Do You Know What Branding Is? Do You, Really?
By Jacky Tai
Branding is probably one of the most well-known of the internationalization competencies that IE Singapore promotes but it is also the most misunderstood. There is a lot of confusion on what branding really is. Ask a hundred people what branding is, you will probably get a hundred different answers. To add to the confusion, there is a legion of branding consultants out there, each with their own definition of what branding is.
What Is A Brand?
Before you can understand what branding is, you need to first know what a brand is. Again, there are many different definitions of what a brand is. The conventional definition of a brand is “a trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer”. However, a brand is not something that exists on paper or even in the real world. A brand exists only in the minds of people. People don’t care how academics or lawyers or branding experts define what a brand is.
To them, a brand is simply an idea that exists in their mind. If you want to know what a particular brand is all about, all you have to do is find out what idea that brand owns in the minds of people.
What is the Starbucks brand all about? What is the one idea that Starbucks owns in the mind?
Gourmet coffee.
What is the PlayStation brand all about? What is the one idea that PlayStation owns in the mind?
Gaming console.
What is the Dell brand all about? What is the one idea that Dell owns in the mind?
PCs direct.
What is the Panadol brand all about? What is the one idea that Panadol owns in the mind?
Headache relief.
What is the Viagra brand all about? What is the one idea that Viagra owns in the mind?
Performance.
What about your clients’ brands? What do they stand for? What is the one idea that they own in the minds of people? Do they even own an idea at all or they are just another company in a sea of look-alike companies?
If you don’t own an idea in the mind, you don’t have a brand. And you can’t own an idea that somebody else already owns. That is a lesson that Singapore companies must take to heart. In future series, we will examine the 10 rules of branding that allowed strong brands to become what they are today.
What Is Branding?
Do you know that the concept of branding is nothing new? It actually dates back 4,000 years. In those days, cattle owners used branding to help differentiate their cows from other owners’ cows. A hot branding iron is used to make a unique mark on the rump of the cow. Even slaves were branded.
In terms of sophistication and application, branding has come a long way since those early days but the function of branding has remained the same – differentiation. Branding is what you do to differentiate your product or service from your competitors.
So, whatever activities you do to differentiate yourself is branding.
For example:
• Your name
• Your logo
• Your product/store/service/website/packaging design
• The image you project
• The customers you target
• The processes you employ
• The position you occupy in terms of price, quality, etc
In that sense, branding is different from marketing. Marketing is what you do to increase or maintain sales. So, all the activities that you do to increase or maintain sales can be classified under marketing. These will include, among others:
• Advertising
• Public relations
• Events/roadshows
• Promotions
• Direct marketing
• Telemarketing
• Discounts
• Co-branding
• Bundling deals
• Loyalty programmes
So, branding is all about differentiating yourself from your competitors. If you are not differentiated, you don’t have a strong brand. Finding that point of differentiation and fully exploiting it will determine the success or failure of a brand. It is not an easy thing to do but if brands want to live, they need to differentiate themselves. And that is what branding is all about.
The above article is contributed by our trainer, Jacky Tai, who started his career heading the marketing department of a start-up in the United States. Upon returning to Singapore, he worked in start-up companies as he wanted to build brands, and felt that most big brands are built from start-ups. The hyper-competition of today’s business environment taught him that very often, what differentiates successful companies from the also-rans is applying the right branding strategy. When he joined IE Singapore as branding manager, he set out to develop brand education programs to train Singapore companies, and till date, over 2,000 companies have attended them. With 12 years of experience grappling with the art and the science of branding strategies in the real world, Jacky is able to incorporate his rich experience and knowledge into a practical yet easy-to-understand guide for everyone involved in branding.
Jacky will be conducting the following public learning course at the Marketing Institute:
• Transforming Your Business Into A Brand – 3 Sep and 12 Nov 2008
For more information on the course, please contact Angelina or Su at 6327 7586 or 6327 7588, or email seminars@mis.org.sg
The views expressed in the above article do not necessarily represent those of the Marketing Institute of Singapore. No responsibility is accepted by the Institute or its staff for the accuracy of any statement, opinion or advice contained in the article. All articles on our website are copyright and no part may be reproduced without prior written permission of the Marketing Institute of Singapore.
