Introduction:
Brands have been around for a very long time. Traditionally, the word 'brand' has referred to the literal thermal branding of cattle in the middle-ages, used to denote the property stamp of a certain farmer for trade etc. purposes, the word deriving from archaic Norse lexis 'brandr' meaning 'to burn'. The primary sentiment of distinguishing is still present today albeit being much more sophisticated thanks to developments in psychology, media technology, and other tools marketers use to enhance their IMC campaigns.
Defining Its Purpose:
Brands, like all other tools and mediums, have their purpose. Like marketing, of which it is a part, it is designed to satisfy consumer requirements profitably, according to the CIM, with similar agreements echoed across other professional bodies. That being said, brands will naturally wish to engage with their audiences in a way that meets those objectives, giving their respective companies a personality with whom consumers will engage.
The objective of distinguishing fits in with this concept of corporate personalities because, after all, it can be useful when building relationships. This in turn is echoed by an official definition from our friends at the American Marketing Association (AMA,) who define a brand as a:
"Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."
With distinctions being made between one brand and another, generally, the product in many cases can also be different, but not always. For example, one of the world's most recognised and valuable brands is Shell. The product(s) sold by Shell are virtually the same as those sold by all other petroleum companies whereas, Apple, for example has very distinctive products that intwine with the brand e.g. the i-Pod being aesthetically different to other music devices.
In summary, these collective pieces form our brand. The construction of the visual logo relies heavily on semiotic theory and other theories surrounding colour psychology, typography and saturation etc. of shades. However, there are other components relying on different concepts.
Construction:
Firstly, brands are names. Brand names linguistically refer to several things depending on their desired effect. See below:
*Initialism: These are obvious brands that shorten the actual name e.g. UPS, BBC etc.
*Personification: A fictional character that tries to 'humanise' the brand e.g. Aunt Bessie, Betty Crocker etc. (Can be a mythological character e.g. Nike)
*Founder's name: Be careful to not confuse this with personification e.g. Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Samuel Adams etc. (Name can also be of a famous person who did exist, not necessarily the founder.)
*Evocative: Names that evoke a relevant image to the word e.g. Amazon, Apple etc.
*Neologisms: A neologism refers to a completely new word that has literally been 'made up' e.g. Xbox, Sony etc.
*Lone words: Words lifted from foreign languages e.g. Samsung, Volvo etc.
*Assonance & Alliteration: Rhyming words e.g. Reece's Pieces etc.
*Descriptive: Names that describe the product e.g. Bitter Lemon
*Geographic: Names that evoke a specific location e.g. Zurich, FujiFilm etc.
These are the primary categories of brands with some brands becoming so success that they become 'brand eponyms'. These brand names are used to describe the very product such as 'Hoover' being used with regards to ALL vacuum cleaners, or Ping-Pong for table-tennis, Sellotape for sticky tape, Coke for cola in general and the most popular of all: Googling something.
With distinctions being made between one brand and another, generally, the product in many cases can also be different, but not always. For example, one of the world's most recognised and valuable brands is Shell. The product(s) sold by Shell are virtually the same as those sold by all other petroleum companies whereas, Apple, for example has very distinctive products that intwine with the brand e.g. the i-Pod being aesthetically different to other music devices.
In summary, these collective pieces form our brand. The construction of the visual logo relies heavily on semiotic theory and other theories surrounding colour psychology, typography and saturation etc. of shades. However, there are other components relying on different concepts.
Construction:
Firstly, brands are names. Brand names linguistically refer to several things depending on their desired effect. See below:
*Initialism: These are obvious brands that shorten the actual name e.g. UPS, BBC etc.
*Personification: A fictional character that tries to 'humanise' the brand e.g. Aunt Bessie, Betty Crocker etc. (Can be a mythological character e.g. Nike)
*Founder's name: Be careful to not confuse this with personification e.g. Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Samuel Adams etc. (Name can also be of a famous person who did exist, not necessarily the founder.)
*Evocative: Names that evoke a relevant image to the word e.g. Amazon, Apple etc.
*Neologisms: A neologism refers to a completely new word that has literally been 'made up' e.g. Xbox, Sony etc.
*Lone words: Words lifted from foreign languages e.g. Samsung, Volvo etc.
*Assonance & Alliteration: Rhyming words e.g. Reece's Pieces etc.
*Descriptive: Names that describe the product e.g. Bitter Lemon
*Geographic: Names that evoke a specific location e.g. Zurich, FujiFilm etc.
These are the primary categories of brands with some brands becoming so success that they become 'brand eponyms'. These brand names are used to describe the very product such as 'Hoover' being used with regards to ALL vacuum cleaners, or Ping-Pong for table-tennis, Sellotape for sticky tape, Coke for cola in general and the most popular of all: Googling something.
I may write more on this topic in the future but for now I hope you found something interesting in this entry. Have a nice day.
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