Introduction

Companies spend a considerable amount of money to develop their brand identities. It is not a cheap commercial endeavour. In 2000, Landor, a famous San Francisco based design agency replaced BP’s their logo with a new design, the “Helios” – the name of the Greek sun god costing over $200 million. In 2008, Arnell group redesigned the Pepsi logo costing one million dollars. This huge cost is not only limited to companies. London 2012 Olympics logo was designed by Wolff Olins, a London-based brand consultancy firm at the cost of $625,000.
Given the importance of brand identities as intangible assets for organisations, the ability to strategically manage them is critical. Extant research is predominantly based on theoretical models and concepts of branding, yet no attempt has been made to develop an understanding of the consistent communication of brand identities. For brands to be trusted, a consisted continuous identity is required and a coherent brand architecture contributes to the companies’ overall marketing strategy.
It is essential to communicate in a clear, consistent manner across different touchpoints as this is necessary to build an efficient and powerful brand, and to achieve this, a brand guideline is essential. However, there is little conceptual and theoretical understanding of this document. The primary purpose of this paper is to provide background information on brand guidelines, for the benefit of researchers with interest in brand communications, design and management and for the benefit of practitioners who wants to develop a better understanding and need for a brand guideline.