What is a brand?
A brand is a product or business that has a distinct identity among consumers. A brand is created through design, packaging, and advertising elements that distinguish a product from its competitors. This product contributes to the company’s brand value. Successful brands bring significant value to a company and give it a competitive edge over other companies in its industry. Therefore, many companies obtain trademarks to legally protect their brands.
Important points
Successful brands communicate the quality of their products to consumers. Product design, logos, packaging, and advertising messages are all tailored to convey the brand’s message to consumers. A brand is often one of a company’s most important and valuable assets. Companies can: Protect your brand by registering a trademark to protect your brand elements.
understand the brand
A brand is a specific characteristic that identifies a company’s products and services. This feature can be a name, slogan, logo, or design. Common examples include Nike’s Swoosh, the Golden Arches, and Maxwell House’s slogan, “Good to the Last Drop.” When you see or hear these, you are much more likely to identify the company and its products or services.
Companies spend a lot of time and money developing and maintaining their brands, which requires a lot of research and marketing. Once a company is established, brands such as trademarks are valuable assets and they seek legal ways to protect them.
Brands convey the message that their products are more effective, easier to use, taste better, cheaper, more premium, more fashionable, and more environmentally friendly than their competitors. This is especially difficult when the product has cheaper alternatives. For example, Advil is the brand name for ibuprofen. Through effective advertising and packaging, the parent company is trying to convince consumers that Advil’s ibuprofen is a better option than cheaper generic versions.
New brands have a very urgent need to establish themselves among consumers. To build customer loyalty, brands need to communicate how their products can be delivered, are fun to buy, are functional, have value, and are memorable to customers. At the core of brand building is understanding your customer base and knowing how to deliver on each of these aspects.
brand marketing
Successful marketing keeps your company’s brand front and center in people’s minds, at least in the moment of decision-making. That’s why a brand is considered one of the most valuable and important assets for a company. This creates significant financial value, impacting both revenue and, in the case of public companies, shareholder value.
A company can become inseparable from its brand. Even though the company now owns hundreds of brands, including Schweppes, Dasani and Hi-Cee, the soft drink Coca-Cola has become synonymous with itself.
Why trademark?
Trademarks identify exclusive ownership of a brand and its associated marketing tools. Registering a trademark prevents others from using substantially identical products or services without permission.
brand history
The concept of brands can be traced back to 2000 BC, when merchants began looking at ways to sell their products more effectively. Merchants in ancient Babylon used sales pitches to attract customers. Craftsmen branded items or engraved symbols to indicate their origin. Tavern owners had posted attractive signs outside.
The term branding for product marketing may have been used in the 19th century, when Western ranchers began using irons to mark their livestock with ranch initials and symbols. Although their original purpose was more protection from cattle rustling than marketing, the association stuck.
Branding as mass marketing began in the 19th century, when sellers of products such as flour began thinking about how to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
How to create a brand
When a company seeks to define its public image, it must first determine its brand identity – how it wants to be seen by the public. The goal is to make your brand memorable and appealing to your target consumers, including hip singles, couples with young children, and wealthy retirees.
Businesses may use a design firm or logo design software to come up with ideas for visual aspects of their brand, such as a logo. Successful brands accurately express the message and emotion they want to convey. This creates brand awareness, an awareness of who the brand is and what it has to offer.
When a brand creates positive emotions among its target audience, a company is said to have built brand equity. Companies with brand equity and highly recognizable product brands include Disney, Coca-Cola, Ferrari, Apple, and Nike.
If done correctly, branding will increase sales not only of the specific product being sold, but also of other products sold by the same company. A good brand creates trust, and after a consumer has had a positive experience with one product, they are more likely to try another product related to the same brand. This phenomenon is known as brand loyalty.
Consumers buy brands that reflect their values. According to a 2022 report by market research firm Leger, a brand’s social responsibility efforts are important to 64% of consumers.
brand type
The type of brand used depends on the company using it. Below are some of the most common forms of branding.
corporate brand
Corporate branding is a way for companies to improve their reputation and differentiate themselves from competitors in the same industry. A company’s pricing, mission, and target market all reflect the company’s brand. The goal is to define their character, purpose, and values. As mentioned above, companies commonly use logos, slogans, images, style, and messaging as tools to communicate their brand.
Some of the most notable examples of corporate branding include Google, Apple, Nike, Tesla, and Starbucks. These companies not only built their product brands, but also used promotions, slogans, and other tools to increase their visibility in the market.
personal brand
Thanks to social media, ordinary people can now become influencers. Their financial success depends on their ability to build brands that attract the audiences a particular advertiser wants to reach. A personal brand is built through social media posts, image and video sharing, and interactions.
Members of the Kardashian family established their brand value after gaining popularity on the long-running reality show. Collectively and individually, they have successfully used their names to launch media and modeling careers, spin-off shows, and cosmetics, perfume, and clothing lines.
For example, Kylie Jenner sold 51% of her makeup line, Kylie Cosmetics, to Coty for $600 million in 2020. This is largely due to the success of her social media presence, which reached 397 million followers on Instagram as of September 2024.
product brand
Introducing new products and supporting existing products includes creating and maintaining brands. Product branding begins with market research and identifying the right target market.
Companies may choose to create a master brand identity. Virgin Group, founded by Richard Branson, includes hotels, telecommunications and airlines, but all sub-brands inherit a master brand identity.
Top Global Brands 2023
According to Interbrand’s ranking, the world’s top five brands in 2023 were Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Samsung. Microsoft’s score was up a whopping 14% year over year.
Brand benefits
Creating a brand offers many benefits to businesses and individuals. Companies that communicate their message well are able to provoke and evoke emotions in their customers, thereby creating unique relationships. Businesses rely on these customers to attract other customers. This allows businesses to build trust and credibility and gain a competitive edge against their competitors.
It also helps companies introduce new products and services. Consumers remain loyal to brands they know, trust, and already have a relationship with. Therefore, they are more likely to spend money when a new product is launched, even if it is expensive.
Apple is a classic example. The company has built an extremely loyal customer base who are willing to ignore the hefty price tags that come with an iMac, MacBook, iPad, or iPhone because of their loyalty to the brand. The company’s customers do not hesitate to replace their existing Apple gadgets every time the company releases a new Apple gadget.
brand examples
Companies use brands to give consumers a reason to buy their products rather than those of their competitors. We’ve covered some examples from major brands above, but here are two more.
Introduced in the 1950s, the Good Hands® Beacon and slogan “You’re in Good Hands®” have become synonymous with Allstate. They suggest that the company’s insurance customers can trust the company to be reliable and competent when they need support. The commercial reinforces the message.
Other slogans may be difficult to translate, but are an essential part of your brand’s identity. For example, the slogan for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies was “Snap!” Crackle! pop! ” It’s been around since the 1930s. The idea is that the cereal adds a soothing sound to breakfast and evokes the image of the cheerful elf it represents.
What is a brand in marketing?
A brand is a product or service that has a unique and instantly recognizable identity that distinguishes it from other products in its industry. Consumers associate product names, labels, and packaging with specific attributes such as value, quality, and taste.
A cough suppressant is just a cough suppressant. But when you go to buy those bags, you might choose Ricola, Luden’s, or Beekeeper’s Naturals based at least in part on the brand message you receive.
What is brand equity?
Brand equity is the commercial value of a product’s reputation to the company that owns it. A company’s price may be determined by adding up the value of its buildings, inventory, and equipment. However, if a company owns one or more brands that have a strong reputation with consumers, its value increases.
Can great brands last forever?
Some brands have been around for centuries, such as Stella Artois, which dates back to 1366. The Chevrolet Suburban is a car brand that dates back to 1935 and is still in circulation today.
At the same time, some of America’s greatest brands disappeared. They may not have kept up with the times, or the company that owned them may have been mismanaged.
BobVila.com lists once well-known brands that have all disappeared, including Borders, Pan American, FW Woolworth, Toys R Us, Blockbuster, Tower Records, Compaq, Oldsmobile, and Howard Johnson’s. I am.
To be fair, Toys R Us returned in 2022 as a Macy’s store-within-a-store.
conclusion
When most people hear the word “brand,” they think of a logo, slogan, or other recognizable mark. But that’s only part of the definition. The term “brand” is actually an intangible marketing concept that helps people recognize and identify a product and, at best, reach for it instead of its competitors.
A company’s brand is one of the most important and valuable assets a company owns. They can make or break a company. Therefore, before launching a new product, companies identify their target market and conduct extensive research. From there, every aspect of your content, design, and marketing will be tailored to the brand identity you want to create for that market.
