Instead of Marketing "handing down" assets, they created a "Brand Lab" on Slack. When a technician in Berlin found a better way to explain battery life using local slang, it wasn't a violation—it was an entry for a monthly vote.
The CEO, Sarah, called a "Brand Assembly." She didn't hire a consultant to write more rules; she invited the mechanics, the app designers, and the customer service reps to the table. This was the birth of their model. Branding Governance: A Participatory Approach t...
They replaced the rigid "Bible" with a "Living Kit." It provided the DNA (the core values and logo), but allowed for "Regional Mutations." Local teams could choose from a palette of secondary colors that felt like their home cities. Instead of Marketing "handing down" assets, they created
Every quarter, a rotating group of employees from different departments met to discuss what was working. The "Governance" wasn't a top-down decree; it was a peer-reviewed consensus. The Result This was the birth of their model
By giving up total control, Velo-City gained something better: .