What’s In a Brand?

When it comes to a company and their “brand” it is often confusing to people when they are asked to explain what it means. Sometimes when someone tries to explain a brand, they get to talking about the company logo, what they make or do, what colors they use on their website or what font they use in their e-newsletters. This is a common response but we are here to explain why that isn’t how you should be talking about your brand.

You see, a company’s brand is so much more than what you see or what you are trying to sell. A brand is, above all, the company’s passion. That may sound a little bit hokey so let’s see if we can explain that a little bit more.

When you think of a company like Coca Cola, what do you think their brand is? Here are some hints: it has nothing to do with soda, beverages or polar bears. We would argue that Coke is trying to bring nostalgic joy to its customers across the world. What about Nike? It is more than just shoes. If we were to put it into words, Nike is working to provide a way for everyone to be healthy and fit. Let’s try one more. What about Apple? They don’t just make cool computers and phones, right? Right. They do more than just that. Their brand is all about challenging the status quo.

So, think about your company and your brand. You may be surprised to find that it is a lot simpler than you would have thought it to be. And that is ok. Your brand should be the very basic passion, the very basic reason that you are in business in the first place.

So, that brings us to the next point. What does branding mean? Well, branding is that stuff you can see. So, for Coke it is the Norman Rockwell-ish images, the bright red color, the polar bears – it is how they choose to communicate their brand. Now remember, that great branding is a lot harder than it looks. It has to effectively communicate the brand and it needs to speak (or appeal) to the target consumer. It is really one of those things that you should bring in professionals to handle for you.

Coming up next week we will be talking about some of our favorite brands. Stay tuned.