The More You Know : Brand Edition
Did you know that every 3 minutes someone misuses the word "Brand"?
Ok, I can't back that up, but the word "brand" does get used pretty liberally these days, and I often hear it interchanged with the word "logo" or "identity" (ie. i wanted to put my branding in the top left corner of the website).
Let's try and offer some clarity to the confusion.
A logo is a symbol that embodies and represents the brand, but it is only one sliver of a much bigger branding pie. Sometimes its hard to explain but a brand is a living, breathing, organic creature constantly being shaped and shuffled with meaning. To put your "branding" in the top left corner of your website would be to squeeze in your people, your attitudes, your values, your promises, your product offerings, your look and feel, your personality, your distinctions, your loves, and your loathes. That's a big website.
Together we can all work together to stop the mistreatment of brand terminology.
Now, its your turn! How would you describe the word "Brand"?
3 Comments
"I would say that a brand to a business is what a soul to a body!!
It is this intangible thing that represents the business purpose of existence, meanings, values, culture, and future. On the same time, it is what customers see, think, and imagine when the business name or products/services come across their minds …
Simply put, it is a priceless business asset that needs to be created, nurtured, and maintained …"
- Saad Al Dosari
"I love that analogy. A brand really is the intrinsic soul of a company manifested into exterior mediums. Thanks Saad."
- Blake Howard
"I wrote this a few years ago. I think it still applies:
http://www.mikelandman.com/mikelandman/2005/07/brand.html
For me the word brand is pretty much the company equivalent of "personality." For human beings I use the word personality, and for companies I use brand. It is all-encompassing and sometimes vague and subjective. Just like personalities. Sometimes an entire personality is flawed (think Michael Moore or Enron), and sometimes certain behaviors don't fit the personality (any US president in a baseball cap, or the VW Phaeton)."
- Mike Landman