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B R A N D I N G - P O I N T

What’s your point? Generate instant understanding by defining your core brand message.

Branding-Point is a brand clarity process that captures the essence of who you are and what you do. This point-of-differentiation becomes the seed from which all brand expressions stem. Discover your brand’s true character: schedule a free 20 minute initial session. grow@saldanha.com

Brand = Character

Character is something that you have and something that you are. You could be marooned on a desert island and your character would still be important. In fact, it would likely be very important in that situation. But charisma wouldn’t do you any good at all. Charisma requires the presence of others, while character is all about you. Character is the entity you are after you’ve chiseled and chiseled and have gotten past all the unnecessary material to what’s underneath. – Rohn

O R I G I N

The word ‘brand’ originates from the old Norse brandr, meaning ‘to burn.’ While branding’s past brings to mind many negative impressions, the most common is the marking of cattle. Less known is the fact that many other occupations utilized brandmarks throughout history: potters, to authenticate their style of bowls, and stonemasons, to distinguish the quality of their work. The need to establish ownership/origin has existed ever since humans have traded goods and services. Brands evolved out of necessity and so did branding.

The term brand came from the product world and has encompassed the organization (replacing corporate identity.) Branding is no longer for cattle owners or just big corporations. Today, sole proprietors, non-profits and even nations are viewing themselves as brands.

Branding is all about simplicity: getting to the essence of an organization, product or service.

D E F I N I T I O N

While many marketing ‘gurus’ have tried to turn branding into a complex science, it is a very basic concept—based primarily on common sense. Branding is all about simplicity: getting to the essence of an organization, product or service. If the most successful brands are straightforward, shouldn’t the brand development process be the same?

Perhaps the easiest way to define branding is to make it synonymous with brand development with this simple equation: Branding = Brand Development. Just as advertising is defined as “the business of producing advertisements,” the definition of branding could be as simple as “the development of brands.” Imagine if the answer to the most frequently asked question (what is branding anyway?) could be this short.

If the most successful brands are straightforward, shouldn’t the brand development process be the same?

S H A R I N G

Branding is a holistic, cultural activity. Today, it is less about protecting the brand and more about sharing it with the whole organization and the community. Less about “targeting consumers” to create “shareholder value” and more about creating value for all stakeholders of the organization.

A brand must be realized from the highest levels of management down, because it affects more than just sales, it shapes the internal culture of an organization. A properly defined brand will have a positive impact on every department within an organization.

This is why a brand can no longer be the domain of the marketing department or external agency. Branding is not a marketing event, but an ongoing management process.

It is less about protecting the brand and more about sharing it with the whole organization and the community.

C O N S I S T E N C Y

The internet has forced even the largest of organizations to rethink their business models. Print isn’t dead (yet), but digital is more alive. Media bias should be a thing of the past. In wired environments, where information can be disseminated in seconds, brand identification and content is more important than ever.

Unfortunately, too many clients and practitioners are still using an old formula where branding becomes a marketing/advertising campaign or graphic design project.

The ultimate goal of any organization is to deliver a unified verbal and visual message that is understood and identified by all of its stakeholders, using their brand as a leadership tool. Yet as each creative agency and new hire strives to reinvent the wheel—expressing the brand in their own way and their own favourite medium—cohesiveness is lost, ultimately diluting the message.

In wired environments, where information can be disseminated in seconds, brand identification and content is more important than ever.

G E N E R A L I S T S

An internet search for ‘branding services’ yields almost every type of business you can imagine: advertising agencies, design firms, marketing consultants, web/UX designers, management consultants, communications consultants and even public-relations firms. Ironically, successful brands focus on what they are good at. For too long, branding has been lost in the communications mix a sub-brand of other areas such as advertising and design.

Advertising and branding are two very different ventures with very different expiry dates. To really take, brand identity must be consistent over many years, but advertising or marketing campaigns should change regularly, or else their audiences will tune out. Too often clients confuse brand identity with brand campaign.

Graphic design is a discipline that contributes to the development of a brand, in the same way it contributes to advertising or architecture. However, “graphics” are only part of the equation. Many designers make the mistake of viewing branding as only a “look-and-feel” exercise when it involves many other tasks, such as naming, positioning and legal work, including searching and securing trademarks.

Many designers make the mistake of viewing branding as only a “look-and-feel” exercise when it involves many other tasks, such as naming and positioning.

S P E C I A L I Z E D

Developing a brand requires skills that a “jack-of-all-communications” just cannot master. Branding may be on the cliché service list of every full-service agency around, but who can honestly claim that they specialize in marketing, advertising, public relations, user experience design, social media ... and branding?

Branding is a specialized area of expertise. It takes many years of experience working through various brand scenarios to be a true brand ‘guru.’ Like any discipline, branding requires total dedication and focus to achieve professional status. Brand development is a balance of both strategic and creative ability. Currently, most practices are either strong on the strategic (business) side of branding or the creative (design) side. Too much strategy yields elaborate rationales with no tangible result and too much creative turns brand development into a beauty contest.

Today’s branding ‘expert’ must combine both skill and talent. Not only must she or he be a strategic thinker, but must also possess the creativity needed to come up with the big idea. No longer can consultants declare themselves brand ‘strategists’ and farm out the creative thinking. On the other hand, ‘artists’ who are looking to express themselves (using someone else’s brand) should find another canvas. A brand and especially a brand consultant must deliver, not just promise.

Branding is a specialized area of expertise. It takes many years of experience working through various brand scenarios to be a true brand ‘guru.’

– Excerpts from ‘Brand Branding’ article written by Errol Saldanha and published in Applied Arts Magazine (Volume 21, Number 5)

M A R K S

The following story illustrates the importance of a brand’s most visible mark—the logo.

The new CEO called a meeting with the company’s publicist and the designer. “This company needs to work on its image,” he announced. Looking at the publicist, he said, “First I want a brochure. You’ve got about 3,000 words to sum up what the company is all about, where we come from, and where we’re heading. Use words our clients will understand. Make it speak to them. Make it current. And don’t worry, you can change it next quarter.”

Then he turned to the designer. “From you we need a logo. Basically, you do the same thing as the publicist. Only you get to do it in one little symbol. A symbol that will be seen by a hundred times more people than will ever read that brochure. And, by the way,” he added, “I want something that will last forever.” – Adobe Magazine

Question Marks?

What if you had to carry a piece of paper with a mark on it everywhere you went?

What if every time you had to introduce yourself to someone new, you could only show your mark?

What if instead of words, you had to use this mark to communicate your purpose, strengths and values?

Would you take the time to carefully craft your mark or would you slap it together?

Would your mark be trendy or timeless?

Would your mark look like everyone else’s or would it distinguish you?

Would it identify you in a crowded airport to a complete stranger that you had to meet?

Would you give careful thought every morning to how you would use your mark throughout the day?

What if you had to consistently apply your mark to every object you owned?

How would you apply your mark to your jacket, house, car, phone or computer?

Would others know to return your lost or borrowed stuff because they recognized your mark?

What if your mark was so consistently distinguished that it could speak for you when you were not around?

What would happen if you didn’t bring your mark one day?