Strengthening and protecting a brand is vital to unlocking value … and making sure employees have what they need to manage the brand is essential. In the mid-1990s, Texaco asked BrandLogic to sort through the technical and creative aspects of globally communicating their brand standards. This challenge lay behind the creation of the Texaco Brand Community, one of the world’s first online brand management resources and the precursor of Brand Ensemble, BrandLogic’s unparalleled brand management platform. Almost 15 years later, after its merger with Texaco, Chevron followed suit with its own award-winning, BrandLogic-developed brand site.
For a sweeping initiative like the Texaco Brand Community to succeed, users have to be excited about it. For first-time users, BrandLogic created a four-minute sound and motion Brand Show hosted by Texaco spokesperson Mario Andretti, who offers an overview of the program and talks briefly about the history and significance of the Texaco brand. A tour of the new site guides visitors through key features and functions – effectively eliminating the need for them to wade through layers of information.
The Texaco Brand Community is database-driven, using information provided by users to customize content to that person’s preferences. The site continually dips into its active database, pulling only the data that is relevant to the user at any given time. If individuals need to access more material, they can easily do so – with just two clicks. In addition, the site automatically loads each page with links to tool kits that contain the exact files, templates, fonts, and logos a user is likely to need.
Chevron, after merging with Texaco and seeing first-hand the power and flexibility of the Texaco Brand Community, engaged BrandLogic to provide a similar capability for its brand. The Chevron Brand Center provides Chevron communications professionals with everything they need to produce high-quality, branded material in adherence with brand identity guidelines.
In addition to brand guidelines, files, and templates, the Chevron Brand Center offers tools to help authorized users create ads online, find the correct logo for any application, and share their designs with co-workers. Further, the site offers users a rationale for following the guidelines, and helps give individual users a greater sense of how their efforts combine with fellow employees in consistently delivering the Chevron brand message across all communications.
The site was launched by an e-mailed Brand Game, designed by BrandLogic. The interactive game reinforced the value of branding and led employees to the new Brand Center site. The e-mailed game had a viral element as well, as it enabled players to compete with fellow employees, building excitement in the days leading up to the launch.
The Chevron Brand Center and the e-mailed game that heralded the site scored the iNOVA Gold, as well as the iNOVA Grand Award for the Best Overall Intranet Site. iNOVA is the industry’s only international awards show dedicated to recognizing and promoting overall achievement in creative design, written content, and functional performance of corporate Web sites, and is the world’s premier competition honoring excellence in corporate Web sites. The site also received a Silver Award from the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) 2007 Spotlight Awards. The LACP, based in San Diego, has more than 30,000 members.
Building on the success of the Texaco and Chevron brand management platforms, BrandLogic continued to evolve the technology, making it even more powerful. Today, Brand Ensemble is being used to support companies in industries as diverse as education, life sciences aerospace and heavy manufacturing.
BrandLogic is often asked to develop specific programs that illustrate the importance of the brand and identity management tools. The company has assembled a team with diverse creative, technical and project management skills that can quickly and efficiently develop and deploy identity assets and specifications. Further, BrandLogic can establish an interactive platform for content management, asset management, employee and vendor education, and ongoing communications.