Study finds most brands struggle due to lack of team inclusion and brand ownership

A study by brand management software company Frontify analysed insights from over 750 leaders from brand, marketing and design teams at major corporations across the U.S. to find there are big gaps in understanding brand ownership and team inclusion.

‘State of Brand Ownership Report’ surveyed in-house branding experts to explore how co-creative their brand development and management process is. The report showed there is significant confusion among organisations regarding who owns the brand itself, with most answers split between the marketing department, C-Suite or executives, and the HR team.

While many of those surveyed lack clarity around brand ownership, 80% of the respondents feel connected to those brands regardless. 69% of people desire more input in the development and management of their brand and 67% create their own set of guidelines separate from the official company format for personal use.

“As we see in this survey, most organizations struggle with recurring challenges around collaboration, ownership, and access. Without a clear, established process, we frequently see inconsistent branding across departments, confusion over who has the power to change or influence the brand, and issues with internal stakeholders and partners using up-to-date collateral,” says Michael Müller, head of marketing at Frontify.