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#Branding What exactly is a brand?

Hello all!

Brand is a very popular word nowadays. We are surrounded by brands, we have our favorite brands, maybe some of us do own brands themselves. But what exactly is a brand?

Oxford provides us with many definitions of the word "brand", two most relevant in my opinion:


  1. A type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name.
  2. A particular identity or image regarded as an asset.
Most of us associate brands with few obvious components of brand identity:
  • logo- the graphical representation of brand identity- Adidas' Three Stripes logo



  • slogan- a sort of motto that leads the company and creates its image- Nike's "Just Do It!"
  • colors- the certain combinations of colors that a company chooses as theirs e.g. white, red and navy of Tommy Hilfiger
  • faces- celebrities and experts associated with the brand e.g. Cristiano Ronaldo as a Nike face
  • tune- musical jingles that brands make their own, eg. McDonald's "parapapapa, I'm lovin' it"
But is there more to a brand?
My answer would be, yes. Brand is everything that lives in customer's mind with regard to the certain entity. That would include stories, atmosphere, type of customers that use the brand, and its publicity.

Can only firms be a brand? When we think of a brand, what will usually come to our mind would be Nike, Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger, Lamborghini, Kirkland Signature, Canon, Levi's, Hewlett Packard, Apple, Samsung, Michael Kors, and so many others. But here is a challenge for you: is Cristiano Ronaldo a brand? Is Barack Obama? What about Beyonce? Che Guevara? 
The mentioned are people who became brands. Ronaldo has his own line of underwear, as well as a line of Nike football boots. He is widely recognizable, and even has his own logo, the modern, fast, metallic CR7.
What about Barack Obama? A though leader, a face of equality and empowerment, a personalization of modern USA's values and ideals. His "Yes, we can" was printed on tshirts, pin buttons, caps, set as profiles photos, and the famous graphic design was appropriated to so many other people, ideas, and brands, be it fictional or real. We see t-shirts with Bobba Fett of Star Wars in the same style, Former Poland's President's Komorowki "Jest Weekend" (It's weekend), etc. Obama is a brand, and I would be surprised if the "Yes, we can" didn't have copyrights yet.


Beyonce in turn, definitely does have copyrights on her artistic pseudo. It came useful while slapping her name on various consumer products like perfume for teenagers and one for adults.
Che Guevara never put any effort into becoming a brand. Perhaps he did not know the concept of a brand, because back in his time, the term was not yet popular. Branding is also a part of a very capitalistic model of economy, where products are indifferentiable except for their branding. If I remember correctly from history classes, such capitalistic ideas as market competition were what he opposed, being a socialist hero. This did not stop people though from making his face a popular t-shirt design. What is funny, we could see people taking "mirror selfies" with their iPhones, symbol of capitalism, wearing t-shirts with Che Guevara's visage on them. Kind of opposite signals you're sending, you brave capitalism opponent. 

Brand is what lives in our mind. The high obesity, famous "no fish in fishburger" trial case, and reputation of "the cheapest option" or "there was nothing else at this hour" are, unfortunately for them, (or maybe fortunately? think about it) as much a part of McDonald's brand as the yellow M, Ronald McDonald, and Timberlake's "I'm lovin' it" jingle. 

To better understand what exactly a brand is, I challenge you to think about everything you know (true or urban stories) about Nike. What will be a part of brand, and what won't?

Is your university a brand? Why not? It has logo, it is famous for something, there are stories about it, it has a certain reputation, people place image on it, maybe it has a face (famous alumnus or professor, perhaps chairperson?), in Taiwan, it will definitely have a slogan (or motto as schools call them), and its jingle- school's anthem. The last one, however, hardly ever as catchy as "I'm lovin' it". 


So what cannot be a brand? I will leave you to think about it yourself, and leave an answer you come up with in the comments, looking forward to hearing what you think!

Cheers, 
Szymon 



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