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Creating a memorable and consistent brand experience is paramount, especially when it comes to events. We’ve a post about that here in which we touch on why event brand guidelines are crucial to successful implementation. “They are the roadmap for a successful rollout of an aesthetically meaningful and strategically effective event brand, especially when there are lots of parties and stakeholders involved.”
At Sans Serif we work with clients that may have as many as 12 different agencies working on an event concurrently. They might have an event that travels globally and requires localization, with a different team for every country. Ultimately, attendees should never be able to tell—your goal is for the entire event experience to feel like it seamlessly came from one source.
In today’s digitally driven world, an online format for event brand guidelines created by a brand agency with high expertise, is the superior way to unite all creative partners and clients’ internal teams, ensuring the delivery of a unified experience for attendees and an effective event for your brand.
Guidelines establish a set of rules from color palettes, typography, logo use, verbal-visual theme implementation, and much more. Almost always, teams are on the edge of their seats awaiting executive approval of an event theme. People have work to do the minute that decision is made, and they need the guidelines right away. So, we end up sharing whatever we have available with our creative partners as soon as we have it. Sharing a PDF with these fundamentals of an event brand meets an initial need but also immediately leads to a potential for disaster. Often this initial release needs to be tested, thought through some more, and added to. Assets are needed with considered examples for the various placement opportunities. Sometimes alternative assets are needed to meet specific needs not covered in the general application of the theme. As soon as a PDF is released, it’s going to get shared and passed around, and how often do you check the version history? You might download the assets and save them for future use and then lose track of when assets are updated and important changes made based on feedback from the wider team.
Having a website that houses your guidelines removes these pain points and creates a consistent experience at all stages of pre-event production. Having a clear schedule for launching site updates and having an email that goes to everyone who has signed up to receive notifications, with a bulleted memo on exactly what has changed since the last launch is a best practice, ensuring that everyone is working with the most up-to-date, on brand assets and guidelines.
And of course, online brand guidelines are accessible 24/7 from any device with an internet connection. This accessibility is invaluable for event organizers, designers, and partners who need instant access to the guidelines, regardless of their location or time zone.
Our online guidelines outline the rules as well as provide easy access to download current assets. Each page has a button to download the assets described on that page. Those links don’t change even when the assets are updated, which often happens over the course of event planning. The assets are readily available and always up to date to provide clarity across teams. Further, digital guidelines can seamlessly integrate links to downloadable brand assets, such as logos, images, and templates. This eliminates the need to search for assets separately, saving time and reducing the risk of using outdated materials.
By contrast, keeping PDF guidelines up-to-date can be a logistical nightmare. Online versions can be easily updated in real-time, ensuring that all stakeholders are working with the most current and accurate information. This agility is essential in a world where trends and market dynamics can shift rapidly.
Brand guidelines for events are always crucial to maximize impact, deliver the message, and form a community at the scale of corporate conferences and events. The digital transformation of creative work continues along. PDFs and digital documents eliminated the need for hard copies. Now, event brand guidelines executed well—which Sans Serif is pioneering and has extensive experience doing—is the next important step in collaboration and integration across clients and creative partners. Ultimately, the result is a better event experience for attendees and maximized impact for clients.
