The New York Times recently profiled Marissa Mayer , vice president of search and user experience for Google. The article is an in depth study of the face behind the Google brand. As one of the early employees at the search giant, Ms. Mayer has influenced everything about the Google user experience -- from the minimalist home page to the bold type face color palette. Thus, I was surprised to read this line from the article:


Wow. This is Google we're talking about, one of the world's most prominent brands. And in 10 years they still haven't published a definitive guide that outlines how their brand is represented. Surprising, yes. But really, I suspect this is true for many companies** -- even those in the hallowed Fortune 500.  The truth is that many companies have a love/hate relationship with the brand style guide. Some people look at it as a series of restrictions rather than a practical guide for usage. However, those who work with the brand on a daily basis recognize why a style guide is not just necessary to protect the integrity of the brand itself, but as the quote above illuminates, helps people be more productive. If done right, a brand style guide will actually facilitate brand delivery rather than serve as a bottleneck. It's like building a structure without foundational blueprints -- you could probably get something up but it's just a matter of time before the foundation starts to give and the whole thing crumbles down on top of you.

If you're in the process of putting your company's brand style guide together, here are a few tidbits of advice that we've gleaned over the years when working with clients to help them develop their own brand style guides:

• Less is More - Just because the style guide is the brand bible, it doesn't mean it has to be the size of a bible. Be realistic about what are the most important attributes of the brand and don't get too mired in the minutiae.
  
• Make it Widely Accessible - Ideally, once a style guide is published it will be made broadly available across the entire company. Physical books should be created and distributed to groups and individuals who need it. Make a downloadable PDF version available on your Intranet. Put copies in the lunch room. If you want people to use it, make it easy to find.
  
• Be Flexible - There's a tendency to think that style guides are the irrevocable word of marketing and not subject to change. That's not just wrong, but it also contributes to 'rogue' branding where employees purposely ignore the style guide because it doesn't meet their particular requirements (i.e., there's no approved reversed out logo in the guide but I need one for this new landing page). To ensure that your style guide is a living document, make sure people have a vehicle to express their issues and concerns so they don't take branding matters into their own hands.
  

What other piece of advice would you share for building a brand style guide?

 

 

For large organizations, tracking and managing a library of sales and marketing materials can be daunting. Just like a library requires a taxonomy scheme for managing their constantly changing archive of periodicals, marketing departments require a similar system that can be easily indexed and cross-referenced. Enter the literature number ("lit number"), an alpha-numeric identifier that is automatically generated and attached to each document in a marketer's library. Think of it as the corporate version of the Dewey Decimal system. Most companies might not think their small library of corporate materials warrants such a system. But they would be mistaken. As organizations grow, so do the materials they use to support their sales staff, educate partners, and inform end-users. Lit numbers are the Rosetta Stone of the corporate library. 

 

Brand standards. They're a lot like liver - no one really likes it but we know it's good for us. If you've ever worked for a company that takes its brand seriously, you're naturally quite familiar with this document. It's the brand bible that commands all of its followers on precise usage -- from correct logo usage to approved color palettes, fonts, and even proper margin widths! There are many out there who question the importance of such guidelines. After all, does it really matter if your corporate logo is one shade off of green in the annual report? In most instances, I'd argue that these slight transgressions in and of themselves don't really make that much of a difference in the short run. But as companies spread their wings and embark on global brand and marketing initiatives, they must pay special attention to the slippery slope of brand guidelines. Take Starbucks for example. The coffee giant has been particularly aggressive when it comes to protecting their brand from international coffee businesses co-opting facets of their ubiquitous brand. While it might seem excessive to some, Starbucks understands well that their brand is their most valuable and recognized asset. Consequently, it is especially important for Starbucks to ensure that their brand guidelines are strictly adhered to as it's actually a key part of their legal defense. So something as small as the wrong Pantone color being used on corporate signage in Taiwan could have serious legal ramifications -- especially given the fact that global copyright laws vary widely from region to region.