The Brand Governance Buying Guide For Marketers
What to ask when you are considering a brand governance tool
Brand Governance software is a relatively young category, and many of the customers we speak to aren’t sure what to look for in a solution. The purpose of this guide is to identify the right questions to ask and factors to consider when buying a brand governance platform. This will not focus on general SaaS questions like support or pricing, nor on general AI questions around data privacy, etc (with one exception below) because those types of guides are available elsewhere. Instead, this guide will focus on questions that are particularly relevant to functionality within Brand Governance tools.
BrandGuard has been the market leader in this space, so we want to share the questions we commonly get from customers so that those of you considering a brand governance strategy can add them to your list.
What brand guidelines does it check? - The list of things that go into a brand guideline document is long, but there are some commonalities. Most companies want to make sure logos, fonts, colors, and spacing are correct. They want to validate that things are done in the proper brand voice and maintain brand identity.
How do you deal with unusual brand guidelines? - We’ve seen some very unusual brand guidelines in our time. If you have a brand guideline that isn’t standard, is there still a way to train an AI model on it?
How fast does the application render a decision? - This is important because running machine learning models in production systems can be slow, depending on asset complexity and the number of checks it needs to run. Providers will probably begin offering SLAs on model uptime and decision time.
Can I modify the application feedback to fit my process? - Whether or not your brand governance software captures feedback will partially depend on how you set up workflows. In general, though, you should be looking for a tool that can be trained and updated regularly as part of your normal interaction with it. This is the best way to keep your brand models fresh and up to date.
Does it fit into my toolset and workflow? - Brand governance workflows vary significantly across companies. Many use project management tools like Basecamp, Airtable, or Adobe Workfront. Others use email, Slack, or some ad-hoc process that aren’t well-defined. It’s important that a brand governance tool be available in all the workflows where you may use it so that your brand can be consistent across platforms, formats, and workflows. Make sure you choose a tool that works across as many of the applications you use as possible.
How are models updated, and with what information? - As you provide more information about your brand, how does that get into models, and at what cadence? AI platforms often retrain nightly, but some do at faster intervals, and a few do at slower intervals. Make sure your brand models are being updated on shorter cycles so they always have the most relevant information.
Are there campaign overrides? - Occasionally, you want to break your own brand guidelines. Maybe your logo is yellow, but it’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and you want to make your logo color red. This would normally fail a brand governance check. Campaign overrides that allow you to break brand guidelines on a per-campaign basis without changing underlying brand models are important.
Does it support:
Text (short form and long form)
Images
Complete Assets
Video
Multiple languages
Are LLMs used, and if so, which ones? - Some companies don’t want to use Open AI, and there are many other options.
The market is early, so you may not find a brand governance software that has everything you need. In early markets like this, it’s important to understand company roadmaps, their early positioning in the market, and make sure you pick the company that is the best fit for where you want to go.
For more information on BrandGuard or to sign up for a demo, please email contact@brandguard.ai or visit our website www.brandguard.ai.