Every company loves a brand guidelines PDF. The problem? Most of them are just expensive decoration. You don’t build a strong brand by writing rules—you build it by leading.
Here’s the problem: Most brand guidelines exist in a vacuum. They dictate colours, fonts, and tone of voice, but they don’t address the real issue—alignment. If your leaders aren’t reinforcing the brand in everything they do, all the documentation in the world won’t help.
Brand guidelines fail when:
- Leadership doesn’t actually believe in them.
- There’s no enforcement beyond the marketing team.
- They’re treated as a compliance document, not a strategic asset.
- They don’t evolve as the brand grows.
- Employees see them as ‘marketing’s thing’ rather than everyone’s responsibility.
Strong brands aren’t built by guidelines. They’re built by culture, consistency, and leadership. If you’re relying on a PDF to do that for you, you’ve already lost.
Brand leadership means setting an example. When the CEO lives the brand, the rest of the organisation follows. So stop obsessing over hex codes and start focusing on behaviours. Because a brand that isn’t lived is just a pretty brochure—and nobody buys into that.
