Brand vs. Branding vs. brand identity

 

As an entrepreneur, you probably know that making a mark on your customers’ minds is highly valuable. By creating a recognizable, trusted and consistent image of your company, you’re able to win your customers’ attention and loyalty. Without that differentiation, they could easily flock to your competitors.

Simply put, a key success factor for your company is your brand.

Now, when most people think of brand, the first thing that comes to mind is a logo. While a logo is indeed a key brand element, and typically the most immediate visual association with a company, there’s much more to a brand than just a logo.

A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is—it is what consumers tell each other it is.

Scott Cook

 

What is a brand?

 

A brand is set of distinctive perceptions, ideas and feelings that people have about your company, which set it apart from alternatives.

Basically, your brand is what your consumers think of you. As Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit, puts it

The word “brand” is used pretty loosely these days.

For example, people might use the word “brand” to talk about logos, though a logo or identity is not a brand. But really, it’s much more than that.

Brand is a set of intangible assets of a company, service or product. It is a definition of an emotional relationship between customers and the business.

A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a company.

Every day we discover new products and new businesses. Whether it is a new product in your supermarket, a new tech company or the airline you’ve never heard about before.

Competition creates infinite choices and companies look for ways to connect emotionally with customers, become irreplaceable and create lifelong relationships.

So with that being said, brand is not what you say it is – it’s what they say it is.

Brand is a relationship.

 

 

What is brand identity?

 

So if brand is what they think about you, when you’re not in the room, then how you can influence that perception?

This is where the term “brand identity” comes into play.

Brand identity is tangible so it appeals to the senses.

Brand identity is what you can see. It fuels recognition, amplifies differentiation, and makes big ideas and meaning accessible.

You see it , touch it, hold it, hear it, watch it move.

To put it simply: everything that you can see (the visual language) is brand identity. Starting with typography, colors, logo, identity system through layout, grid, composition, motion graphic to packaging (print design) and social media graphics, web design (digital design) and much more.

Everything what is visual about a brand – we call it brand identity (or corporate identity, if you wish).

How many elements a brand identity system consist of depends entirely on how many touch points (applications) needs to be designed for a brand.

So next time you search for a “brand designer” you should rather considering searching for “brand identity designer” instead.

Brand Identity is what we can see.

The goal of a brand identity designer is to find artifacts that tell your story and engage people with who you are in a familiar and meaningful way.

That means ensuring every time your artifacts show up, they are consistent in their appearance, use, size, scope, color, feel, etc.

Some of these items are the name, logo, tone, tagline, typeface, and shape that create an appeal. Brand identity is a separate category from brand image.

Brand identity consists of elements like:

• logo or wordmark
• different logo lockups
• key colors (color palette)
• corporate typefaces
• standard typographic treatments
• consistent style for images
• library of graphic elements

 

What is branding?

 

So far we’ve learnt that brand is a relationship and brand identity is the design. Brand is intangible and brand identity is tangible.

We know that you don’t design a brand, but you build a brand instead. And we’ve learnt that what you design is brand identity.

What we discussed so far comes together as the process of branding.

Branding is a process.

It is a disciplined process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product, company or service in the consumers’ mind.

Branding can be a genuine game-changer.

The discipline has come a long, long way, form starting out as the stamping of marks of ownership on the backsides of cattle…

Through the manufacture of identities for products competing on supermarket shelves…

To the creation of complex marketing and communications glue for countless global organizations.

 

In conclusion

 

Brand is a relationship between customers and the business.
Brand identity  is what we can see, it’s the design of a brand.
Branding is a process of building awareness and extent loyalty.

Are you looking to start a business and you need branding for it, or you wish to rebrand your existing business. Look no further. Contact us today for a free consultation or quote.