Streamlining Brand Consistency: A Deep Dive into the Management of Digital Brands

18.01.2024

Maintaining a consistent brand identity across diverse sectors can be a complex task.

At SMG, a tech company managing a portfolio of 16 digital brands spanning real estate, secondhand e-commerce, automotive, and finance & insurance, brand and asset management is a critical aspect of our operations. In this article, we explore the significance of the management of digital brands, the tools we employ, and the challenges and benefits associated with ensuring brand consistency across multiple touchpoints.

How to Manage Digital Brands?

Orchestrating brand elements across diverse digital channels is the essence of digital brand and asset management. We stress the importance of following brand guidelines and ensuring convenient access to essential design elements. Given the diversity of our brands, maintaining consistent application across channels requires a centralized approach. The coordination required to manage 16 distinct brands across various teams highlights the need for a robust brand management system.

Central Brand Hub


To fulfill this requirement, SMG employs a web-based brand management system as the central hub for all brands. It integrates both brand strategy and design, encompassing elements like brand core, values, logos, and design components for each brand. Brand design renders the brand tangible and distinctive, imbuing it with a unique style, encompassing non-visual aspects like tone of voice tailored to the target audience.

This centralized repository guarantees swift and convenient access to assets, promoting uniform brand application across diverse platforms and activities.

Brand Strategy

discover elements of a brand strategy >
Brand Core

Brand Values

Brand Positioning

Brand Design

discover elements of brand design >
Logos

Design Elements

Imagery

Tone of Voice

Crafting Cohesiveness

Brand management consistency extends beyond aesthetics; it significantly impacts business outcomes. Research shows that inconsistent brand experiences frustrate customers, with many perceiving brand content as inauthentic or weak. SMG acknowledges that each touchpoint is a chance to foster brand trust. A consistently managed brand emerges as a pivotal catalyst for organizational growth.

A robust foundation for digital brand management lies in clear strategic content. Addressing fundamental questions about brand values and unique positioning establishes the groundwork for effective brand design.

Graphic elements such as logos and colors, coupled with the brand’s tone of voice, breathe life into the strategic framework. This guarantees a cohesive brand presence across various touchpoints.

Harmony in a Multibrand Universe

At SMG, we endeavor to ensure effortless access to brand elements through a centralized platform for content and collaboration. Furthermore, we advocate for brand compliance to uphold consistency. By providing up-to-date guidelines and a user-friendly interface, we enable efficient brand application—a critical aspect when managing a diverse portfolio of 16 brands.

The primary challenge in digital brand management is the accurate application of the brand. To tackle this, SMG conducts onboarding sessions for both internal and external stakeholders. The centralized tool streamlines this process by ensuring that all users access identical and essential brand information, minimizing the risk of inconsistent brand representation.

Streamlining Success

Access to up-to-date brand materials is not limited to marketers and designers alone. From internal communications to sales and team presentations, everyone should know where to locate the materials for correct brand application. Our web-based brand management system empowers users across various functions by offering swift and easy access to brand content. This guarantees consistency, enhancing efficiency and saving time in project execution for users in any role.

Seamless integration with popular applications like Figma, Magnolia, WordPress, and various Adobe products simplifies adherence to brand guidelines. This interoperability streamlines workflows, ensuring effortless access to brand libraries for a more efficient collaborative process.

Digital Brand Mastery

In a digital era where brand presence is pivotal, SMG’s approach to digital brand management exemplifies the commitment to ensuring consistent, authentic, and impactful brand experiences across diverse sectors. As we navigate the challenges of managing 16 unique brands, the centralization and efficiency offered by digital brand management tools prove indispensable in shaping and sustaining our brand legacy.

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Marta Andreoni

Head of Design for Automotive

Introduce yourself and your role at SMG

I’m Marta Andreoni, Head of Design at SMG Automotive. I lead the design and UX writing team shaping AutoScout24 user experience. 

In my role, I wear many hats. My main focus is ensuring we stay true to our vision “simplifying people’s lives and connecting humans through innovative digital platforms” and our brand promise, “make it happen”. I challenge my team to think user-first, push for innovation, ease of use for our customers and make forward-thinking decisions, even within business and technological constraints.

 A big part of my role is supporting each designer’s growth, motivation, and career development. Through one-on-one coaching, mentoring, group work, and projects, I help my colleagues set and achieve their goals while fostering new learning opportunities.

What helps you feel empowered and confident in your role?

If I had to mention one thing I would say “being proactive” has been key to feeling more empowered. I enjoy solving problems, so when issues or opportunities arise, be it in the product, market or the team, I get curious and I proactively investigate the reasons and try to bring inputs to be discussed with others, this makes me feel I can be part of the process or solution and my point of view is going to be taken seriously. My optimism also plays a role, giving me confidence that even the most complex challenges can be solved. 

Besides, having trust from other managers and colleagues makes me feel in a safe environment where I can take ownership on topics I’m passionate about. 

What’s one thing SMG does well in fostering an inclusive workplace? What more can be done to amplify and support different perspectives in the workplace?

In my experience, we strive for balancing top-down and bottom-up inputs, ensuring employees can influence product directions, processes, and culture. People are approachable, and our strong feedback culture helps voices be heard. Across SMG, initiatives like regular People & Culture Surveys, topic guilds, and events in our locations across the world foster open exchange and mutual learning.

That said, I’ve noticed that quieter voices sometimes get less space, or interacting with top management can feel intimidating, especially when giving critical feedback. To make participation more inclusive, we could apply more facilitation and group work techniques like structured turn-taking, written input, and smaller group discussions – ensuring everyone, regardless of confidence level, seniority or personality, feels comfortable contributing. 

Design is often about seeing the world differently. How do unique perspectives contribute to more innovative, inclusive, or impactful design?

Design is about understanding diverse user personas and perspectives to create solutions that truly meet their needs or create new opportunities. I believe in the power of collaboration to shape user experiences – bringing together different disciplines, backgrounds, and lived experiences helps challenge assumptions, uncover blind spots, and drive more inclusive, innovative, and impactful solutions.

Looking back on your career, what’s one lesson or piece of advice you wish you had known earlier as a leader in design?

There are three things no one really prepares you for as a design leader: dealing with constant change, facing failure and handling emotions at work. These topics aren’t talked about much until you face them. I was lucky to learn from others’ experiences, but much of it came through my own.

One thing I wish I had understood earlier is the power of emotional intelligence, my job is no longer about the content and the design, it is about people. Self-awareness, not just of your own emotions, but also how others feel and react, can be the difference between conflict and harmony, frustration and clarity. The more I grow as a leader and designer, the more I realise that design isn’t just about doing the design job, delivering solutions on the market: it’s about navigating people, their emotions, and making change more acceptable and transforming issues into opportunities, both within the organisation and through great products.

 

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