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Marketing Definitions
Brand
What is a brand? Too often even marketing professionals
don't have an answer, and too many have their 'own'
answer. Which makes life very confusing! We've trawled
through our resources to find some of the best definitions:
The
Dictionary of Business and Management defines
a brand as:
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"a
name, sign or symbol used to identify items
or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate
them from goods of competitors."
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Signs
and symbols are part of what a brand is, but to
us this is a very incomplete definition.
Walter
Landor, one of the greats of the advertising industry,
said:
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"Simply
put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and
authenticating a product or service it delivers
a pledge of satisfaction and quality." |
In
his book 'Building Strong Brands' David Aaker suggests
the brand is a 'mental box' and defines brand equity
as:
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"A
set of assets (or liabilities) linked to a brand's
name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from)
the value provided by a product or service…" |
This
is an important point: brands are not necessarily
positive!
Building
from this idea of a 'mental box', a more poetic
definition might be:
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"A
brand is the most valuable real-estate in
the world, a corner of the consumer's mind."
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These
are all great definitions, but we believe the best
is this:
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"A
brand is a collection of perceptions in the
mind of the consumer." |
Why
is it best? Well, first of all it is easy to remember,
which is always useful! But it is also best because
it works to remind us of some key points:
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This definition makes it absolutely clear that
a brand is very different from a product or service.
A brand is intangible and exists in the mind of
the consumer.
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This definition helps us understand the idea of
brand loyalty and the 'loyalty ladder'. Different
people have different perceptions of a product
or service, which places them at different points
on the loyalty ladder.
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This definition makes it clear how to build a
brand. A brand is built not only through effective
communications or appealing logos. A brand is
built through the total experience that it offers.
Brand
Manual
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