Will AI Replace Brand Guidelines?

Colin Dunn says AI models are going to replace brand guidelines, and the entire creative production process is going to be remade in the image of AI. The end state is a person on the team who crafts the narrative, the story, and the vision, while the rest of the company self-serves and generates the on-brand assets it needs. Almost every function in a company is a customer of a brand team, because everyone needs new content, whether a presentation, a flyer, or swag for an off-site.

The way there starts by winning creative directors, who hold the power inside the company. Canva is trying to sell a tool that lets graphic designers and creative directors pick templates a marketing team can self-serve from. Creative directors he has talked with see a credibility problem in that pitch. A consumer product moving upmarket was compared to a Fisher-Price toy, and to IKEA selling furniture to that customer. Moving upmarket is hard after entering at the consumer level. The strategy is to come in at the top of the market and move down, while the goal is to serve everyone who needs on-brand content.