Jeremy's World

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of North Carolina.

With that out of the way…

Maintaining a consistent corporate brand is generally obvious as being important in the business world.  We all know Coca-Cola is dominantly red with that fancy script font.  We know Microsoft simply has their name as a logo and in a specific/custom tilted font.  The company you work for likely has standard letterhead and business cards.  What about looking beyond logos, color schemes and printed media?  Specifically: Is it important to maintain a brand on the web?

I think the simple answer is probably yes.  People should have a similar experience with your organization regardless of the medium, no?  Here’s where it gets even more interesting (to me anyway)…

I used to work for a Holdings company.  Essentially that means they have a corporate entity that itself owns many other subsidiary companies.  Should these companies all have a consistent brand based on the brand of the parent company?  There probably isn’t a cut and dry answer to that, but I have the sense that if I owned multiple companies under the “brand” of Acme Holdings, I would want my visitors/customers to know they were at one of our company sites…a consistent experience with all of my companies.  But what about creativity?

Web designers are creative people who can come up with beautiful branding concepts (the good ones can).  In the multi-company scenario, if I ask my designer to maintain some consistency when branding my companies, am I stifling creativity?  If so, is creativity for the sake of visual appeal a good enough reason to have distinct brands?  It’s good enough for General Electric.  The GE Appliances brand is completely distinct from NBC Universal, both owned by GE.  Maybe if the umbrella company is a major focus it’s more important?  Maybe if the audiences and services/products are completely different, then consistency isn’t important?

I now work in an institution of higher learning that is composed of many, many colleges, departments, and organizations.  The audiences have lots of overlap between them, and the over-arching “University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill” organization is obvious in all of the subsidiaries.  Do the same rules apply in academia?  If you were visiting, say, the Law School website, would you expect the website for Admissions to have the same experience between them?  If they didn’t, would you still “feel” like you’re experiencing UNC?

Just some things that make me go, “hmm” as I consider my professional strategy in the new job.