Bill Kenney 👋

Brand Guidelines are for inspiration, not restriction. Yes, brand guidelines need to be clear so the executing team can leverage them without much friction, but one point above gets overlooked–a lot. How much should the guidelines prescribe in the first place? 💡 Brand Guidelines will NEVER define all the outputs and "rules" your brand will require. It's a living, growing document. Treat it as such. When you create new assets that stretch the brand in the right ways, log it and keep building. 💡 Guidelines set the foundation to maintain brand consistency and give the people on your team (writers, designers, etc.) the tools they need to build upon that foundation. Put simply, they "guide."

Fortune favors the bold and emotionally connected. Take B2B brands, for example... Many people still believe that B2B is purely pragmatic compared to business-to-consumer (B2C), so it should approach branding differently. This is NOT accurate. According to one study, "B2B customers are significantly more emotionally connected to their vendors and service providers than consumers." It went on to show that seven out of nine B2B brands that were studied had emotional connections with more than 50% of their customers. I can only imagine how much further we've progressed, considering this study is from 2013! Mailchimp is a great example–it holds zero punches when it comes to being "emotionally connected." People relate to emotion. Always.

Start with your story. Imagine if President Kennedy had said, “We’ve decided to send a space plane to the moon. I hope you like that idea,” would our country have been galvanized? No. He left us with more than a quotable speech because of the moonshot story he told instead and the way he said it–bringing us all along. His words represent a profound moment that remains in our collective unconscious. This is the energy and mindset to have when launching your brand. Your brand launch is a huge moment in the timeline of your organization. Story leads the way, building clarity and alignment, not colors and shapes. Those elements simply support the story.

When Airbnb revealed their new brand, they didn't say, "Check out our new logo." They led with purpose by saying, "Imagine a world where you can belong anywhere." Your rebrand is not a design exercise; express it as a company-wide movement. Connect it to your why. Why do you exist? How does this new brand bring you closer to that vision? Two more points: 📌 The voice of your rebrand needs to come from a highly influential seat in your org. Ideally, your CEO/Founder will lead that charge internally and externally. 📌 Rollout internally first! Your team is the frontline of your new brand. They're the ones carrying the flag and delivering on the brand promise. Getting them aligned first creates alignment and a larger brand ambassadorship.

Don't overlook one of the most immediate and impactful returns of a rebrand: hiring! 💡 "This rebrand has paid itself off in less than a year. It's one of the best investments I've ever made in being a part of a startup, and this is my fourth time. Early on, this rebrand saved us a ton of money in hiring fees. We were trying to hire 50 or more people over a few months. Having a better brand where everything aligns makes it easier. We even had an applicant reach out and tell us she saw the rebrand, and from that moment wanted to be a part of our company." – Humberto Ayres Pereira, CEO, Rows ROI is not always about revenue. Brand is larger than that, and the "return" will be as well, even if it's harder to measure.

I encourage people to think of brand the way you think of an orchestra. It takes a full collection of instruments working in harmony to create a compelling sound. Similarly, your brand relies on multiple elements (mission, strategy, visual, verbal, CX, values, etc.) to add layer after layer of resonance, propelling your company’s larger narrative in a way that connects with and inspires customers. Interestingly, customers often cannot distinguish between the various moving parts, but they can quickly identify how that brand makes them feel. Customers hear the harmony, and feel the feelings, even if subconsciously. That is the brand at work. When a brand is collectively in tune (aligned), audiences recognize, relate to, and remember it.