Create a Strong Brand Identity
“Brand is not what you say it is. Its what they say it is.”
Marty Neumeier | The Brand Gap
So what is a brand? The brand is simply the promise or the big idea. It is the thoughts that a person has in their mind when they consider a company, a product, a person, a service, or a community. It is not a logo, a letterhead a website or any other kind of visual paraphernalia. (These are the external visual expressions of a brand; part of the identity of the brand).
“Essentially the brand is the perception that somebody has about a product or service.It’s all in the mind! This is the key.”
Everybody and everything has a brand in the crudest sense. When you think of a person you know, what comes to mind? Do you have endearing memories, or negative ones? How do they dress? What does that tell you about them? What overarching impression do you have of them? What do you think when their name gets mentioned? This is their brand, whether they like it or not, whether they want one or not; that collection of feelings and judgments about them is their brand. It’s not a matter of branding or not branding – its more a question of wether or not you will manage the brand that you already have. The alternative is to let other people develop there own perception of who you are, from sources other than your own. Whenever a prospect comes into contact with your company or service or products, they receive a message that either strengthens or undermines what you want to communicate: from advertising to word of mouth. This is what you need to manage.
Its not a matter of creating a brand, but rather, what are you going to do with the one you already have?
What is brand identity? So where does the logo come in? Well, it’s part of the brand identity. Consider it like this; brands speak to the heart, and the brand identity addresses the senses. It allows the prospect to see, hold, feel, hear and sense the brand. The brand name and the brand’s logo are two important elements of an arsenal of resources that increase awareness about the properties and benefits
of your brand.
How and why does it work?
When brand identity works, it really works. Brand identity is the outside stimulus that triggers recognition – it addresses the senses and starts the consumer thinking about whatever the brand means in their mind. This happens predominantly through sight. But by no means essentially. When you hear Intel’s brand ‘bell’ at the end of a TV advert or when a computer starts up, you know its Intel. Through repeated exposure, recognition is strengthened. When done well, you don’t even need a logo. For example a brown van comes around the corner you know that it’s a UPS van, or when you see a red advert out of the corner of your eye, you know its about Virgin, and in both cases that recognition will trigger your thoughts about the company.
Are there short cuts? Can’t we just go directly to a logo?
The short answer to that is No. Its important to develop the brand properly. Producing a logo is not an exercise in style or looking good, it will work best if it is actually a product of understanding your internal identity. The logo should be a visual expression of your vision. To jump directly to a logo is to miss the point. The reason that good logos work is because of the brand that underpins them.
