Does brand consistency matter?

Most marketers know that brand consistency matters. The reason for this is that marketing communications accrete in peoples’ brains over the course of time. Because brand consistency matters, marketers know that they should stick with the same brand message components, even when it comes down to what might seem like small-scale issues like the brand color, font, etc. Most marketers, therefore, strictly enforce uniform rules about the style, logo, font, color, message, etc that apply to every use of their brands.


The only problem is … that brand consistency doesn’t always matter. There are plenty of examples of brands that have stuck better in peoples’ brains because they have been inconsistent.


A good example is Google. From its very early days, Google has changed its brand font, logo, and indeed its brand message, on almost a daily basis on its home page, so as to highlight obscure holidays, birthdays, etc. Maybe what Google does to its brand shouldn’t work, but it does. Google is brand inconsistent because it knows that inconsistency actually does a better job of getting customers to pay attention to, and to remember, the Google brand.


To sum up, be brand inconsistent if that will do a better job of getting customers to pay attention to, and to remember, your brand. In other words, brand consistency matters except when it doesn’t, and brand consistency doesn’t always matter.