NHS Online Brand Guidelines are so spot on

Last year, while doing research and competitive analysis for online versions of brand guidelines, I came across the NHS Brand Guidelines site and I must say it is still one of my favorites.

It’s intuitive, easy to use and tackles the issue of representing guidelines for all the different sub-brands by reusing a lot of the content. For instance to logo guidelines are the same across all the different types of organisations while signage differs between National Organisations and treatment centres.

Reading through the copy, you get this strong message that it’s written by people who have been around the branding block a couple of times. There are clear, to the point guidelines. Dos and don’ts like the following:

Do:

• make sure you use the NHS logo consistently and correctly;
• only use original digital graphic files.

Don’t:

• alter the NHS logo in any way;
• embed the NHS logo in a line of text;
• use the NHS logo more than once on single sheet, unless on a graphic display.

… and the second link under tools and resources is this baby. The most popular destination of any brand site.

The only thing I would add to that site is a good file repository and download basket.

Our aim with Brand Capital is to supply you with the application, tools and guidelines to build something as intuitive as the NHS guidelines for your company.

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Umbrella branding: Vatnajökull region

When a series of products unite under the same brand and message, the result is often called an umbrella brand.

I came across a successful execution of umbrella branding in Höfn í Hornafirði, a town on the south-eastern coast of Iceland. “Wow! – Vatnajökull region” is a brand used by a wide array of local food producers. As soon as you see the Wow! sign you know you’ve found some of the high quality food produced in the region.

Among the benefits of a successful umbrella brand are

• Economies of scope
• Reputation linking

As the number of products promoted within the ubmrella brand is increased and broader media used, economies of scope kick in and more people can be reached with each dollar spent. Also, the reputations of products within the brand are linked and once the consumer disovers one of them he is more likley to try another.

Our goal is to make Brand Capital a perfect fit for brand managers of umbrella brands like Vatnajökull region. With Brand Capital, downloading and applying the relevant digital assets becomes fast and easy. Whether your product is icecream, freshwater fish or lobster, downloading the right asset for a sign for your door or a photo for an ad in the local newspaper will only be a click or two away.