Discover the latest thinking in brand identity management
The fifth edition of our Brand Identity Management Best Practice Report has arrived, offering fresh insight from leading global brand owners across sectors and regions.
As digital competition intensifies and brands fight to remain distinctive, this edition reveals how brand identity has become a core strategic asset, attracting attention at the highest levels of business leadership.
Highlights of the report include:
The evolving role of brand identity management
Brand identity has matured dramatically, moving from a tactical communications function to a strategic driver shaping business direction.
Increasingly, “brand” is now a language of commercial decision-making, with brand valuation metrics monitored as closely as financial ones, and brand leaders securing a respected voice at the strategy table.
Rethinking structure and collaboration
The discipline now sits across multiple functions, supported by brand councils, leadership groups and centres of excellence — signalling a shift from “brand police” to brand collaborators who help the organisation balance consistency with creativity.
Brand management structures are becoming more dynamic, reflecting the size and culture of the business — and built on stronger internal partnerships and governance frameworks.
Compliance, consistency — and creative elasticity
With global businesses reporting 90% compliance as an achievement, the study notes two parallel movements:
- Some brands are pushing visual boundaries, experimenting with playful applications once fundamentals are safeguarded.
- Others are reassessing their foundational systems, ensuring flexibility and relevance across fast-moving digital channels.
As environments become more decentralised, local adaptation is now more accepted, supported through training and digital platforms rather than rigid enforcement.
Digital, AI and the rising tension between creativity and authenticity
Brands face a new battleground:
- AI offers unprecedented efficiency and advancement, from dynamic guidelines to generative identity creation.
- Yet, brand leaders express concern about protecting humanity, warmth and trust — especially as authenticity becomes harder to prove in an AI-shaped world.
Brand identity systems increasingly integrate sensory, emotional and experiential elements to reinforce connection and memorability.
Strategic value and the rise of brand as an asset
The report shows a marked shift in perception, brands are valued, measured and actively discussed in boardrooms, influencing:
- growth and acquisition strategy
- talent attraction
- culture shaping
- customer engagement and loyalty
Brand teams now provide strategic input earlier, especially where shifts in purpose, ownership or leadership require identity evolution.
Looking ahead
Brands are navigating an era defined by:
- AI’s disruptive potential – and the need to balance artificial with emotional intelligence
- Hybrid working cultures, where physical brand touchpoints are changing
- Gen Z expectations – with neuroscience and experience-led branding shaping employer attraction strategies
- Heightened scrutiny and reputational fragility, where authenticity must be proven rather than claimed
- Increasing reliance on immersive, multi-sensory expression, with motion and visual storytelling driving distinctiveness and attribution
As the report notes, future brand identity may become a battleground between machine-generated efficiency and emotional resonance – with brand leaders challenged to amplify humanity while embracing technological opportunity.
Unlock the detailed findings, brand owner perspectives, and best practice recommendations from VI360’s Fifth Edition Brand Identity Management Insights
