Maintaining a cohesive brand personality throughout change

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Digital transformation and organizational change often encounter resistance and restraint. One of the challenges marketers face during change is maintaining a cohesive brand personality.

Change and further development are necessary. Those who don’t conform will have to go the dinosaur (or blockbuster) way. With all changes, however, it’s important to keep your unique selling points and what customers love about you in mind. If possible, you should aim to keep these constant.

How to hold the brand personality together

We speak to Shutterstock’s VP of Brand, Skip Wilson, in the latest episode of the ClickZ Marketing Masters podcast. Skip shares insights on how to maintain a cohesive brand personality during change, including:

• Identify a brand platform that underpins your brand personas and serves as the North Star throughout change
• Knowing when to break your own rules (and when not)
• Use change as a playground to encourage experimentation

Wilson also discusses how brands can manage multiple brand personalities, what to do when brand perception diverges from brand intent, and how brand leaders can communicate internally during stages of digital transformation.

He provides useful examples from his time at Shutterstock. Shutterstock has acquired multiple brands over the past 12 months, including Splash News and Turbosquid, and is striving to go beyond being recognized solely for its legacy stock image offering.

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00:47 – What makes a great marketing leader?

01.25 – What tips do you have for marketing leaders who want to maintain a cohesive brand personality?

04.27 – Dealing with customer perceptions that differ from your desired brand personality.

06.17 – What are the top threats to brand personality in a brand transformation era?

08.41 – What are the benefits of a cohesive brand personality?

10.30 – How can marketing leaders preserve different brand personalities?

12.05 – What tips do you have for communicating what is being prioritized?

14.00 – How may the future marketing landscape evolve and how might it affect your ability to measure brand personality?

15.30 – What have you learned about where and how your customers want to hear your messages?

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As VP of Brand at Shutterstock, Skip Wilson is responsible for leading the company’s global brand and creative strategy and producing results-driven, best-in-class activations to further build brand affinity and awareness.

He is a proven brand builder with expertise in leading and producing marketing experiences that improve performance, increase value and drive global brand awareness. He was formerly Head of Global Brand & Corporate Marketing at Peloton and previously had experience at Sony, Ralph Lauren and MTV. He holds a dual degree in Music and Communications from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Tulane University.