What are the important features in an effective brand identity?

Branding is an essential topic in the business world and is seen everywhere from our home products to our high streets and even on our planes, buses and cars. But what is a brand? A brand is a visual representation of a company, business or firm. Without branding many companies and businesses would go bankrupt as branding is essential for keeping memory of the product in the consumers mind. A Coca Cola Executive quoted, “If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-Cola, the company would go out of business.” A brand is how we view a company by visual means and allows us to identify with the company. A very popular app on tablet and mobile devices called ‘The Logo Game’ is a very good example of just how well people can identify with a company brand even if part of the logo is missing. In order for a brand to be successful there are vital features the brand must include to make the brand memorable to the customer.

So what are these vital features needed in order to make a good brand? Important features may include the name, logo, design and symbol.

Without these 4 features a brand is simply text written on another product.

One of the most important features of branding is the name of the brand. The name is what is commonly used to describe the brand through communication between the consumers. There are different types of brand names such as initialism (use of initials), descriptive and evocative. For example with the brand blackberry messenger, consumers often refer to the brand as the initials; BBM. It more widely used to communicate the brand and more easily remembered. Also Kentucky Fried Chicken is more widely known as KFC. The ‘initial’ type of brand names are successful because they are almost like mnemonics.

Descriptive brand names are also a common type of name. Descriptive names describe the product or service benefit or function. Good examples of a descriptive brand name would be brands such as PlayStation. Some of these descriptive names can also be shortened to the initialized form of the name. For example PlayStation is commonly know as ‘PS’. The name PlayStation suggests to the consumer that the brand is for a gaming company in comparison to the alternative gaming brand of Xbox which does not necessarily suggest a gaming product.

A lot of brands use names that are from another language such as Volvo or Samsung or Toyota. Another common type of brand name are names that use founders names. These are almost like family brands that everyone can associate themselves with. Brands such as Dell, Disney and also high end fashion brands likes Tom Ford and Luie Vuttion.

Alliteration and Rhyme type of brand names also work very well. These names tend to stick in the mind of the consumer better. Names such as Crispy Crèmes work well because it’s easy to remember. It also works well because it describes the type of product sold from the brand at the same time.

Evocative brand names are probably one of the most popular type of brand name. Evocative names are ones that evoke or show a vivid image sometimes having little to do with the product itself. The important thing about these brands is that they are simple and this is why they work. Examples of evocative brand names are names like Amazon, Crest, Apple or Windows. This names work very well because they can be easily associated with a logo/ emblem. The brand Apple has an image of a bitten Apple as their logo.

Logo’s and emblems are very important to a brand in fact without a logo and brand would be a lot harder to recognize or remember. For example with the brand Mc Donald’s the emblem is noticeable almost anywhere in the world. With the popular game, ‘The Logo Game’, even when the McDonalds label is half covered it is almost impossible not to tell the name of the brand. This is because the company has used a specific colour, font and typography in their emblem to allow it to stick in the customer’s head and allowing them to identify immediately with it. The yellow M is made to look almost like a French fry which is one of McDonald’s most commonly sold food. This Sort of implicates that there are no fries better than their fries because their fries are the original / official French fries. When I was young and I ate chips from a chicken and chips shop or homemade fries that were thin I usually described them as McDonalds chips. This already shows that the branding in terms of the logo for McDonalds makes the brand look official.

This is the same with the successful brand Nike. The swoosh is very identifiable as the emblem of Nike. The swoosh seems to imitate the shape of the curve of a running track. The Nike swoosh is suave, and represents speed. This almost subliminally sends a message to

consumers that the brand Nike allows you to become athletically excellent while at the same time allows you to look cool and suave.

Another very important aspect of branding is colour. Colour is effective because it can create different moods, feelings or meanings behind a brand. Successful brand use basic primary colours that are bold enough to catch consumer attention and at the same time allow the consumers to feel a way about the brand that allows them to start putting trust into it. The Coca Cola brand uses the colour red successfully. Although the colour red is associated with danger and alert the brand also plays on the fact that the colour red is used for Christmas and Santa Claus. This allows the consumer to feel the same feeling of warmth and happiness that they may feel during Christmas time. It is noticeable that the brand doesn’t over do the use of colours and keeps to strictly two colours maximum in their branding; Red and white. There are many other successful brands that use up to a maximum of 3 colours. This includes McDonalds, Nike, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and many more. Google is one of the only successful brands that have used more than 3 colours. Google’s branding is successful because there logo is more of typography than an emblem. The colours is well spread across the logo with one colour on each letter. The different colours show diversity and describes the wide diverse world of the internet and how much of it Google can show us.

Not only is colour, logo and slogan important with branding but shape and even texture is too. Branding is found in the shape of the bottles we use to drink or shower. For example with brand Coca Cola the bottles all keep the same curve line shape with slightly ridged edges that allows the consumer to identify with the bottle as being a Coca Cola bottle. This is the same with the Sprite brand which has a dotted surface. Texture is very effective with branding because is doesn’t neglect the visually impaired consumer and allows another sense of identity other than look.

Brand Position: - The Brand Position is the part of the brand that describes the purpose of the organization and who it’s for, what your unique selling point is and how a customer benefits from working with your product/service. Most importantly what makes the brand different to the competition. Marketers don't create the positioning instead they create the strategic, tactical suggestions to encourage the customer to accept a particular positioning in the customer’s mind. For instance, milk is not a branded item, and despite companies' push to try and brand the product, no company has found much success building brand that is known as the preferred brand for milk. When customers want to buy milk, they usually choose what is on sale or what is available on their local grocer's shelves. Beer and coke, on the other hand, are heavily branded product categories: Consumers have formed a relationship with and will search for their preferred brands. For example many people prefer Coca Cola to other cokes such as Tesco Value Coke or even Dr. Pepper. More evident examples of positioning is in fashion and clothing. For example Nike has established itself as a brand that is high quality, desirable and in trend. Nike have used branding successfully to position themselves as a top quality brand. To position a brand properly, you need to identify the key attributes or benefits that represent the value of

your product or service. For example with Nike again Nike’s branding, slogan etc. insinuate that it is the best brand for performance while at the same time you can look good in it. Also they have made a broad target audience for themselves, branching out of running trainers (their original product) into, football, basketball, pretty much every sport and even casual fashion. Popularity and range will create trust in your brand and therefore high positioning. As you begin to understand the relationship t at your customers have with your brand, you will be able to more efficiently meet their needs, wants and desires through your brand.

Brand Promise: - The Brand Promise is the single most important thing that the organization promises to deliver to its customers-every time. To come up with your brand promise, consider what customers, employees, and partners should expect from every interaction with you. Every business decision should be weighed against this promise to be sure that a) it fully reflects the promise, or b) at the very least it does not contradict the promise. Benefits need to be backed with some sort of persuasive reason to believe the product's hype. Many times, products or services have some formula or patent that is "unique" from all the other brands out there. Why do we trust Pantene shampoo, for instance? Because we believe in the brand's "revolutionary" Pro-V formula that leaves hairs strong and healthy. Why do we believe Secret antiperspirant will keep women smelling sweet? Because "its pH balanced for a woman, and not a man."

Ask yourself: What promises are you making about your brand? Can my products or services follow through on those promises?

Brand Personality: - Brands that carry with them a true persona, and the beliefs and experiences similar to a personality make a brand rise to a new level. After all, it's hard not to like someone with a good personality. In matters of branding, a personality helps to humanize an otherwise inanimate object or service so that a prospect's defenses are lowered. An attractive brand personality can pre-sell the prospect before the purchase, reinforce the purchase decision, and help forge an emotional link that binds the buyer to the brand for years to come. In such cases, you are more willing to overlook flaws and search for strengths. A brand's personality can offer the single most important reason why one brand will be chosen over another, particularly when

there are few product or service features that are different between competing brands. The personality gives the consumer something to relate to that can be more vivid than the perceived positioning of the brand. Although a strong identifiable personality is not imperative, it can make it easier for customers and prospects alike to understand what the marketer has to offer. Even more important, a brand with a distinctive personality presents the would-be buyer with something he or she can relate to as an individual, a practical prerequisite for success in an increasingly individual-driven marketplace. Personality is usually shown in three ways.

Provider-driven - Provider-driven images are popular with services because there is a greater need to build confidence between the provider and seller since there is usually an intangible product on the table. Brands that lean heavily on the provider image include insurance companies and financial institutions. Prudential's "The Rock" and Allstate's "You're in good hands," show that the brand is trustworthy and their brands reflect the same attitude.

Branding is an essential part of companies today. Successful branding is a brand that customers can relate to in every aspect including colour, shape and slogan. Branding bridges the connection between the consumer and company and is almost like a subliminal message that the brand is the best brand in that category.