How to check a video against your brand guidelines

The short answer

To check a video against your brand guidelines, review it in six areas: logo, colour, typography, on-screen copy, footage and assets, and the end card with its audio and call to action. Go through them one at a time, leave a timestamped note for every issue, and repeat the check on each new version before anyone signs off.

The rest of this post walks through each area, what to look for, and how to run the review without it eating your week. You can copy the checklist straight into your team’s review notes.

Why brand errors slip through in video

A brochure sits still while you check it. A video doesn’t. A lower third with the old logo might be on screen for two seconds, and a typo in a price card can disappear before your eye lands on it. Checking a 60-second cut properly means watching it several times, pausing often.

Most teams also make far more video than they used to: cutdowns for every platform, several aspect ratios, versions for different markets. The people reviewing it usually haven’t multiplied at the same rate.

Then there’s attention. When a reviewer watches a new cut, they’re judging the story, the pacing and whether the client will like it. Checking a HEX code or the clear space around a logo is a different kind of looking, and it tends to lose out. That’s how a wrong logo version ends up in a final delivery that three people approved.

Before you start: get your guidelines ready for review

A brand book written for print and web often says little about motion. Spend 20 minutes pulling out what applies to video, and every review after that gets faster.

1. Confirm you have the latest version of the guidelines. Ask the brand owner if you’re not sure. Reviewing against last year’s PDF is a common way to approve the wrong logo.
2. Note the approved logo files, their minimum size, clear space rules, and which version goes on light and dark backgrounds.
3. Copy the colour codes (HEX or RGB) for the primary and secondary palettes. Print CMYK values won’t help you here.
4. List the approved typefaces and weights, and any rules for on-screen text size.
5. Write down the tagline, product names and legal lines exactly as they must appear, including capitalisation and punctuation.
6. Add anything specific to this campaign or client: a different end card, a partner logo, a mandatory disclaimer.

Keep this as a one-page reference next to the edit. It’s the sheet you’ll check each cut against.

The checklist: six areas to review

1. Logo

The logo is the thing clients notice first, so start here. Scrub through the video and stop on every frame where it appears, including end cards, watermarks and product shots.

• Correct logo version (not an old one, not a partner’s variant)
• Right version for the background, light or dark
• At or above the minimum size, and readable on a phone
• Clear space respected on all sides
• Not stretched, rotated, recoloured or given effects the guidelines don’t allow
• Placed where the guidelines say, and consistent across scenes

2. Colour

Colour problems often come in during grading or when a motion designer eyeballs a shade instead of typing the code.

• Graphics, lower thirds and backgrounds use palette colours
• Brand colours still match after the grade is applied
• Secondary colours are used the way the guidelines allow
• Enough contrast between text and background to read easily

3. Typography

• Only approved typefaces and weights
• Consistent sizes for titles, subtitles and captions
• On-screen text is large enough to read on a phone
• Captions and subtitles follow the same rules as other text

4. On-screen copy

This is where the most embarrassing mistakes live. Read every word on screen out loud, slowly.

• No spelling or grammar mistakes
• Tagline appears exactly as approved, word for word
• Product and company names spelled and capitalised correctly
• Prices, dates, phone numbers and URLs checked against the source
• Required legal lines and disclaimers present, and on screen long enough to read

5. Footage and assets

• No watermarked stock footage or images left in the cut
• Music, footage and images are licensed for this use and this market
• Product shots show the current packaging or interface
• No competitor logos or unapproved brands visible in the background

6. Audio, end card and call to action

• Voiceover matches the approved script
• Brand name pronounced correctly
• Correct end card for this campaign or market
• Call to action and URL are right and match the landing page
• Sonic logo or audio sting used as the guidelines describe

How to run the review

Do one pass per area instead of trying to catch everything in a single watch. It feels slower, but you’ll miss less, and the logo and copy passes go quickly once you know what you’re looking for.

Leave a comment at the exact timestamp for every issue, with the rule it breaks: “0:14, logo below minimum size (guidelines p. 6)”. The editor can jump straight to it, and nobody has to argue about whether it’s a matter of taste.

Keep compliance notes apart from creative notes. A wrong colour code has to be fixed. “Could the intro be punchier?” is a suggestion. Mixing the two in one list makes it harder for editors to prioritise and easier for real errors to get lost.

On the next version, check the fixes first, then look at anything else that changed. Edits have a habit of breaking things that were fine before, like a re-rendered title that picks up the wrong font.

Common mistakes

One is reviewing only on a big monitor. Most of your audience will watch on a phone, where small text and thin logos become unreadable, so watch the final cut on one before approving.

Another is checking against an old version of the guidelines, especially on long-running accounts where the brand has been refreshed.

The third is approving before legal lines are checked. Disclaimers are often added late in the edit and skipped because everyone assumes someone else looked.

Speeding it up with AI

Most of this checklist is pattern-matching: is this the right logo, is this the right colour, is this word spelled correctly. That’s work software can take on, which leaves your reviewers free for the calls that need a person.

This is what we built Daab for. You upload your brand guidelines PDF and your video. Daab reviews the cut against the guidelines and flags possible issues with logo placement and colour, fonts, typos and watermarked footage, each as a comment at the exact timestamp. Your team then goes through what’s flagged, adds creative feedback, and decides what gets approved.

The AI does the first pass. People still make the final call.

Use it on your next review

Copy the checklist above into your team’s review notes and run it on every cut before it goes out. If you’d like the first pass done for you, try Daab free.

Frequently asked questions

What should a video brand guidelines checklist include?

At minimum, it should cover logo use, brand colours, typography, on-screen copy, footage and licensing, and the end card with its call to action. Add any legal lines or campaign-specific rules your brand requires.

How often should videos be checked for brand compliance?

Check every version that goes to a client or gets published, not just the first cut. Changes between versions are a common source of new errors.

Who should do the brand review?

The editor should self-check before sending a cut. After that, someone who knows the guidelines well, usually on the brand or account team, should do the formal review. Legal lines may need sign-off from a legal or compliance contact.

Can AI check a video against brand guidelines?

Yes. Tools like Daab can read a brand guidelines PDF and flag likely issues such as the wrong logo, off-palette colours, unapproved fonts and typos, at the timestamps where they appear. A person should still review the flags and make the final decision.