What's In A NAME ?

What is a Brand?
Branding and forming an identity for any business is crucial because if you don't the marketplace will brand your business anyway. There have been hundreds of books published and thousands of corporate seminars given on corporate branding.  But, what is a Brand?  Well, if you get right down to it, a brand is a promise ! 

The brand of any business signifies that it will perform in a certain manner and deliver its product or service in a particular way or fashion. Branding provides a means to differentiate but it also brings the ability to mark up price without customer resistance - this is what is termed brand equity.  Brand equity is the extra money people are willing to pay for the same product.

Marketing and Branding
All businesses no matter how small should brand and form an identity.  Large corporations spend millions on branding because a branded product or service sells better than an unbranded one.  A company with a well conceived identity and public persona realizes the results in higher sales and gains competitive advantage.

The best brands create an emotional connection. For example, drinking Coke brings happiness and refreshment.  Or some equate to core values. The latest trend being environment sustainability, ie. it's good to be green.  However, a company must be careful as the brand (promise) and the reality of how the business operates must be consistent and authentic or else the promise will be broken and it will be very difficult to get the marketplace to trust that business (brand) again.

The Value of Brands
Harris Interactive recently published its annual poll of the most valuable brands in the world in terms of dollar value and the most reputable businesses.  The findings are below.

Branding is a win/win. Differentiating and positioning your business in the marketplace are prerequisites for success.  You need to evaluate your brand positioning, it should meet the demographic, attitudinal, and usage qualifications, and act as a blueprint for determining and selecting the brand strategy to be followed.  Look at the lists below and think about the strategy these companies used in forming their brand and brand equity positions.

Top 10 Most Valuable Global Brands (in dollar terms)*
1.Apple
2.Google
3.IBM
4.McDonald's
5.Microsoft
6.Coca Cola
7.AT&T
8.Marlboro
9.China Mobile
10.GE
10 Most Reputable Businesses in the U.S.*
1.Google
2. Johnson & Johnson
3.3M
4.Berkshire Hathaway
5.Apple
6.Intel
7.Kraft Foods
8.Amazon
9.Disney Co.
10.General Mills

*Polling complied by the Harris Corporation's Annual Corporate Survey.