Why luxury brands need a brand guide

(re)building your luxury brand

Why you need a brand guide as a luxury brand

01 | The brand guide creates focus

The brand guide directs you in (re)building your luxury brand. It ensures that you and your team know where you should put the focus on. That is why we have structured our brand guide in such a way that it follows the order of our Strategic Brand Design service: from strategy to identity to building.

The first part focuses on the brand strategy of the brand. This includes the elements such as the brand essence, mission, vision, core values, target group and, above all, the uniqueness of the luxury brand. This is the red thread that not only sets it apart from other brands, but also increases the perceived value of the brand.

Next up is the brand identity. From concept to brand personality and tone of voice to the corporate identity design including logo suite, brand colors and typography. You get guidelines — with visuals and text — on how to use and bring together the different elements. Think of the types of materials such as paper, which color variations there are and how the logos and / or tagline fit together. The style direction page clearly shows what this will look like altogether.

And then you’ll get the pages in the brand guide with the materials chosen during the branding design process and the additional designs created to build the brand experience. Of course we also explain here how you can use these marketing materials.

The brand guide is a guiding document that helps you build the luxury brand and build a brand experience around it. This allows you as a team to keep focus because the choices have already been made in advance. In practice, this saves a lot of stress around making choices when you (re)launch.

02 | Consistentie waarborgen

The brand guide is also a tool to guard the brand. This is especially important for luxury brands and high-end companies to create a strong brand. After all, the ideal customer expects more in terms of customer experience. That is why it is important that you know how to approach the ideal customer and what makes your brand unique (the perceived value). Consistency is a big part of this.

Think, for example, of all brand touchpoints that the customer comes into contact with. The ideal customer should not only see and feel at a glance that they are in contact with your brand, but also get the same experience that they expect or are used to. This happens because the visual elements are carried through consistently and so is the tone of voice. Think of the use of visual words and certain taglines (‘Just do it’ by Nike or ‘Nespresso, what else?’ by Nespresso) that reflect the nature of the brand.

The intimate relationship with the customer is the central focus. That is why the brand guide  doesn’t just devotes space to just the visual elements, but also the strategy. They’re defined so you as a brand know how to apply both consistently.

03 | Importance of shareability of brand guide

We can be very brief about this part: from top management and marketing to sales associates in stores to customer service — everyone has to live the brand and what it stands for. Consistency is therefore not only found in the visual elements or the application of the strategy, but also applied by all departments within the brand.

That is why it is important that the document is also shareable. As a brand owner, you want everyone within the luxury brand to pursue the same core values and to apply them in providing the service to the ideal customer. This could be the brand guide itself — we recommend sharing it in a place where anyone can access it internally. Or you convert the brand guide into an internal brand experience so that everyone within the brand understands what you are working towards.