From dusty corporate identity manual to interactive brand experience
We are all familiar with it: the thick, bound - and especially expensive - corporate identity handbook that is full of logos, color palettes and typography. No organization can do without such a brandbook, and yet in nine out of ten cases it lies gathering dust in a drawer. Moreover, it is outdated by the time it is printed. Just try to apply your brand identity consistently in all communications. In this blog, Sebastiaan de Ruiter explains how it can be done smarter.
The digital transformation
The dusty brandbook has seen a move to the intranet over the years in many organizations. Unfortunately, that was basically little more than the virtual version of the dark desk drawer; few people went there to read it. Fortunately, there is a better way. You can also turn your brandbook into a vibrant and interactive brand experience, easily accessible to anyone who needs to work with it. This obviously applies to your internal communications and marketing teams, but don't forget your external partners, agencies, freelance web designers and copywriters.
The role of a Brand Portal
A Brand Portal is an online platform where all brand guidelines, assets and documents are collected in one place. It is a kind of virtual library where employees and your external partners can go for all the information they need to properly represent the brand. A Brand Portal has many advantages:
It's simple to use. You can quickly and easily find the information you need.
Brand information and brand assets are always up-to-date. As a result, everyone is aware of the latest guidelines and has access to the most recent versions. This ensures that you are sending a strong and consistent brand story into the world.
All brand assets can be found in one central location, reducing the risk of inconsistencies.
By actively engaging employees, brand awareness is increased.
The combination of a Brand Portal and DAM
A Digital Asset Management system is indispensable if you want to make your Brand Portal a success. Brand guidelines, logos, color palettes and typography alone do not guarantee a consistent brand identity. A DAM system ensures that all digital assets such as images, videos and documents are also neatly stored. With a DAM system, employees and partners can easily search, manage and share files. By linking your Brand Portal to a DAM system, you create a powerful tool that combines everything important to your brand: from consulting guidelines to instantly downloading the right files. This keeps your brand identity standing like a house.
A Brand Portal is not the holy grail
While a Brand Portal offers many benefits, it is not necessarily the holy grail for your brand management. If your brand has been consistent for years and your people know exactly what digital files to work with, then even a Brand Portal quickly risks becoming dusty. For example, we won't recommend Brand Portal to smaller organizations with a stable brand identity and a limited marketing team. In such a case, a well-established DAM system will suffice just fine. If you want your Brand Portal to remain dynamic, you do need to invest in sharing success stories and keeping relevant content up-to-date. One good example is Atos, IT partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for many years. They combine their own corporate identity guidelines with those of the IOC, which change every two years. For them, a Brand Portal is of enormous added value, as they work with many external partners and agencies that always need to be up to date with the latest brand updates. But we are not all an Atos. If your brand is solid and your organization is not too big, think carefully about whether a Brand Portal actually adds something and whether you are not making enough profit with just a DAM system.
Want to know more?
Ready to dust off your corporate identity manual and let your brand shine? With a Brand Portal combined with a DAM system, you ensure that your brand identity remains consistent and powerful. Make the move to an interactive brand experience that benefits the entire organization. Discover how Comrads can help your brand? Request a no-obligation demo right away. We like to think along with you. Now and in the future.