a working definition of brands and branding

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A working definition of Brands and Branding.

by JOHN FURGURSON on JANUARY 14, 2010

Welcome to the new-and-improved Brand Insight Blog. I·m moving forward this week by going

back« back to fundamentals and to the most frequently asked questions of all:

1. What exactly IS branding, anyway?

2. And why should the average business owner care?

No doubt, the semantics of marketing and branding can be very confusing. Every firm, consultant,

author and marketing professor has a slightly different spin on the subject of branding, and it·s

easy to fall into that classic, insider·s trap«

So I·m attempting to aggregate the best of them, and boil it all down to something you can

actually use in your day-to-day business.

First, let·s distinguish between ́ brandµ as a

corporate mark or logo, and ́ brandµ as an overriding business concept.

When business executives talk about ́ the Nike Brandµ or ́ the Pepsi Brandµ with a capital B,

they·re not referring to the new logo. They·re referring to something more wholistic. More

conceptual. And far bigger than just design.

This, from Wikipedia: ́ A brand is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and

consists of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.µ



´Symbolic Constructµ seems a bit academic to me. How about ́ gut feeling.µ

Or this simplified definition, from the book, BrandSimple: ´A brand is what your product or

service stands for in people·s minds. Brands live in your head« Mental associations that get stirred

up when you think of a particular car or camera or watch or pair of jeans.µ

Scott Bedbury, of Nike and Starbucks fame, concurs: ́ Brands become living, psychological

concepts we hold in our minds for years.µ

In Brand W arfar e, David F. D·Alessandro, CEO of John Hancock said, ́ A brand is whatever the

consumer thinks of when he hears your company·s name. Branding is everything«µ

And everything is branding«

The words you choose. The way you behave. The conversations you have. The card you hand out.

The promises you make. The people you hire. The values you hold dear. The values you could care

less about. The vendors you choose. The money you make, or don·t make. And, of course, the

experience people have with the product or service you provide.

Like it or not. it all matters. Because it·s the culmination of all those little things that makes ´the

brand.µ

Which leads to another worthwhile distinction: The difference between the noun ´brand,µ and

the verb ́ branding.µ

´Some companies equate branding with marketing,µ says Jasper Kunde, author of Corporate

Religion. ´Design a sparkling new logo, run an exciting new campaign, and voila, you·re back on

course. They are wrong. Branding is bigger. Much bigger.µ

If a brand is a set of mental associations about a company, then BrandING is the process of helping

people formulate those associations. If advertising is ´getting your name out there,µ Branding is

attaching something to your name.

It·s a never-ending effort to conduct business in a way that will result in a better ´brandµ. It goes

way beyond advertising or marketing communications. Because what you SAY does not carry as

much weight as what you DO.



Tom Peters says, ́ Branding is ultimately about nothing more and nothing less than heart. It·s

about passion« what you care about. It·s about what·s inside you, your team, your division, your

company.

The trick is figuring that out. Defining your passion. Naming your values. Being true to yourself.

And then aligning your operation accordingly. So everything you do comes from the heart.

That·s why every business owner and executive should care about branding.

a working definition of brands and branding

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