Home College Insider How Do You Work Around Branding Guidelines To Be Guidelines And Not Limitations? | Alekhya, Brand Manager- Vivel, ITC | Dove, Unilever

How Do You Work Around Branding Guidelines To Be Guidelines And Not Limitations? | Alekhya, Brand Manager- Vivel, ITC | Dove, Unilever

0 min read

Alekhya Chakraborty talks about the dilemma a Brand Manager faces when working with Branding Guidelines. He demystifies the concept of Branding Guidelines being restrictive.

According to him, boundaries, in general, may seem binding on the surface but can be extremely helpful to a Brand Manager. He explains himself by stating the example of working with iconic brands like Coke or Dove, saying that what one recalls is the end user/consumer. There is a consistent messaging that lands as a memory. Coke - the world of red, Dove - the world of white, never picking a celebrity but a next door face.

These are the calls that the brand has been taking for years. He continues to explain by saying that, this means that the brand has well-defined guidelines and these define clearly what not to do as opposed to what to do.

He goes on to discuss why this is so important. A Brand Marketeer has a problem to solve on the communication front. You will be tempted to do a lot of things. A well-defined brand will correct and guide you, in terms of what you should do. It will explain to you the right reasons for taking a decision, making your communication plan more effective and fail-proof.

He goes on to say that this is very important learning. As a Brand Marketer he had picked that up from the World of Dove.

He draws a comparison with other brands that he has worked with which were in a different stage of maturity. They weren’t as iconic or old as Dove or Coke and his role as a Brand Manager varied.

He explains how his role varied. In the grammar of it all, defining the same what not to do on the brand, if this is the direction I want to go to or this is the picture that I want to print in the consumer's mind. Defining that first and then embarking on the journey of deploying and executing the communication out there on the brand.

He considers this as important learning as a Brand Manager and continues to draw from this. He concludes by saying, whichever stage of maturity the brand is in, keep this in mind helps him frame a better, more robust strategy.

Edited by

D2C Admin

Tags:

MBA Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) B-School ITC Brand Management