Brand guidelines across many client brands
How an agency or studio keeps the brand guidelines of each client separate and current, for its people and its AI agents, from the first day to handover.
An agency works under many guides at the same time, and it makes two kinds of mistakes. It uses an old version of the guide of a client, or it uses the guide of the wrong client. Both mistakes happen more often when the work goes through AI agents, because an agent uses the last brand that it got.
When a client starts
- Collect the current guide and the files: logo files, fonts or licenses, templates, approved images, and the date or version of the guide.
- Ask for the rules that are not written down: words that the client avoids, claims that the client cannot make, and recent decisions. Write them into your copy, with a date.
- Ask for the rules of the client on AI. Many guides now have a using AI part. If the guide does not have one, ask what the client allows before you use AI on their work.
- Name one person on each side who answers brand questions.
While you work
- Keep the brand of each client separate: one folder, one project, or one brand for each client. Never use a shared one.
- Name the client in every task that you give an agent. Give the agent the guide and files of that client, not a summary from memory.
- Check the work against the guide of the client before the client sees it. Look at logo use, colors, and claims most carefully.
When the brand of a client changes
Update your copy on the day that the client tells you. Put the new date on it, and replace the old files. Tell everyone on the account, and update every AI tool that holds a copy. Most agencies make mistakes at this step, because the PDF changes but the copies in each tool do not.
How to do this through agents
An agency that does client work through Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor can keep each client as a separate brand in Rainbrand. One customer of Rainbrand works across several brands in Claude. That customer uses Rainbrand so that the context of each brand stays ready and distinct from project to project. Getting your guidelines to AI agents shows how agents connect.