How to build rock-solid brand foundations

Creativity and flexibility are vital for brands to cut through, but without the right amount of consistency and control it all falls apart. Establishing firm foundations with a brand-building platform helps drive brand equity, empowering teams to push boundaries without diluting or undermining the integrity of the master brand.

According to Harry Elonen, senior brand manager for Minecraft at Mojang Studios, a brand is quite an amorphous thing: “It’s a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or company,” he says. “This means everything you do as a brand influences the perception that customers have about your brand.”

Elonen uses a lighthouse metaphor: “Your brand fundamentals, which include brand position, strategy and identity, should guide your organisation’s decision-making,” he continues. “To achieve this, a solid infrastructure of tools and platforms is essential to execute your brand vision.”

That unified foundation keeps things together, but there must be some degree of flexibility in execution. “There’s a trend towards brands with a low ‘freezing point’, represented by the thermometer model,” Elonen explains. “Brands with a high freezing point are typically managed globally, while brands with a low freezing point allow for more flexibility and fluidity in the use of brand assets.”

Empower your team

Strong foundations provide a framework, but the real challenge lies in inspiring, motivating and empowering your team to implement it to its full potential. “You need to ignite desire and get people excited,” continues Elonen. “Equip them with the necessary knowledge and capability. Ultimately, you need to reinforce your brand consistently to ensure its success.”

“A brand foundation means giving people access to everything they need to work with the brand,” agrees Philipp Michel, brand manager in TUI’s global brand team. “That includes information about the brand history, strategy, architecture, assets and brand codes; colours, layouts, tone of voice.”

Michel’s team is responsible for defining TUI’s appearance and experience across a multitude of touchpoints, spanning websites, apps, retail stores, aircraft deliveries, transfer buses and customer service teams. He believes a centralised repository is essential for all stakeholders, internal and external, to access this information.

“We open up our brand hub to everyone we work with, so they understand and work with our brand the way it’s supposed to be,” reveals Michel. “That’s the cornerstone of implementing and developing a professional brand experience.”

Support brand hierarchy

Michel recalls how his team used to rely on building new collateral from scratch based on PDF guidelines. Now, TUI manages its diverse global needs using a Frontify-based BrandHub platform – which hosts all master brand materials, as well as sub-brand assets for its airlines, cruises and hotels.

“Our global team defines the brand framework, strategy and identity, then local teams adapt the framework on a local level with a unique touch,” he explains. “Our digital platform not only provides guidelines and assets, but also self-service capabilities for colleagues to adapt materials while maintaining control over brand standards.”

TUI distils this into three Cs of brand management: collaboration, convenience and consistency. “Regardless of the location or touchpoint, we need a sense of unity within the brand ‘family’,” says Michel. “But consistency doesn’t mean rigidity: we must adapt appropriately to different markets while maintaining those core brand elements.”

Airlines are a prime example: “Many airlines operate using the same type of aeroplane,” he points out. “To establish a consistent brand experience, we add elements such as TUI’s brand colours, behaviour and values. A strong brand experience combines that functional platform with a cohesive brand overlay.”

Enable transformational change

Brand-building platforms also provide vital support when rolling out a rebrand. When KIA Europe underwent a significant relaunch and restructure of its brand, for instance, it needed a strong foundation and infrastructure to maintain consistency across its extensive network of dealerships.

“We had to ensure that the relaunch wasn’t merely a superficial change, but transformative,” recalls Rishaad Sacoor, brand and strategic marketing leader at KIA Europe. “We don’t believe in simply providing assets and tools and expecting good results from a functional or mechanical combination of those elements.”

Built in Frontify, KIA Europe’s central brand platform establishes pan-European master brand concepts, using assets inherited from the global system. These are adapted to cater to each market. “We value cultural relevance and strive to add value to local nuances and trends,” explains Sacoor.

“No one can have an exact recipe for every imaginable situation, touchpoint or product,” he adds. “Our goal was to empower individuals to feel part of the change. People need holistic understanding to be fully engaged and bring their expertise to life.”

Flex to suit sector nuances

In tightly regulated markets, a robust brand-building platform also helps maintain brand presence across a more limited range of touchpoints. For instance, Swiss global healthcare company Roche operates in a sector where most countries prohibit the advertising of prescription drugs. In practice, this means its brand is primarily corporate rather than consumer-facing.

“There are no specific local flavours: we strive for a consistent brand appearance and experience worldwide,” explains Roche’s senior brand program manager, Damian Amherd. “For us, the distinction arises between corporate brands and product brands.”

To stay on the right side of advertising regulations, product brands must look distinct from the core brand – which brings a fresh set of challenges when it comes to brand hierarchy and consistency. “They have different fonts and colour schemes, and without a logo to indicate their association with Roche, you might not even know it’s the same company,” explains Amherd.

“When we started our brand evolution, we had three separate solutions: a media library, a template engine, and a content-only brand site with guidelines,” he continues. “However, they were not user-friendly or integrated. Even if the brand was strong conceptually, it couldn’t be effectively utilised. We needed a functional brand portal to disseminate a strong brand experience across the organisation.”

Measure the right things

When it comes to assessing the effectiveness of a brand-building platform, KIA’s Rishaad Sacoor argues that customer and consumer experiences are the ultimate measure. “We focus on qualitative perceptions, including those of the general public,” he explains. “The key lies in the experiences we deliver, and how they align with our values. Our brand portal serves as the foundation for delivering aligned experiences, products, services – and added value.”

Minecraft’s Elonen agrees that the focus should always be on the impact and effectiveness of the brand itself. “We’ve overestimated the influence of complex and intellectual brand definitions, and neglected the concept of salience and mental availability,” he says.

“Prioritise distinctiveness, and focus on your identity,” is Elonen’s advice. “What is your essence? What should you let go of? And what should you cultivate further? Leave room for creativity, exploration and occasional breakages. Otherwise, you risk ending up with a consistent brand experience that lacks expressiveness and becomes monotonous.”

Although the nature of their sectors and associated brand management challenges varies, Minecraft, TUI, KIA and Roche share the belief that a robust brand-building platform is essential to achieve cut through and impact in a complex and ever-changing global marketplace. By establishing firm foundations, brands of all kinds can flex and adapt without sacrificing their core equity.

“Your overall brand experience should be coherent rather than rigidly consistent all the time,” concludes Elonen. “This is where the new age of brand design lies.”

Discover how more brands have strengthened their foundations with a brand-building platform here.