Brand, what it’s not
'Brand' and 'branding', are often over-used and misunderstood terms. But they shouldn’t be shrouded in smoke and mirror mysticism, only being understood by glass table advertising agencies and rambling ad men wearing square-rimmed specs!
Brand is an incredibly important part of an organisations reputation and marketing management. Get it right and you earn customer trust, loyalty and memorability. Get it wrong and you can spend an awful amount of time and money putting those worms back in the can.
Brand is not a logo, slogan, advertising or marketing campaign. A brand in itself is more strategic than that, it’s perhaps simpler to understand if you think about it a more holistic way.
Brand, what it is
Brand is the public perception of a service, product or organisation. Brand is packages of thoughts, opinions and experiences. Brand cannot truly be owned by organisations, companies, advertisers or marketers.
Brand is owned by the people on the streets, the people that come into contact with it usually by; advertising with consistent messaging, recommendations from others, interactions with an organisation and its representatives and real life experiences using a product or service.
One easy way to think of the brand for your organisation is to consider it being a bit like a reputation for a person. You earn that reputation through your personality, hard work, honesty and the promises you keep.
So here’s the rub, brand is like a force of nature. You can’t control it, but you can harness it…
…we harness it by influencing people to take interest in our brand by promoting three simple things:
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How we would like to be seen in the world
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How we would like people to feel about us
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How we would like people to talk with others about us
So how does that work?
Let’s put this into context, think about yourself…
How do you want to be seen in the world? As someone good, kind, funny, intelligent, helpful?
How do you want people to feel about you? To admire, respect, love and desire?
How would you like people to talk with others about you? Honest, trustworthy, reliable, attentive?
The power of love
This is the power of branding; it creates an emotional response. Brand is the differentiator that helps an audience carry those packets of thoughts in their heads and hearts.
As a branding agency it’s our job to identify and define what those beautiful thoughts should be and amplify them with wondrous creativity. We create a unique look and feel, what we call ‘the visual brand’, to enable your customer, clients or users to easily identify the offerings of your organisation.
What we do
Brand is so important to any organisation or company, it’s the emotional differentiator. We give it a lot of care and attention to make sure we get it just right. Read more about what we do...
Read moreBrand identity
There are many aspects to a brand’s identity; brandmark/logo design, visual identity, advertising concepts... Head on over to our brand identity page for Carbon's essentials.
Read moreBrand strategy
Brand strategy is all about blue sky thinking; a voyage of discovery to identify the soul, personality and beliefs of an organisation. Find out how we can help your brand strategy...
Read moreFeatured brand projects
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