{{special guest post for “the cause is the habit”}}yourbrandimage

There’s a scene in The Wizard of Oz I can’t get out of my head. The flying monkeys have attacked; the Scarecrow has been torn apart. What’s left of the Scarecrow laments: “First they took my legs off and they threw them over there! Then they took my chest out and they threw it over there!”And the Tin Woodsman looks down and replies: “Well, that’s you all over!”

I’ve got to think that’s what it feels like to be a brand these days.

Back in the day, I wrote several “brand guideline” documents for clients. You know the ones that say, “The logo should be no smaller than 3/8” high and always have at least ½” of white space around it.”  The effort was an attempt keep control over the brand – what it looked like, what it felt like, how it should be “presented” to the public. It always seemed a little silly at the time, now it seems downright laughable.

I mean, where does the logo even *go* anymore? Is there a place for branding “guidelines” in Social Media….

Read the rest on Damien Basile’s “The Cause is the Habit” blog.