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Branding
Branding
Branding
Originally branding meant anything that was hot or burning; by the European
Middle Ages it was commonly used to identify the process of burning a mark
into a stock animal so as to identify ownership. Today a brand is an identifying
mark, image, name or concept, which distinguishes a product or service. A brand
name that has been given legal protection is referred to as a trademark.
Brands are the personality attributed to products and/or services. Without the
brand, Coca-Cola is little more than sugared water; Domestos is just another
detergent, and Chiquita is a banana just like another.
Brands were born with the 19th century advent of packaged goods.
Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap,
from local communities to centralized factories. These factories needed to sell
their products nationwide, to a customer base that was only familiar with local
goods. It quickly became apparent that their soap was a hard sell next to the
familiar, local product. The packaged goods manufacturers needed to convince
the public that their product was just as trustworthy.
This is illustrated by many brands of that era, such as Uncle Ben's rice and
Kellogg's breakfast cereal. The manufacturers wanted their products to appear
and feel as familiar as the local farmers' produce. From there, with the help of
advertising, manufacturers quickly learned to associate other kinds of brand
values, such as youthfulness, fun or luxury, with their products. This kick-
started the practice we now know as branding.
• legally protectable
• easy to pronounce, remember and recognise
• attract attention
• suggest product benefits (eg.:Easy off) or suggest usage
• suggest the company or product image
• distinguish the product's positioning relative to the competition