The strongest companies don't have brand police, they have an entire army of employees who understand what the brand means and how to communicate it.
Chances are good that your company has "brand police." Maybe you're part of it. Maybe you are it.
But at most companies, even those that value brand, the brand police aren't exactly popular.
Mostly, brand police are defined as a small group of people (or an individual) charged with ensuring brand consistency across the organization. Their job is usually to research, develop and evangelize a consistent approach to a company, product or service brand.
I won't spend time here discussing how important brand is to each of our organizations. But whether you work for a brand, buy media for a brand, work at an agency for a brand, or simply consult for brands, you know that the brand is at the foundation of what we do and determines how well we're able to sell our products and services.
But the very concept of brand police is flawed and implies that we're failing to effectively create and build a sustainable brand within our organizations (let alone leverage it).
Put another way, if you have brand police, you're always swimming upstream and will likely never have the consistency and brand value you seek.
Why?
First, the very concept of requiring a "law enforcement agency" to drive brand usage implies a subversive effort within the company to circumvent the brand in the first place.
Rather than "police" this activity, why not figure out why some groups or individuals aren't bought off on using the brand strategy in the first place?
Are they simply renegades, or do they have a valid reason for doing something differently? Is that reason based on customer or market feedback? Would their valid reasoning cause you to rethink or modify the brand strategy?
Second, the concept of having a dedicated "brand police force" implies that the majority of the organization either doesn't know what the brand stands for, or doesn't know how to communicate it effectively through their respective roles and work.
If that's the case, you don't need police. You need education.
It's your job to teach your organization how to fish, not punish them when they use the wrong bait.
This may sound easier said than done, but look at companies, products and services that have the best, most consistent, most admired brands in the world. Talk to their employees and you'll hear how deeply the brands are accepted, understood and protected.
The best of these companies don't have brand police, they have an entire brand army. They have a team of employees who not only understand what the brand means but how to communicate it.
Even better, the smartest brand army commanders (that's you) teach their employees how to create buzz about their brands to other potential employees, and with customers within their local communities and beyond.
Every employee is a marketer, a smart, informed, consistent marketer able to tell the company's story, exude passion when doing it and spread incredibly positive buzz in the process.