What Is Branding?

A brand, in terms of marketing, can be tricky to define. What does it mean? What does it actually describe? Essentially, what is a brand?

It's not a word for a singular physical object you can actually lay your hands on, but so much importance is placed on the brand and branding that you have to ask, what is it, and why do companies spend enormous chunks of their budgets on getting it right?

Originally, a brand was a mark of ownership, and to this day I suppose it still carries the same connotation. These marks would be burned into the hides of livestock or onto property as an easy and visible means by which to distinguish the rightful owner; from which the idea of the corporate logo was more than likely conceived. You'll have seen the practice in the Westerns they always show on TV of a Sunday afternoon, where the cowboy sears the cattle's side with a sizzling iron, straight from the red hot coals. Hardly a pleasant experience for the cow, you can probably imagine.

But branding for the purposes of marketing, as opposed to simply marking out possession, didn't come about until the 19th Century.

Production - specifically of packaged goods - was becoming centralized with the dawn of the Industrial revolution, whereas before it had always been a very localized and small-scale operation. Factories were now mass-producing everyday household items on a grand scale with the intention of shipping them far and wide and these would be branded with the company insignia for the purposes of breaking into local markets that were only used to local produce. It instigated a familiarity with the product, which succeeded where generic packaging had failed. Bass Beers were the first company to register a brand with the red triangle that is synonymous with their product and also one of the world's oldest recognized logos. Even though Bass Breweries no longer exist, their brand is still going strong today.

Since then company brands have sprung up and fallen by the wayside at a rate of knots. Strong brands become instantly identifiable. You only have to look at the likes of Coca Cola, Apple or Nike, for instance, to see how successful branding can permeate the consciousness and instill a sense of understanding for the product, just by the name alone.

And that's what branding does.

That's what the brand is. It isn't just the logo design or the company name. It's the paper; the letterheads; the fixtures and the fittings. It's the whole identity. It's the copy protection; it's what distinguishes your company ahead of the crowd. It's the familiarity factor. It's the concept of knowing exactly what you're getting or what the company stands for without having to think. It creates the awareness of not just the product but the company too.

So you can see that a brand isn't simply something you can hold in your hands, touch, or feel. Without wanting to sound either pretentious or away with the fairies, it is all these things and more. It's what can make or break a company, regardless of the quality of its product, and it's a multi-billion pound industry.

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