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Guinness World Records

Global Brand Guidelines


© 2021 Guinness World Records Limited
Contents

TRADEMARK RULES 3 Examples of Correct and Incorrect Usage 18

Registered Trademarks Available for Licence 4 Checklist 19

The Usage of our Trademarks 5 PHOTOS, COPYRIGHT & CREDITS 20

Adopt correct grammatical usage of the word mark 6 Certificate 21

Have our trademark stand out from the surrounding text 7 Copyright Notice & Credits 22

Usage of Trademark Notice 8 Photography Credits 23

Avoid all variations 9 SOCIAL MEDIA 24

Applying Trademark Rules 10 Our Social Media Channels 25

Examples of Correct Usage – Press Release 11 Social Media Posts – Examples 26

LOGO RULES 12

Logos available for licence 13

Logo – Usage Rules 14

Logo – Size and Spacing 15

Logo – Colour 16

Logo – Positioning 17

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TRADEMARK RULES
Our trademarks | How to use them | Examples of usage

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Registered Trademarks Available for Licence

1. The Official Attempt and Record Holder logos

2. The GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS name


(also available in Mandarin, Japanese and Arabic)

3. The GWR acronym

* Licence required for use

Please note that other GWR registered trademarks outside of those listed here are NOT available for licence

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The Usage of our Trademarks

If you have an agreement for the usage of our GWR trademarks, the rules on the following pages apply
to any materials those trademarks are used on before, during and after your event or campaign.

E.g.
• Flyers
• Posters
• Banners
• Backdrops
• Invitations
• Certificates of
Participation
• Merchandise
• Social Posts
• Videos

Please apply the following rules to usage of our trademark on your assets, and send ALL MATERIALS (Printed and
Digital) featuring our IP to your contact at Guinness World Records for approval

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Adopt correct grammatical usage of the word mark

The word mark comprises the words GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS. It should be used as an adjective rather
than a noun (it therefore describes the ‘thing’ rather than being the ‘thing’ itself).
DO NOT use the word mark in the possessive or plural form. It should NEVER be shortened, re-arranged
or changed in any way.

A GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ record title

A GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ certificate

A Guinness World Record

Guinness book of records

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Have our trademark stand out from the surrounding text

At a glance, consumers should be able to distinguish between trademarks and generic product names
or descriptive text in advertising and marketing materials.The best way of achieving this is through using
CAPITALS and BOLD and/or COLOUR.

Cricket charity aims to smash an official


Cricket charity aims to smash an official
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ title
Guinness World Record at Lord’s
at Lord’s

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Usage of trademark notice

The first and most prominent use of the trademark should be marked with the appropriate notice indicating
its status as a trademark – either ® or ™.

is for countries where the trademark is registered. For is for all online usage (social media posts, website copy,
all offline/print usage, please use the ® logo (in print, digital videos etc.) unless your campaign is geotargeted
out-of-home, brochures, posters, TV clips, invitations, etc.) in a registered country

* To find out if the trademark is registered in your country, please speak to your Guinness World Records contact. If your country is not registered,
please use ™ for online and offline.

In every instance after the first usage, the trademark notice can be omitted, but the word mark must be
upper case and in bold and/or colour.

[First mention:] Company X attempts [Future mentions:] Company X is excited to


a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® title announce that this weekend they will be
this weekend! attempting the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS
title for xxx.

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Avoid all variations

Trademarks must be used in the form that we’ve supplied them.

The GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS word mark must always be reproduced in full. Under no circumstances
can the word “Guinness” be used alone or other than in conjunction with the words “World Records”.

Translations

The word mark should always appear in the


English language. There are very few exceptions
to this - only Mandarin Chinese, Japanese
(both Katakana and Kanji characters),
Arabic and Russian. The word GUINNESS
should always be the
When the words GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS same size, font
appear in the star-and-pedestal logo they should and colour as the words
never WORLD RECORDS.
be translated. There are no exceptions to this.

Translations of ‘Official Attempt’ or ‘Record


Holder’ are permitted as these are not capable
of being trademarks. GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS

Check: do all trademarks match on the material? (e.g. logo and word mark are both R on a printed material in a registered country)

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Applying Trademark Rules

So, to put the first 3 rules together:


When using as an adjective, GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS is in all caps and carries the applicable trademark
notice in its first usage.
Examples:

a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ attempt a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ achievement

a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ record title a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ adjudicator

a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ challenge in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® or ™ book

Rules 1–3 do not apply to company references.


When referring to the company, Guinness World Records is not in all caps, and no trademark notice should be used.
Examples:

We received guidelines from Guinness World


An adjudicator from Guinness World Records
Records

We are waiting for our record verification from Guinness World Records announced that we have
Guinness World Records a new record!

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Examples of Correct Usage – Press Release

Incorrect spelling of Guinness

(CLIENT NAME) CELEBRATES


Needs to be used
100TH ANNIVERSARY BY BREAKING (CLIENT NAME) CELEBRATES
as adjective and
A GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ TITLE 100TH ANNIVERSARY BY BREAKING add TM notice
A GUINESS WORLD RECORD
Manchester UK, 1st March 2021:
(Client name) is thrilled to announce that they Manchester UK, 1st March 2021:
are the new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS (Client name) is thrilled to announce that they Wordmark needs
title holder for the Largest plastic bottle are the new Guinness World Record holder to be in caps/bold
mosaic (logo). Hundreds of employees for the Largest bottle mosaic. Hundreds of
gathered at the company’s head office to build employees gathered at the company’s head
the record-breaking mosaic to celebrate the office to build the record breaking mosaic to
company’s 100th Anniversary. celebrate the company’s 100th Anniversary.
Full record title
An official judge from Guinness World An official judge from Guinness was on hand required
Records was on hand to verify the record and to verify the record and confirmed that the
confirmed that the mosaic measuring 115m2 mosaic measuring 115m2 was a new world
was a new world record. record.
Jo Smith, Marketing Director said: “We wanted Jo Smith, Marketing Director said: “We wanted Record-breaking
to do something really special to celebrate our to do something really special to celebrate our must be
100th Anniversary and what could be more hyphenated
100th Anniversary and what could be more
special than breaking a GUINNESS WORLD special than breaking a GUINNESS WORLD
RECORDS title? We’re really proud to be a RECORDS title? We’re really proud to be a
record holder.” record-holder.”
Company name
must be in full

Record holder is not hyphenated

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LOGO RULES
Our logos | How to use them | Examples of usage

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Logos available for licence

The Official Attempt and Record Holder logos.

Only use logo files sent to you from Guinness World Records. Please don’t use versions that you may have found
online or anywhere else

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Logo – Usage Rules

Ensure the logo is very clearly visible - do not cover the logo in any way.

Ensure the trademark notice is correct and visible.

If using one of our logos with other company logos, please ensure that our logo is of
equal size and stature to the other logos.

Do not place the logo at an angle or distort the logo in any way.

Do not crop the logo in any way – ensure the full logo is in view.

Do not translate the words GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS.

Do not add drop shadows, outlines or any other effects to the logo.

Do not use the logo in any other colours than those shown in these guidelines.

Do not add any extra elements to the logo.

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Logo – Size and Spacing

When using any of our logos you must


allocate enough clear space from other
elements so no part of the logo becomes
obscured or crowded.

Use the star in the logo as a guide to the


amount of clear space to leave.

The Official Attempt and Record Holder logos should not appear smaller than 10mm or 40 pixels.

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Logo – Colour

Most of our company logos come in two colour variants:

Full Colour White


Guinness World Records prefers to use the This is often used when the background is either a colour
full-colour version of all its logos in most instances, that strongly clashes with the full-colour logo, or when the
and especially in instances where its brand colour family background is a dark/saturated colour (it works especially
is not represented elsewhere on the artwork. well on the Guinness World Records navy blue).

Single – Neutral Gold (strictly Record Holder ONLY)


This variant is only used when the logo in question is Should you qualify to use the Record Holder logo, you
being used in processes such as embossing. It is also can use an all-gold variant on your artwork (subject to
used in the rare situation that colour printing is not agreement and approval).
possible (e.g. a press release in black & white).

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Logo – Positioning

The positioning of any of our company logos is generally flexible. It is not required to appear in
a specific location on the canvas, however you should ensure the logo’s positioning adheres to
these rules:

Avoid placing the logo anywhere that might imply


Avoid placing the logo over busy areas such as
false affiliations (e.g. next to a company logo that
photographs or harsh textures.
has no connection with Guinness World Records).

We are the

Don’t place the logo in a position where its


visibility is reduced (e.g. white logo on a white or Don’t integrate the logo into a line of text.
light grey background).

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Examples of Correct and Incorrect Usage

Client/partner logos
should not be next
to the GUINNESS
WORLD RECORDS
star-and-pedestal
logo.

The word GUINNESS


should always be the
same size, font and
colour as the words
WORLD RECORDS.

The GUINNESS
WORLD RECORDS
word mark
must always be Use ™ for all online usage
reproduced in full. (unless geotargeted) and in
countries where the word
mark is not registered.

These rules apply to all materials including videos, merchandise etc. so please use these examples for guidance. 18
Checklist

As well as following the rules set out in this guide, check the following:

Client/partner logo should be close to the record title

Client/partner logos should not be next to the Guinness World Records logo,
but they should be the same size and prominence

The full record title must be on all materials

The date and location of the record attempt must be on ALL materials

All assets using GWR trademarks should be in their own brand style,
and not that of Guinness World Records

Send all assets featuring GWR trademarks to your contact at GWR for approvals prior to using them

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PHOTOS, COPYRIGHT & CREDITS

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Certificate

The GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS certificate

A GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS certificate is the Please take note to temporarily


ultimate representation of achievement, and remove the Perspex panel on the
only successful claimants will be awarded with certificate before any photography
or filming to avoid glare.
an official certificate. These remain exclusive
property of Guinness World Records and cannot
be reproduced.

Photographing the Certificate

As the certificate is such an important part of the Please note, we do not offer
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS brand identity, digital versions of our certificate.
we take extra care over how the certificate is ONLY printed versions are available.
photographed.

We require that the record holder is


photographed holding the certificate rather
than the certificate being photographed
alone. Doing so captures not just the record An image of a certificate is not an
that the certificate represents, but also the option instead of a record holder
logo on promotional materials.
record holder, and the emotion that comes
It should only be used as a photo
with the ultimate achievement of earning a
with the record holder.
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title.

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Copyright Notice & Credits

Copyright Notices
A copyright notice indicates who owns the copyright in the
item to which it is applied and the date of the first publication.
e.g. © 2019 Guinness World Records Limited

The date specified in the copyright line should be the year in


which the material under copyright (the product, packaging,
promotional item etc.) is first “published”. This is normally the
year in which it is first sold to the public.

If you redesign or refresh any aspect of a product, packaging


or promotional item, the copyright date must be amended to
reflect the change. For example, if you refresh content in 2018
that was first published in 2014, please use the notice:

© 2019, 2014 Guinness World Records Limited

The copyright line provides full legal protection only when


used in its entirety. Therefore, it must appear as shown in
these guidelines, even when space is restricted.

The copyright line can appear very small as long as it is legible.

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Photography Credits

Guinness World Records’ Copyright


Whenever Guinness World Records copyright
is used – either photography, design or book
cover – the credits are as follows:

© 20XX Guinness World Records Limited

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SOCIAL MEDIA

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Our Social Media Channels

If you’re planning on posting about your official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS attempt on social media,
please do be sure to tag our social channels. Please ensure you’ve submitted any hashtags you’re
planning to use for the event with your contact at GWR to ensure branding is correct.

@GuinnessWorldRecords @GuinnessWorldRecords @GWR

/GuinnessWorldRecords @GuinnessWorldRecords @GWR

/GuinnessWorldRecords

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Social Media Posts – Examples

Twitter Instagram Facebook


@GWR @GuinnessWorldRecords @guinnessworldrecords

Suggested hashtag #guinnessworldrecords Please note that when you begin typing our username
with the @ symbol, you’ll have the option to tag our
official page

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Guinness World Records
Global Brand Guidelines
© 2021 Guinness World Records Limited

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