Tully's Letters

Why do I have to choose one over the other?

OK. Every once in a while I read something that starts out making a lot of sense, then crashes and burns in the summation. In this article, Martin Lindstrom suggests that brand essence might be served better if we skip the corporate brand standards manual in favor of living brand evangelist. A brand evangelist is a great idea, but skip the manual? How will the evangelist know if he or she is accurately representing the brand? How will anyone else, for that matter? What happens if he or she is hit by a bus? Does the brand die with the evangelist? I suggest that to cure the problem inherent in so many corporate brand standards manuals might be to write a manual that inspires people to live the brand instead of rules not to break if you work for the brand.

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