What is a brand? Why should I care?

What is a brand? Why should I care?

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Full transcript to the video:

Hi. My name is Glenn R Harrington. I suppose you already know the answer to the question, What is a brand?

If you were to ask many, many people whether they know what a brand is, you would find that almost everybody answers yes. Indeed, many would find the question weird or strange, as if you had asked them whether they know what a head is.

The notion of a brand, like knowing what a head is, seems intuitive, as if everybody knows or should know, and asking about it seems out of place.

However, sticking with anatomy for a moment, most people do not know what a pineal gland is or what a pineal gland does. Once a person learns what a pineal gland is, and how it works, there is a good chance that that knowledge is taken as interesting; easily integrated as useful in self-care toward a happy, successful life.

How does this relate to what brand is or of why you should care?

Think of the singers in a choir. Just before the choir leader gets them all to start singing together, every singer in the choir believes that he or she knows the first note to start the song. When the choir leader gives the cue to start singing, every choir member sings the first note with some certainty that the first note as he or she sings it is correct. Even so, in the next moment, many in the choir adjust their pitch.

Of course, a choir does not sound right til every singer sings together with the rest; everybody on pitch. This often requires singers to adjust their pitch in those first seconds, even though they felt certain at the outset that they would sing the correct note.

I am discussing the notion of a brand to allow you to find better harmony with others, and, like I said about understanding the pineal gland, to take the knowledge as interesting for easy integration into brand management toward a successful business, career, or project.

Consider the branding of livestock. This was particularly important when the land now known as the south-western USA had been taken from the aboriginal people and put to use as grazing land by cattle ranchers.

Early ranchers could not separate their herds on such vast lands with fencing, so they branded each animal with a distinct symbol to identify their own herd. This way, herds could mix and ranchers could count on each-other not to make meat of another rancher’s livestock.

When a brand is burned into a steer’s hide, the scar remains indefinitely. It might change somewhat over time. Still, it is a simple, distinct impression burned into flesh that lasts.

Outside of livestock identification, this is important to understand about the brand of a business, charity, or other kind of venture: A brand is a simple, distinct impression in the mind that lasts. It typically forms on the first impression. It can then be validated or further moulded on subsequent encounters or simply with the passage of time.

There is my answer to the question, What is a brand?

Some people believe that a brand, like the scar burnt into the hides of livestock, is simply an identifying symbol. Others would define a brand more broadly as a name and look, such as the name Coca-Cola together with that particular shade of red and that trademark way of rendering the company’s name. A brand generally includes these but is not defined by them.

It is more accurate and more inclusive to say that market perception defines a brand, rooted in direct personal experience, then connected to public opinion – reputation.

Of course, it is also possible that an impression formed in the mind becomes confused on subsequent encounters. This raises the question, Why should I care?

Remember when Kiss took off their make-up? Remember when a national chain bought-out your neighbourhood independent grocery store? Remember when your local community credit union got acquired by a big, regional credit union and became more like a bank? Each of these exemplifies how a market – from Kiss fans to people loyal to the local community credit union – found change foisted upon them.

These brands changed fundamentally so that market perception had to change. Despite brands being personal perception connected to public opinion, sometimes the tail can wag the dog.

Consider this: You can never step into the same river twice. Flowing water is not static. The height and the width of a river vary. The speed of the flow varies. Yet, the name and location of a river might not change for many, many years. A river is dynamic. Brands are like this.

Even though people might hold fixed opinions or feelings about this brand or that, a brand can be dynamic and changing. Yet it can also be strong and reliable. Here again arises the question, Why should I care?

People tend to appreciate consistency and reliability. For example, if you go to a hair stylist and find that your hair is washed at a different sink each time, or maybe your hair is cut in a different chair each time, you might not like that. If you’re like most people, you’d find comfortable familiarity in having your hair washed at the same sink every time, and your hair cut in the same chair every time. This preference for consistency and reliability applies with brands, because brands are rooted in direct experience and we all prefer to repeat the familiar, the pleasant, and the comfortable.

For a brand to generate loyalty and steady profits, reliability and good value are important. Meaningful differentiation from other brands, too. Changing with the times is essential, then, while accommodating people’s preference for comfort and familiarity. These apparent contradictions make managing a brand an on-going process.

Stewarding market perception takes time and effort, plus attention to the market and awareness that every occasion when people encounter a brand can validate, confuse, or adjust how the entity behind the brand may be perceived in or out of sync with its mission or purpose.

Consider the pineal gland. Everybody has one. It’s small. It’s important. Few people know much about it. Now, do you want to find out more?

There’s something else important about brands: Sometimes, all you need is a brief introduction to intrigue you into pursuing more complete discovery. Watch my Joe’s Hotdogs videos to pursue that idea further.

I am Glenn R Harrington of Articulate Consultants.