Branding Consistency, Part 1: Your New Logo Is Awesome – But It’s Not Your Brand

You just got a fresh new logo, some beautiful collateral and the brand guidelines to go with it. You are feeling great. You should. That’s exciting!

So, your new brand is out in the world and good to go, right?

Well, not exactly.

Because your new logo is not your brand.

Let me start from the beginning. I’m here to give you the why and how on achieving consistency in branding. But in order for me to do that, we’ve got to start with an understanding of what a brand is.

Marty Neumeier says, “A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.”

Alan Mitchell says, “A brand exists in the mind of the consumer.”

I love this definition from Cheryl Burges: “A brand is a reason to choose.”

With that logic, a brand is not just a visual identity. It’s not an ad, not a logo, not a press release. It’s not really tangible at all.

So what is it?

I’ll propose this definition: A brand is an expectation or promise of an experience.

This expectation is built upon interactions with the company and the product or service it provides. How easy it to return an ill-fitting jacket? How quickly did you receive your order? Do you always receive the highest quality product? Do you see where your donation goes? When you arrive at your destination, does it feel like what was promised?

So… if a brand is an experience… where does branding come in?

There are many ways to represent the experience of a brand to a consumer. The visual identity is one. An important one. For many consumers, seeing a logo or ad will be the first time they interact with that brand.

It might be the reason they begin interacting with that brand in other ways. (You know, like website visits. Social media follows. Sales. Donations. You name it.)

A tone of voice, a logo, advertisements and press releases each represent your brand in their own way. They create the expectation that needs to be fulfilled by the experience.

It’s all got to work together. That’s a brand.

I’m not here to diminish the importance of brand identity. I’m here to say it’s critically important – which is why we need to understand its purpose.

Brand identity is a visual statement to the world. It might say, “I know who I am.” It might say, “I might be who I say I am… ask me again next week.” (Which of those statements builds confidence?)

Branding consistency develops trust and assurance in a company or organization. And when it matches the experience, it helps us to believe in the brand as a whole.

Let’s keep exploring. Stay tuned for more blog posts to come in this series. We’ll address why inconsistency in visual branding could be sabotaging your reputation and confusing your audiences. (I know, that’s harsh. I promise you I’ll write it nicely.) And then I’ll finish the series with tips for maintaining consistency.

In the meantime, email me at [email protected] if you want to start a conversation about your own visual brand!

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Megan Condict is the Art Director at Verdin, guiding our design team with more than a decade of experience. Megan has worked on international and local campaigns in a variety of industries, including public information, technology, outdoor, retail, agriculture, nonprofits and tourism. Her keen eye and strategic mindset lead Verdin to produce work that is purposeful, distinct, visually outstanding and on-brand.