If you’re managing brands, ‘consistency’ is often interpreted like a rulebook written in stone — logos always at 14 degrees, fonts strictly followed, tone of voice guidelines followed to the final full. stop. In practice though, brand consistency isn’t about rigid control. It’s about knowing which parts of your brand need to be tight, and which can — and should — be loose.
When struck, that balance, allows a brand to be instantly recognisable, yet also relevant, adaptable, and real.
Tight where it counts: the distinctive assets
Let’s start with the “tight” part. Reflecting the seminal work of Prof Jenni Romaniuk, if your brand has genuine distinctive assets — those recognisable, memorable cues lodged in our brains that help people think of you before anyone else — they should be protected and reinforced consistently. These might include your logo, colour palette, design assets, or a sound, shape or aroma you own. Just remember that not everything you like or use qualifies as ‘distinctive’.
If you’re running a brand be brutally honest about what is actually distinctive. Assets you feel are important may hardly be known by your consumers. Just because you’re close to it, doesn’t mean a consumer is. Memorability and distinctiveness is built by being boringly repetitious and consistent. Audit your assets; understand those which are working hard for you in driving mental availability; and have the attitude that reinforcing what you have is likely to be more effective than creating something new.
This is ‘tightness’. Reinforcing the right assets, in the right way, at scale; this is how you’ll spark the synapses and create those vital neural pathway that lurk, persistently in the brain. It’s how your brand becomes recognisable at a glance — whether it’s the sensory overload of digital or on a supermarket shelf.
Loose where it’s human
Beyond your core assets, is where you can be looser.
Executional flexibility isn’t a threat to consistency; it’s a way to show your precious ‘authenticity’ and also reflect the context of your audience. Your brand needs to be able to flex for formats, channels, cultures, and in the moment. As long as your brand’s core feeling remains recognisable — through your tone, language, your values, or sensory touch points — then variation is not dilution or inconsistency, it’s flexing to fit.
Consistency of meaning, not mechanics
The human brain is brilliant at spotting patterns and navigating, like being able to ‘fill in the gaps’ and still make sense of what’s written when letters are missing from words. Brands that are tight on the essentials can earn the right for their audience to be able to fill in the gaps. This goal means consistency of meaning — not just of execution. Ensuring everything your brand does adds up to a coherent impression in people’s minds. Not every execution needs to look or sound identical, but they do need to feel like they’re coming from the same place.
The question to think about is whether this execution strengthens what we want our brand to be known for? Does it reinforce the distinctive codes we’re trying to build? If the answer is yes, don’t get hung up on minor inconsistencies – focus on coherence, not conformity.
Build what matters, bend where you can
Ultimately, brand consistency is means being tight on the things that matter, and loose on the things that don’t. Be tight on your distinctive assets (only once you’ve honestly validated what they are and have the potential to be distinctive for you). Be loose in how you flex, adapt, and activate your brand — especially in fast-moving or creative environments.
The brand is a system; at its heart are the ‘tight’ elements; the product or experiential truth that has made it relevant over time. On the surface are the ‘loose’ elements; the language, idioms and ‘clothes’ that keep it relevant in the modern day.
David Preston is founder of The Crow Flies, a research, strategy and innovation company that helps brands find a direct route to long lasting success. david@thecrowflies.co.uk; +44 (0) 1889 725670 or +44 (0) 7885 408367; www.thecrowflies.co.uk; @crowflieshigh. © The Crow Flies, 2025
