The Case for Consistency
Consistent presentation is a value proposition.
Although it is relatively easy to find agreement in marketing circles that consistent presentation is a fundamental necessity, it is all too often completely overlooked in practice by nearly every entity smaller in scale than mega-corporations like Coca-Cola, IBM, McDonald’s, or FedEx.
Particularly in higher education, where there is a pervasive culture of encouraging an “entrepreneurial spirit leading to innovation,” it is often difficult to achieve consistency in marketing materials.
As a result, marketing professionals in higher education often give up trying to achieve consistency in message and presentation, the tide of inconsistency being too great to fight against. But consistency can be achieved in remarkably little time, across a wide variety of materials and spanning multiple audiences, with patience, persistence, and a little arm-twisting. According to Derrick Daye and Brad VanAuken, brand strategists, consistency is the secret to brand identity success. “With enough repetition, people encode brand identity. If you mess with the overall look and feel of the brand, these linkages and associations are likely to break down.”
Brand Periscope recommends ensuring your brand is portrayed consistently, clearly, and compellingly, and adds “If you intentionally or unintentionally send mixed messages, it erodes trust and devalues the brand.”
Michael Tasner, Chief Marketing Officer for Guerrilla Marketing says, “The more consistent the brand is across all customer touch points, then the more the brand will have a firm impression on people and will be more easily recognizable.” And according to Silvia Pencak, Brand Strategist for Magnetic Look, “brand consistency is the only secret to success.” While Fast Company columnist Marc Shiller asks, “without repetition, how does a brand create consistency? And without consistency, how does a brand maintain value?”
In Five Benefits of Designing a Consistent Brand, Matthew Schwartz writes, “design consistency helps ensure that our execution remains aligned with business strategy.” He also says that while design consistency can transform your brand, it takes commitment. “The single biggest reason businesses fail to become exceptional brands is a lack of commitment to respect the brand.”
The best reason to use consistent design, says Schwartz, is that “having a strong brand concept with design systems and tools to support it speeds the execution of high-quality, on-brand communications. It creates consistency that increases brand recall and retention and makes the sum greater than the parts. Not only is marketing more effective, but budgets are also more efficient. With tools like brand guidelines and templates to ‘operationalize’ your brand, marketing efforts become more nimble and responsive—without sacrificing quality.”
The key to creating consistent presentation is to develop a flexible but consistent format. That format should take into account a wide variety of materials and potential audiences. When planning a brand identity format, Derrick Daye and Brad VanAuken suggest, “anticipate as many new products, services, media and other applications as possible.” The chosen format should also not be arbitrary.
For instance, in the format map shown on the next page, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s official colors of gold (PMS 124) and white, along with the official accent color navy, serve as the fundamental underpinnings for the system.
Particularly in higher education, where there is a pervasive culture of encouraging an “entrepreneurial spirit leading to innovation,” it is often difficult to achieve consistency in marketing materials.
As a result, marketing professionals in higher education often give up trying to achieve consistency in message and presentation, the tide of inconsistency being too great to fight against. But consistency can be achieved in remarkably little time, across a wide variety of materials and spanning multiple audiences, with patience, persistence, and a little arm-twisting. According to Derrick Daye and Brad VanAuken, brand strategists, consistency is the secret to brand identity success. “With enough repetition, people encode brand identity. If you mess with the overall look and feel of the brand, these linkages and associations are likely to break down.”
Brand Periscope recommends ensuring your brand is portrayed consistently, clearly, and compellingly, and adds “If you intentionally or unintentionally send mixed messages, it erodes trust and devalues the brand.”
Michael Tasner, Chief Marketing Officer for Guerrilla Marketing says, “The more consistent the brand is across all customer touch points, then the more the brand will have a firm impression on people and will be more easily recognizable.” And according to Silvia Pencak, Brand Strategist for Magnetic Look, “brand consistency is the only secret to success.” While Fast Company columnist Marc Shiller asks, “without repetition, how does a brand create consistency? And without consistency, how does a brand maintain value?”
In Five Benefits of Designing a Consistent Brand, Matthew Schwartz writes, “design consistency helps ensure that our execution remains aligned with business strategy.” He also says that while design consistency can transform your brand, it takes commitment. “The single biggest reason businesses fail to become exceptional brands is a lack of commitment to respect the brand.”
The best reason to use consistent design, says Schwartz, is that “having a strong brand concept with design systems and tools to support it speeds the execution of high-quality, on-brand communications. It creates consistency that increases brand recall and retention and makes the sum greater than the parts. Not only is marketing more effective, but budgets are also more efficient. With tools like brand guidelines and templates to ‘operationalize’ your brand, marketing efforts become more nimble and responsive—without sacrificing quality.”
The key to creating consistent presentation is to develop a flexible but consistent format. That format should take into account a wide variety of materials and potential audiences. When planning a brand identity format, Derrick Daye and Brad VanAuken suggest, “anticipate as many new products, services, media and other applications as possible.” The chosen format should also not be arbitrary.
For instance, in the format map shown on the next page, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s official colors of gold (PMS 124) and white, along with the official accent color navy, serve as the fundamental underpinnings for the system.