Brand people usually don't like losing control.
I get it.
Once you've spent enough time managing a brand, you start wanting to control everything.
How the logo appears.
How photographs are taken.
How the brand speaks.
Who can speak for it.
What can be posted.
What can't.
Eventually, the brand guideline becomes a very thick book of things nobody is allowed to do.
But sometimes I think:
If you can control everything a brand does, maybe nothing is really happening.
Especially now.
A brand doesn't only appear in its own advertising.
It appears in customer comments.
On the founder's LinkedIn.
In an employee's Instagram post.
In a KOL's video.
In a photo a customer took.
Even in a meme made by someone you've never heard of.
You can't control all of that.
So the question becomes:
If you can't control every expression, can you still control the brand?
I think you can.
But you have to stop trying to control every detail.
Control a few more important things instead.
What do you believe?
What don't you believe?
What are you willing to make fun of?
What would you never joke about?
How far are you willing to move away from the obvious answer?
I have a soft spot for brands that are slightly imperfect.
Not because they're unprofessional.
Because you can feel that there are people inside them.
Sometimes a sentence isn't perfectly polished.
A photograph is a little strange.
A founder says something that hasn't gone through five rounds of approval.
Sometimes those things are exactly what makes a brand feel alive.
Of course, "letting go" doesn't mean doing whatever you want.
It doesn't mean throwing away the brand guidelines.
It doesn't mean letting every market do its own thing.
I think of it more as:
Control the boundaries, not every step.
Give people a clear enough direction.
Then let them make some decisions inside it.
A brand that only allows the correct things to happen can become very correct.
And very human-free.
Sometimes leaving a little room for things to go slightly wrong is part of keeping a brand alive.
