the work that will naturally surface.
However, when this conversation arises (and it will), keep the concept of a North Star that guides all of your output at the front of your mind, and the value that an external, current, industry knowledge will introduce to your overall Brand Experience.
It is not an exercise that will deliver day-to-day tangible returns. The returns will only be visible across larger periods of time, in the strength of the assets that you produce, and the avoidance of larger “one off” projects to catch back up every couple of years. But I promise you that they will be of unparalleled significance to the way that your business is received by customers and peers.