Search results
Mar 1, 2024 · Brand: The emotional and psychological connection your customers have with your company, product or service. It is their collective perception and impression. Branding is the act of shaping that perception. Brand identity: This is the visual and verbal expression of the brand. It is tangible; you can see it, touch it, hold it, hear it, watch it.
brand: [noun] a charred piece of wood. firebrand 1. something (such as lightning) that resembles a firebrand.
- Overview
- History of brands and brand marketing
- Tools, uses, and dangers of branding
- Benefits of strong brands
- Controversy over branding
- Challenges in the digital age
marketing
Written byScott Galloway
Scott Galloway
Scott Galloway is Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business, a serial entrepreneur, and a New York Times–bestselling author.
Fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The term brand originates from the Middle English word for torch and the Old English verb meaning “to burn,” as well as from the historic practice of identifying goods with the mark of a firebrand (a burning piece of wood) and, later, a hot or cold iron. The branded “goods” might be the assets themselves (as with the hot-iron branding of cattle, a practice common as far back as ancient Egypt) or the barrels and boxes containing the products. Even enslaved people and criminals, for purposes of identification and punishment, have been branded throughout history.
Producers have been marking their goods for millennia—there are stones, for example, from ancient Egypt marked with a symbol of the quarry they hail from that are 6,000 years old and Chinese pottery marked to indicate the potter who made it that are from 4,000 to 5,000 years old. The use of brand names to denote manufacturers became widespread in Europe in the late Middle Ages. Such branding soon became legally mandated. In 1266 the English Parliament enacted a law requiring bakers to mark loaves of bread made for sale, and, in the centuries that followed, European courts developed a body of law protecting the rights of producers to own their names and marks.
With the rise of industrial-scale manufacturing and the widespread geographical distribution of products, reliable identification of goods became increasingly important, as consumers no longer purchased directly from local producers. By the late 19th century, manufacturers of all kinds were using stylized text, logos, and colour schemes not just to identify their goods but to distinguish them in a crowded marketplace through promises of superior quality or value. Advertising agencies also emerged, notably J. Walter Thompson Co., which pioneered early techniques of using magazine advertisements to connect products with generalized associations such as the longing for luxury, security, or love. Coca-Cola, Ivory Soap, and Colgate all emerged as brands during this period with the support of extensive advertising campaigns.
Advertisement for Tabasco sauce, 1905.
McIlhenny Company Archives, Avery Island, La.
The reach and evocative power of mass media, such as radio and especially television, facilitated the modern era of branding. Manufacturers, led by American consumer packaged goods companies, began investing heavily in advertising, not just to raise awareness of their brands but to build specific emotional associations with their products. Brand management thus became an organizational concept. Procter & Gamble Company was a pioneer in such brand management, rejecting the notion of a single corporate marketing department and instead putting each of its branded products (e.g., Ivory, Tide, Crest, Crisco) under a separate management team, responsible for identifying a specific consumer segment and building a brand to appeal to that specific kind of buyer. By the 1950s, this strategy had become the standard marketing model in consumer-goods companies.
At its core, a brand is a name, but nearly all brands are associated with other symbols, including logos, colours, taglines, and music. Over time, these symbols can acquire substantial monetary value and are generally protected through trademark law. Brand managers must be careful to keep control over their brand elements, or trademark protection can be lost. Large brands typically have detailed internal rules about the use of brand imagery, precise colours, and design elements. Ironically, great success in brand marketing can be fatal, leading to genericide: when a brand, due to market saturation, becomes the generic term for the product itself and loses its legal protection. Aspirin, for example, was once a trademark of the Bayer company, and cellophane was formerly a DuPont trademark. Consequently, companies that have built popular brands such as Google, Photoshop, and Kleenex must be careful in communications and with partners to prevent their brands from becoming generic, legally useable terms.
Pepsi-Cola Company
There are also assorted powerful branding tools. The use of sound, for example, has evolved from classic advertising “jingles” (e.g., “The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup” for Folgers Coffee) to signature sounds, such as HBO’s “static angel” intro, Netflix’s “ta-dum,” or Intel’s five-note “bong.” A signature colour can also be powerful, because of how widely it can be used—at the point of sale, for product extensions, and in advertising—once the colour is established in the minds of consumers. Examples include Tiffany’s turquoise blue, T-Mobile’s pink, and Home Depot’s orange.
Tiffany & Co.'s signature turquoise blue bag and box.
© Jeff Whyte/Dreamstime.com
For most brands, though, the primary means of building awareness and associations are through advertising, still a multibillion-dollar industry. In this classic marketing approach, the brand is advertised in a scene or narrative intended to evoke the desired associations. AT&T, for example, has for decades promoted the power of a phone call to bridge the geographical divide, keeping families and loved ones connected. But advertising has progressed beyond obvious commercials, as companies seek to reach consumers in more subtle ways, such as through product placement in films and television programs, affiliation with celebrities and “influencers” (either by using them as spokespersons or by sponsoring their events), and association with admired causes (such as environmentalism or disaster relief). These tactics can generate much greater returns than traditional advertising—in 1982, for example, Hershey paid $1 million to feature a new candy, Reese’s Pieces, in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and enjoyed a 65 percent increase in sales and a lasting association with a beloved movie character. Today, there are entire advertising agencies devoted to linking brands with movies, social media personalities, and special events.
The foundational virtue of a strong brand is pricing power. A well-branded product will sell for more than an otherwise identical generic one. But strong brands have other virtues. They give companies a head start into new product areas and opportunities through brand extensions. Apple’s iPhones, iPods, and AirPods headphones all benefited from the tailwind of the Apple brand. Gmail is trusted by millions of users in part because it comes from Google, a company that was already their main portal to the Internet.
Strong brands are also moats against incursions by competitors. Dominant brands often “own” the most valuable associations in a category, and challenger brands must either spend prodigious amounts on marketing to compete head-to-head with them or adopt niche positions to carve out a smaller market share. In the U.S., for example, T-Mobile is the second largest wireless carrier, but it came into the market with lesser brand awareness than the leaders, Verizon and AT&T, so it built the T-Mobile brand in express contrast with them, calling itself the “Un-carrier.” Trusted brands are also better suited to survive difficult times. The Tylenol brand survived a terrifying poison scare in 1982 in part because it had been part of consumer’s lives for nearly 30 years. Coca-Cola emerged from a failed attempt to reformulate its core product (“New Coke”) stronger than ever when the controversial change reinvigorated consumers’ lifelong associations with Coca-Cola. Brands without those years of established associations, however, can be more fragile. Soon after Ford introduced the Pinto, the model suffered a series of highly publicized fiery crashes. Lacking the ballast of other associations, the brand became known for those crashes, even though the car (which Ford knew was potentially dangerous) was no more dangerous than many other cars of its era. Ford abandoned the brand name.
Testing bottles of Extra Strength Tylenol with a chemically treated paper that turns blue in the presence of cyanide, Chicago, 1982. Such testing followed in the wake of the Tylenol poisoning tragedy that killed seven people in the Chicago area and led to a mass recall of the over-the-counter drug.
John Swart—AP/Shutterstock.com
Branding has its critics. Some argue that the increased price charged for branded products is exploitative, a means of using the power of mass media to manipulate people into wasteful spending. Specific brands, products, and advertising campaigns have also been charged with promoting harmful stereotypes, unhealthy pastimes, and unattainable ideals....
The worldwide use of the Internet has spurred the most profound change to brand strategy since the rise of mass media in the 20th century. At their core, brands are a means of communication, one historically controlled by the manufacturer and owner of the brand. In a digital marketplace, however, consumers have great access to information and a global audience as well as novel means and tools for publishing their thoughts. As a consequence, brand owners have much less control over the ways their brands are used, viewed, and critiqued. A traditional television commercial or magazine advertisement, for example, is a self-contained, unalterable experience. Online, however, consumers or critics can use brand assets in unexpected ways, often subverting the brand owner’s mission and message. Parody accounts on social media, for instance, can associate unflattering messages with apparently legitimate brand imagery. Even a brand’s own website or social media channel can become a forum for criticism and competitive voices. In 2022, after Twitter relaxed the requirements to obtain a “blue check” that indicates a legitimate account, pranksters made accounts in the name of various corporations and tweeted messages associating, for example, Eli Lilly with price gouging for insulin, Chiquita with Latin American dictatorships, and Tesla with automobile crashes.
Because the Internet delivers news and data directly to consumers, buyers are also less reliant now on brands to convey information about a particular product or service. Before the Internet, for instance, a business traveler headed to a new city likely would have booked a room at a familiar branded hotel, such as the Hilton or Ritz-Carlton. Now, in just a few minutes, travelers can identify boutique options more akin to their likes, closer to their destination, and otherwise more valuable to them in distinct ways. The value of a brand as a signifier of quality has lessened in the online age.
Dec 13, 2023 · Brand: A brand is a distinguishing symbol, mark, logo, name, word or sentence that companies use to distinguish their product from others. A combination of one or more of those distinguishing ...
- Will Kenton
- 1 min
People also ask
What does branded mean?
What does brand mean in a sentence?
What does brand mean in marketing?
What is a brand & why is it important?
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and store value as brand equity for the object identified, to the benefit of the brand's customers, its owners and shareholders.
A brand is the sum of expressions by which an entity intends to be recognized. A definition should just tell things the way they are – what we then build on that is the important part. Loading expressions with meaning is what makes or breaks a good brand – and often, a good company.
Brand definition: the kind, grade, or make of a product or service, as indicated by a stamp, trademark, or the like. See examples of BRAND used in a sentence.
.jpg?width=1305&height=683&name=Brand-architecture%20(5).jpg&q=Which%20is%20the%20best%20definition%20of%20the%20word%20brand?&ck=58E4869D15CC3A8584F7B2B59F0EE66F&idpp=rc&idpview=singleimage&form=rc2idp "Which is the best definition of the word brand?3")
.jpg?width=1305&height=684&name=Brand-Value%20(4).jpg&q=Which%20is%20the%20best%20definition%20of%20the%20word%20brand?&ck=A638E74FB9036011F9F5CC1F2789A43C&idpp=rc&idpview=singleimage&form=rc2idp "Which is the best definition of the word brand?4")
