The brand code and distinctive brand asset conversation has come a long way in recent years and the power of brand codes in driving brand attribution, salience and growth is now foundational to Australian marketing practice.

Many marketers have run quantitative research measuring brand assets on fame and uniqueness and it’s clear brand codes are essential, driving higher performing creative.

But what’s the most effective way of managing them in today’s demanding and fragmented communications environment? How many brand codes do you need and can you have too many?

At the heart of this question is mental availability and as Professor Byron Sharp recently noted, multiple pieces of creative isn’t the way to go. He states that is actually works against the process of encoding vital memories in the minds of consumers, with likely negative growth impacts.

The same could be said for brand codes: If the key to building mental availability is ongoing exposure to low-frequency or new (out of category) customers, it’s crucial brand codes are streamlined, simplified and activated heavily on every piece of comms so that even a fleeting glance at a bus shelter poster is effectively branded and gives you a good bang for your buck.

Perhaps this is why many of today’s best brands are losing previously sacred brand assets.

Why cutting codes makes sense

Most brands aren’t so flush with assets that they need to cut them. But for some brands, the build-up of legacy assets over time means they can be revised and consolidated to communicate more effectively.

For example, in the US, the Dunkin’ rebrand removed ‘Donuts’ from the name and the coffee cup logo. It was a big decision that undoubtedly caused a few sleepless nights, but it gave greater focus to more valuable assets.

The unique colour palette and typeface became central, instantly coding all communications activity, effortlessly balancing message and brand by being ever present.

This gave the design team the creative freedom to be playful and expressive, refreshing all content and comms whilst ensuring the brand is consistently, unmistakably Dunkin’. The brand team used those two essential codes to create a digital-friendly ‘DNKN’ shorthand acronym, perfect for favicons and app buttons.

Use it or lose it

You need to use your brand codes if you want to keep them because people’s memory of them tends to erode over time.

With attention spans shorter and memory storage increasingly full, the call to remove the pin and leverage the highly distinctive blue and red dash device has made Officeworks a more effective brand.

Having fewer codes means Officeworks can better bridge channels and categories with a codified, flexible design system based on the blue and red dash.

Having a greater focus and clarity on how to activate codes helps brand management, in-house creative and partner agency teams with fewer yet more impactful tools.

And it gives your media spend a greater bang for your buck by drawing consumers’ eyes to the harder working, more strategically valuable assets that can be activated in all formats.

Banks and brand codes

Some brand assets symbolise a bygone era and have an inherent meaning that conflicts with the story your brand is trying to tell.

The recent NAB identity refresh revealed a renewed focus on the star, lifting it out of the end frame logo lockup and bringing it to life in creative across multiple channels.

This was a conscious decision to improve brand attribution but also leverage the star's symbolic meaning and what it has meant – guidance, protection, excellence, the divine – for thousands of years.

If you’re lucky enough to have a distinctive brand asset with deep in-built meaning it’s vital that you activate it, as another bank can attest. ING recently undertook a significant brand asset shift ditching long-time brand ambassador Isla Fisher and bringing the brand’s lion to life.

Lions are rich in cultural meaning. They are top of the food chain symbolising courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness, and valour. For too long the ING lion sat in the top right of comms adding prestige but doing nothing. If you look at the ING Australia home page now, the lion is chilling in the bath, satisfied with his financial choices. He rightly takes the credit, much like HBF’s highly distinctive quokkas who tell a richer brand story.

Let’s be real, brand equity is hard-earned and the decision to cut famous brand codes shouldn’t be taken lightly.

But don’t let hard brand management decisions hold your brand back. Focusing on what’s truly distinctive about your brand, stripping out unnecessary assets and activating your codes more often might be what unlocks your brand’s potential.