Here are some tips to spark creativity and fresh ideas for brand consistency: 1. Brainstorm Bash: Organize a fun, relaxed brainstorming session. 2. Challenge the Status Quo: Ask "What if we did the opposite?" 3. Look Beyond Your Industry: Study unrelated brands. 4. User Testing, But Make it Fun: Get feedback in a casual setting. 5. Gamify the Process: Create a fun challenge. 6. Encourage Individual's Creativity: Personal projects can spark ideas. 7. Collaborate with Unexpected People: Fresh perspectives can lead to breakthroughs. A relaxed and playful atmosphere can often lead to the most creative and innovative ideas.

Imagine you’re tending a garden—each plant follows the same growth pattern but with its own unique blooms. Encourage your team to stick to the core brand values as their “soil,” but give them freedom to experiment with fresh ideas, styles, or channels. Regular brainstorming sessions and recognizing creative ideas can help spark innovation while staying true to your brand. This way, you get a consistent, yet creatively vibrant, brand identity that flourishes in new directions.

Maintaining brand consistency doesn’t mean limiting creativity. By setting clear brand guidelines, we give our team a foundation to explore new ideas confidently. Encouraging calculated risk-taking and celebrating both wins and lessons from failures helps foster innovation within these boundaries. Regular brainstorming sessions allow for bold ideas, which we refine to align with our brand. This approach keeps our identity intact while inspiring fresh, brand-aligned creativity.

When you create the guidelines, ensure you're focusing on your clients experience of the brand. At MTDCNC that means staying unbiased and neutral while we report on the technology and relationships that are making a difference for manufacturers. We ask the questions that will help manufacturers see themselves in the people we interview, so they'll will be more likely to trust and work with people to reach the goals they're committed to for their customers. Brand identity consistency is about trust after all, so focus on being clear, and as open as possible when you make your brand guidelines. Weekly workshops are a fantastic way to foster creativity as long as you're creating a collaborative environment, and not a combative one.

Maintaining brand consistency doesn’t mean limiting creativity it’s about giving it direction. I encourage my team to view our brand as a foundation, not a fence. With clear values and messaging as our compass, I push them to explore fresh, bold ideas that still resonate with our identity. By championing innovation within our brand’s essence, we stay true to who we are while delivering what’s unexpected. Real creativity shines when we balance familiar roots with fearless ideas.