What is a brand?
A brand is a name, term, design,
symbol or any other feature that
identifies one seller's good or
service as distinct from those
of other sellers. Brands are used
in business, marketing, and advertising.
Name brands are sometimes distinguished
from generic or store brands.
The practice of branding is thought
to have begun with the ancient
Egyptians, who were known to have
engaged in livestock branding
as early as 2,700 BCE. Branding
was used to differentiate one
person's cattle from another's
by means of a distinctive symbol
burned into the animal's skin
with a hot branding iron. If a
person stole any of the cattle,
anyone else who saw the symbol
could deduce the actual owner.
However, the term has been extended
to mean a strategic personality
for a product or company, so that
"brand" now suggests
the values and promises that a
consumer may perceive and buy
into. Over time, the practice
of branding objects extended to
a broader range of packaging and
goods offered for sale including
oil, wine, cosmetics and fish
sauce. Branding in terms of painting
a cow with symbols or colours
at flea markets was considered
to be one of the oldest forms
of the practice.
In the modern era, the concept
of branding has expanded to include
the marketing and communication
methods that help to distinguish
a company or products from competitors,
aiming to create a lasting impression
in the minds of customers. The
key components that form a brand's
toolbox include a brand's identity,
brand communication (such as by
logos and trademarks), brand awareness,
brand loyalty, and various branding
(brand management) strategies.
Many companies believe that there
is often little to differentiate
between several types of products
in the 21st century, and therefore
branding is one of a few remaining
forms of product differentiation.
Brand equity is the measurable
totality of a brand's worth and
is validated by assessing the
effectiveness of these branding
components. As markets become
increasingly dynamic and fluctuating,
brand equity is a marketing technique
to increase customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty, with side
effects like reduced price sensitivity.
A brand is, in essence, a promise
to its customers of what they
can expect from products and may
include emotional as well as functional
benefits. When a customer is familiar
with a brand, or favours it incomparably
to its competitors, this is when
a corporation has reached a high
level of brand equity. Special
accounting standards have been
devised to assess brand equity.
In accounting, a brand defined
as an intangible asset, is often
the most valuable asset on a corporation's
balance sheet. Brand owners manage
their brands carefully to create
shareholder value, and brand valuation
is an important management technique
that ascribes a monetary value
to a brand, and allows marketing
investment to be managed (e.g.:
prioritized across a portfolio
of brands) to maximize shareholder
value. Although only acquired
brands appear on a company's balance
sheet, the notion of putting a
value on a brand forces marketing
leaders to be focused on long
term stewardship of the brand
and managing for value.
The word ‘brand’ is
often used as a metonym referring
to the company that is strongly
identified with a brand. Marque
or make are often used to denote
a brand of motor vehicle, which
may be distinguished from a car
model. A concept brand is a brand
that is associated with an abstract
concept, like breast cancer awareness
or environmentalism, rather than
a specific product, service, or
business. A commodity brand is
a brand associated with a commodity.*
