Why Brand Inconsistency is Really a Fiscal Problem.

Every marketer worth their salt will wax on and on about "Brand consistency this, Brand consistency that." And while the arguments about brand reputation, equity and one-voice are really important, that alone isn't the thing that should make you lose it.

Brand inconsistency screams one thing, really loudly.... Wasted budgets!

Just think it through. If we do something really well once, and then scale it across an enterprise umpteen times, we amortize the initial investment on an almost parabolic scale. Not only are we building and reinforcing a well thought-out concept on every front, we are also recycling the initial spend.

When you look at your enterprise and see inconsistency, what you really should be seeing are dollar bleeding out of the organization. Every single time a new message, visual, promise or operation is developed that is NOT repurposed from the initial platform, you are buying it again. And again. And again.

Brand inconsistency should not be some esoteric emotional trigger reserved for the marketing department. It should be a hot button for accounting. Enough so that operationalizing Brand should be a top priority for procurement and legal as much as it is for marketing.

It's all well and good to adjust Brand to an line-of-business. But for Pete's sake make sure you are leveraging as much material as is humanly possible. Keep your money!