Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?
Years ago, we sometimes joked in marketing that we had become the “brand police”.
Someone changed the logo. Funny. Someone launched a product with a message nobody understood. Silly. Someone built a campaign completely off-brand. Dramatic.
Someone confused product names or mispelled them. Exit. Someone invented another PowerPoint template. Daily routine…
👮‍♀️ And there we were again. Stop. Correct. Repair. Explain. Repeat.
But then we started thinking about the role of the police itself. Police does not invent laws but they protect the constitution.
🦸‍♀️ These heroes safeguard stability, trust and future perspective by ensuring that shared rules are respected.
Brands work surprisingly similarly.
Your positioning, values, customer promise, visual identity, tone of voice, leadership behavior and culture…That is your brand constitution ! Unwritten or written. Recorgnized or neglected.

As soon as everyone interprets it differently, the system slowly destabilizes and finally Customers lose orientation.
Your own Employees lose integrity and Markets lose trust.
How many companies have brand guidelines? A recent study says not even 50%. Really?
Very few have a true brand constitution and live it!
Even fewer empower people to protect and grow it. Such a shame.

⚓ That is why the brightest organizations move away from “brand police” and create brand ambassador programs instead. The Equalizer is only happening on TV.
Because brands are stronger when people protect them from the inside.
Another question to the community:
Have you ever been in the “brand police” role yourself?
And more importantly:
Do you actually have a brand constitution and are your people empowered to protect it?
⚱️ Let’s start the investigation and work on the… – on your case.
Let’s not wait untill it is a cold case !