Brand Development
Win friends and influence people by how you’re seen and how you’re remembered. Your brand is simply everything that people know and feel about you…from your product, to your ads, to the way you answer the phones.
A brand is a collection of images and ideas. In part, the brand refers to descriptive words and symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme that convey the essence of a company, product or service.
But, brand awareness, recognition and other reactions are also created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media. That means that the brand becomes a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service.
At its most effective, the brand serves to create associations and expectations achieved by a logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, even sounds, which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality.
Collectively, the key objective is that all branding elements taken together will create a relationship of trust.
The process of branding is to seek to develop expectations behind the brand experience by creating the impression that a brand associated with a company, its products or services, has certain qualities and characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, demonstrating what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace. Consumers may look on branding as an important value added aspect of products or services, as it often serves to denote certain attractive qualities or characteristics that they are seeking.
From the perspective of brand owners, branded products or services may also command higher prices. Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no associated branding, people may often select the more expensive branded product on the basis of the quality of the brand or the reputation of the brand owner.
One way of looking at branding is to see it as a way to create a "monopoly" — or at least a competitive advantage — so that the brand owner can obtain some of the benefits which accrue to a monopoly or unique point of sale.
The economic formula for branding is simple: recognition leads to awareness, awareness leads to preference, preference leads to purchase.
