Brand Basics
Brand Basics
Brand Basics
Brand Basics
This is an outline of my branding studies, I will be summarizing all the information I
learn throughout my studies and researches into small presentations hoping it will
make good and easy references for people who are looking to understand and learn
more about branding.
In this presentation I will talk about the Brand basics and I will cover the following:
- What is brand?
Whats a Brand?
Language is supposed to illuminate meaning, but it doesnt always work that way.
As usage evolves, definitions become unmoored, and different people start using
the same word to mean entirely different things.
Brand is one of those words that is widely used but unevenly understood. What
does brand mean, and how has the words application changed over time?
The first definition of brand is the name given to a product or service from a
specific source. Used in this sense, brand is similar to the current meaning of
the word trademark.
More than a century ago, cattle ranchers used branding irons to indicate which
animals were theirs. As the cattle moved across the plains on their way to
Chicago slaughter houses, it was easy to determine which ranches they were from
because each head of cattle was branded.
Whats a Brand?
With the rise of packaged goods in the 19 century, producers put their mark on a
widening array of productscough drops, flour, sugar, beerto indicate their
source. In the late 1880s, for example, as the Coca-Cola Company was getting
started, there were many soda producers in every market. Before Coca-Cola
could get a customer to reach for a Coke, it needed to be sure the customer
could distinguish a Coke from all the other fizzy caramel-colored beverages out
there.
th
In the first sense of the word, then, a brand is simply the non-generic name for a
product that tells us the source of the product. A Coke is a fizzy caramel-colored
soda concocted by those folks in Atlanta.
In earlier times, we referred to these non-generic names as brand names.
Between 1945 and 1965, marketers might have said that Proctor & Gamble sold a
laundry detergent under the brand name Tide. Nowadays, people would simply
say P&G sells the Tide brand of laundry detergent. Problem is, the shorthand
suggests theres no difference between a brand name and a brand. But, in
contemporary marketing, there is.
Whats a Brand?
Beginning in the later part of the 20th century, marketers began to
grasp there was more to the perception of distinctive products and
services than their namessomething David Ogilvy described as
the intangible sum of a products attributes. Marketers realized
that they could create a specific perception in customers minds
concerning the qualities and attributes of each non-generic product
or service. They took to calling this perception the brand.
Put simply, your brand is what your prospect thinks of when he or
she hears your brand name. Its everything the public thinks it
knows about your name brand offeringboth factual (e.g. It comes
in a robins-egg-blue box), and emotional (e.g. Its romantic). Your
brand name exists objectively; people can see it. Its fixed. But
your brand exists only in someones mind.
Marty Neumeier
Whats a Brand?
Whats a Brand?
Brands have three primary functions:
- Navigation: Brands help consumers choose from a bewildering array or
choices.
- Reassurance: Brands communicate the intrinsic quality of the product or
service and reassure customers that they have made the right choice.
- Engagement: Brands use distinctive imagery, language, and associations to
encourage customers to identify with the brand.
These are important to remember when beginning the branding process for your
company or for re-branding a current company. If you are a small business looking
to brand yourself, take your time! It is a long process that needs to be done
correctly in order for your brand to grow and compete in the market.
George Eliot
Brand Touchpoints
Social Networks Sales Promotion Advertising
Environments Experiences Websites Newsletters
Business Forms Signage Packaging Exhibits
Proposals Emails Voicemails Publications Apps
Letterheads Business Cards Billboards Ephemera
Vehicles Services Products Employees Speeches
Presentations Video Mobile Word of Mouth Trade
Shows Direct Mail Public Relations Blogs
-Jonas Persson
Resources:
Designing Brand Identity - Alina Wheeler
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrymclaughlin/
2011/12/21/what-is-a-brand-anyway/
http://www.blackbeardesign.com/branding-101-what-isa-brand/
http://brandtouchpointmatrix.com