Definition: Brand

Cary, NC – From realtors to doctors, and from techies to tycoons, everybody talks about brand. Most of that talk is crap.

Based on 20+ years working for great agencies and companies including Saatchi & Saatchi, DMB&B, The New York Times and the NFL, here’s my take on brand.

What Is A Brand

A brand is the idea of your company.

It is not your product or service. It is your philosophy.

Brand Character

Brands are an embodiment of what you represent. Embodiment literally means turning something into a body, a person, a character.

Your brand character has the attributes you’d like people to associate with your organization.

I worked on Charmin for several years. Their brand character embodies softness, doing the best for your family and trustworthiness.

Brands Vs. Branding

Once you have a well-defined brand character, you can apply that concept to any related product or service.

Consider Nike Tennis Rackets. Nike started as a shoe company. At some point, they began leveraging their brand to include all manner of related sports gear.

“We should make a tennis racket,” someone must have once said. Great. But how to make it a Nike tennis racket?

Simple: apply the unique brand character of Nike to the generic object of a tennis racket. Make the new racket stylish, uncompromising and use top quality materials and workmanship. Make it excellent and cool.

Brand Unlocks Value

A cohesive brand differentiates products and services within a category.

I once heard ad legend Jack Bowen talk about TV sets in the old Soviet Union. All the TV sets looked the same and cost the same, but they were made in two different factories.

Let’s say one was in Moscow and the other in Siberia.

Soviet shoppers knew the TVs made in Moscow were far superior to the ones made in Siberia. Although both were priced the same in stores, shoppers would pay extra cash on the side to get a Moscow set.

Jack observed that this was an example of “primitive brand loyalty.” In a market economy, the Moscow plant would communicate its superiority in its branding, thus unlocking premium pricing for its product.

Brand and Your Character

A brand is an identity for your business. It is for others to consume. It is not a statement of who you are as a person.

My Brand

We offer a lot of services here at Goodtree & Co – photography, video, web development and copywriting. But that’s not our brand character.

Our brand stands for three things: Excellence, Creativity and Innovation. It’s baked into every email, post and picture we do.

Your Brand

What does your brand stand for? Can you define it in three words? Shoot me an email or post something in the comments.