Turns out, not really. The famous scientist that devoted his life to the study the struggle of existence, Charles Darwin would tell you: “It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” The trajectory of brand existence follows that same direct pathway. You hear a lot of marketing companies chatter endlessly about consistency, consistency, consistency – which is perfect for launching a strong brand-identity. But once a brand establishes itself successfully, the next step is to balance consistency with flexibility to maintain relevance.

Even if you have already established a strong brand identity, what is your level of innovation and responsiveness – and how have you recently changed to maintain alignment with your audience?

Flexibility in multidimensional branding requires monitoring the brandscape to identify trends, changes, and competitive forces. The idea is to maintain consistency in recognition and relevance, but provide enough flexibility to support adaptation to evolutionary forces and innovative technologies. Add in the compounding factors of swift implementation and execution – and you have the basic ingredients for long-term viability in the brandscape.