When to Break Your Brand Rules
Where consistency helps you grow and where it quietly holds you back.
Why We Obsess Over Consistency
According to Lucidpress, consistent brand presentation across channels can increase revenue by up to 23%. That stat has made its way into decks, brand books, and strategy docs for years, and for good reason.
Consistency builds recognition, trust, efficiency, a sense of legitimacy. It’s what makes your brand feel like a brand, not a mess of tactics and tone shifts.
So we create the guidelines, define the voice, lock in the colors, and stick to it tightly.
But Here’s the Flip Side
Consistency can turn into constraint, and some of the best strategic decisions a brand can make start with saying.
“This used to be the right move, but it might not be anymore.”
Markets are always going to shift, audiences evolve because they are human. Channels will continue to pop up, sunset, and change. And your brand system, the one that felt so solid when you built it can quietly become outdated. What was once brand equity becomes brand drag.
When Brands Broke Their Own Rules — On Purpose
Sometimes a brand needs to break form to make a point, enter a new conversation, or just disrupt its own rhythm. These campaigns didn’t follow the usual playbook — and that’s why they worked.
1. Barbie x AirBnB “Stay in the Dreamhouse”
Barbie, long known for polished, controlled product storytelling, partnered with Airbnb to offer a real-life stay in a bright pink Dreamhouse in Malibu. It was weird. It was meta. It worked. Mattel broke from its classic packaging to generate cultural buzz ahead of the Barbie movie, inviting real-world immersion into what’s normally a toy-box fantasy.
2. Popeyes “That Look From Popeyes”
Known for food-first advertising and Southern flavor cues, Popeyes launched a fashion-focused campaign modeled after Beyoncé’s Ivy Park line — complete with lookbooks and faux drops. It was unexpected for a fast food brand, but the internet loved the parody, and it reinforced Popeyes’ cultural relevance.
3. The New York Times “The Truth Is Worth It”
Traditionally a restrained, black-and-white institution, The Times broke its own visual and tonal style for this raw, emotionally driven video campaign. With staccato editing, intense music, and scenes from war zones and protest lines, it was designed to stop you mid-scroll and remind you journalism isn’t polite or passive.
4. Snickers “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry”
This campaign took a wild detour from the brand’s previous focus on satisfying candy-bar cravings. It leaned into absurd humor and character takeovers (Betty White playing football, anyone?) completely reframing the product benefit in service of entertainment and memorability.
When It’s Time to Break a Rule
1. You're hearing “that's not on brand” more than “does this still work?”
If your team is more focused on enforcing past decisions than questioning current relevance, your brand system has become a blocker. Consistency is only valuable if it’s tied to effectiveness. Instead of asking “Is this allowed?” ask “Is this landing?”
Try this: Run a campaign retro with your team and audit how many “off brand” ideas actually performed well.
2. Your audience has changed, but your voice hasn’t.
Maybe your customers are more sophisticated now. Maybe they’ve aged, or a new segment has taken over. If your tone, visuals, or channel choices still reflect the audience you had three years ago, you’re not being consistent — you’re being outdated.
Try this: Interview five recent customers. Ask how they describe your brand. Then compare that to your own messaging.
3. Your campaigns are blending in.
When your content or creative looks like everyone else in your space — or worse, like yourself on autopilot — you’ve likely optimized too hard for consistency. Distinctiveness fades when everything starts following the rules a little too closely.
Try this: Put your last five campaigns next to a competitor’s. Can you tell which ones are yours without the logo?
4. Your internal team is disengaged.
If your creative team keeps defaulting to the same templates, or your marketers are hesitant to pitch bold ideas, your system might be too rigid. People stop trying when they know the answer will be “that’s not how we do things.”
Try this: In your next team review, ask: “What’s one thing we’d do differently if we weren’t worried about staying ‘on brand’?”
What to Do Instead
Start with one controlled break.
Don’t burn it all down. Run one test — a new content format, a refreshed tone, a visual variation — and evaluate the impact.
Audit your “untouchables.”
Every brand has sacred cows. Make a list. Then ask: Is this still true? Is this still useful? If the answer isn’t clear, it’s worth rethinking.
Redefine what consistency actually means.
It’s not about being identical everywhere. It’s about being recognizable. You can show up differently across channels and still be unmistakably you.
Pull your audience into the evolution.
Some of the best brand shifts happen in public — especially when you bring your community along for the ride. It builds trust, not confusion.
TL;DR
Consistency builds trust — until it builds friction.
Your brand should be recognizable, not rigid.
If your system isn’t giving you room to grow, it’s not strategy. It’s stagnation.
What to Know This Week
Sydney Sweeney AE campaign draws controversy over wordplay The pun “great genes” vs. “great jeans” stirred criticism for perceived racial undertones and historical baggage despite American Eagle affirming it was about confidence and inclusivity.
WNBA Brand Sponsorships Surge Over 50% Since 2022 SponsorUnited reports a 52% year-over-year increase in WNBA brand deals, signaling major investment in women’s sports and underrepresented audiences.
Brands Invest in Design-Led Storytelling via New Studio Practices Agencies like Rethink are formalizing design practices to make creativity a core offering alongside strategy, responding to brand demand for better visual differentiation.
Dunkin’ sparks backlash with new ad referencing genetics A commercial featuring actor Gavin Casalegno joking that “this tan? genetics” stirred controversy for echoing the "genes" messaging in American Eagle’s campaign, and raised criticism over racial insensitivity.
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