Brand bibles: cast in stone?

As my students will know, I strongly recommend coordinating brands in the long term by setting up what I call a Brand Bible (what others seem to call a Brand Manual). The reason I recommend one: marketing Johnnies are by nature job hoppers and continuity is a constant pain in marketing. I’ve seen a major German brand run by people who had no idea what could or should be done with it.

I recently stumbled across an article arguing that you should sometimes be careful with manuals. The full article can be found here, but allow me to quote one of the most important parts below:

“These manuals have proved to be helpful in brands and companies that use them; and many brand managers insist on having manuals as a way of keeping control of the brand. However, certain times this book becomes more than just a set of guidelines and “recommendations” and people tend to look at it as a brand bible. It dictates every step that a brand (and brand manager) can and cannot take. So here I present three reasons why brand manuals might end up being negative and counteractive for your brand:

1. Removes flexibility from a brand. No matter how conservative or traditional a brand is, it must remain flexible to be able to meet with modern challenges. Times change and so do consumers, the brand essence might remain one and the same for a century, but the ways of connecting with the target (most often than not) shouldn’t.
2. Doesn’t allow for a case-by-case analysis. Manuals tend to be to the point as to what is allowed and what is not under a brand name. However, sometimes a strategy (IE. participation in an event) might not be useful or fit in with a brand name, but in other occasions it actually might.
3. Binds brand manager creativity to a set of pages. Human brand managers are sure to change overtime, not only internally in one person but even between different people. Each new player in the management field can and certainly will bring his/her creativity along to make the best out of the brand; letting a book limit his/her ability to do so is like putting a cap on the brands growth, it ain’t smart.”

Some good arguments there. Perhaps proof again that in marketing things are never black and white! But personally I still recommend some form of documentation keep manage things professionally. Marketing people are not always the best organised people in companies.