The Lethargic, the Lively, and the Lazy
Willem Haen, Brand Management Consultant at Frontify
Branding is all about people. With that being said; a brand is the public’s perceived experiences of a company’s expressions, which are shaped, managed, and continuously developed by the people within that company. One might even say that a brand is like a human being — it can possess somewhat personal characteristics, and trigger strong emotions. That’s precisely what makes branding essential.
When trust is built, people might buy a product. And, at best, they return. In order to achieve this, brand management is the process of constantly working on perfecting a company’s reputation. In practice, this operation tries to set a focus for the desired experience and aligns all interaction moments with (potential) customers accordingly, so the message is clear and credible. A piece of cake, one would say.
Ironically, it’s also people who make brand management so tricky, or at least challenging. During the first steps of building a brand (outlining the brand identity, key brand assets, and guidelines) a Brand Manager mainly deals with strategic and creative professionals. The next stage, unfolding the story throughout touch points, might be closest to the customer but typically is the one where most consistency is lost. All fundamentals can be just right, but now the Brand Manager suddenly faces a large group of colleagues with as many roles as attitudes. This is where it gets critical. One cannot automatically rely on sufficient competence nor commitment anymore. A threat to consistency!
As a branding professional, I have worked with great personalities, but with regard to branding, the majority of these colleagues fit one of the following categories:
Lethargic stakeholders
Some have no clue about what a brand actually is, or what brand management is all about. No problem; one can learn. Others think branding is something that belongs to the brand management or marketing department only. Understandable, but (s)he can be taught that it’s about the full range of touch points being created, including non-visual ones.
Lively stakeholders
Some people do way more than you’d ever hope for (and you have a hard time stopping them.) Some just think the essence of branding is doing the Brand Manager a favor instead of getting it right. These people understand they are brand stakeholders, so they become active. Nevertheless, this is a category that is difficult to deal with: They do the right thing, but they don’t do it right. As a Brand Manager, it is very difficult to confront these people with negative feedback and correction requests. After all, being active makes them the most desirable of these three groups — should their enthusiasm be killed?
Lazy stakeholders
For some, clicking a link and selecting the right logo might already mean too much effort. These stakeholders are hopeless and one can wonder if this attitude is desirable in any company operation.
Dealing with lethargic, lively, and lazy stakeholders is part of a Brand Manager’s life. We shouldn’t forget that at this stage, certainly in larger companies, external parties come into the picture as well — sometimes with slightly different understanding, attitude, and interests. Teaching, correcting or activating all of these people cost a lot of time (and nerves). Time that must be used to develop the brand. Time for the things a Brand Manager is good at. Time for the fun part. Besides, this extensive attention for stakeholders makes one drift away from the customers; the most important people in branding.
While struggling with this issue on a daily basis, I was lucky to bump into Frontify about half a year ago. Things just fell into place. Yes, by centralizing your brand with Frontify, you can gather all your brand assets in one place. And yes, this simply means one web-based source of truth for your brand. But these are rather static aspects of pursuing consistency. How about the dynamics, when people come into the picture? Well, Frontify makes it much easier to deal with the different types of colleagues shaping touch points. Recently, a customer told me: “Frontify takes the shit out of design”. Spot on.
With Frontify, everyone can have easy access to the latest brand assets. One can share them with internal and external stakeholders and make sure they find the right material, while using them correctly. Anywhere, anytime. Everything revolves around the Style Guide, with instructions and key assets — essential brand items can’t be missed. It’s all web-based, so you will see basic requests for logos, images or other files drop. Finally time for meaningful brand work! Furthermore, Frontify helps you set the right balance between brand restrictions and space for creativity. By managing the access and editorial rights of all stakeholders, you decide who can access what (and for how long). The Workspace module, with uncomplicated feedback and prototyping features, extends brand governance to design projects. Involve, yet take full control, of your brand!
Branding is all about people. So is Frontify.
About the Author
Willem is a driven branding professional with ten years of international experience in value creation and communication, both on practical and strategic levels. He believes that enriching people’s experiences can strengthen brands and grow businesses in the long-run and once he recognized that Frontify is a perfect tool for this, he joined Frontify right away.
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