David Lemley, president of US-based agency Lemley Design Company got in contact with us at Brand Strategy after reading Alan Mitchell’s column from the June issue (our subscribers can click here to read it) about the difficulties in finding a correct definition of brand. Mitchell was discussing how a room full of branding professionals descended into anarchy after the meaning of the word ‘brand’ fell under discussion.
He has addressed this issue in his newsletter, which you can read here. His definition (which he calls ‘blather-free’) is below:
Brand = what they say about you when you are not in the room.
Business = a collection of people and technologies centered around an ideology (a reason to believe).
Design = translation of these first two.
Advertising = creating awareness.
But here is a new one and I think it’s important:
Branding = the art of positioning yourself in real-time regardless of the circumstance.
So what do our readers think? Do you agree? Just how should we define ‘brand’? And do we need to?
July 5, 2007 at 8:13 am |
“Brand = what they say about you when you are not in the room”: this is hopeless and not helpful at all. This is along the lines of “a brand is what is in peoples’ minds, not what you do”. This is not helpful, as it makes it sound like the brand owner has not control over it. Like its something that just happens.
The biggest problem with branding today is that people (inc. many CEOs and board members) think that is means a logo. Witness the 2012 fiasco, with Seb Coe saying “this is not a logo, its a brand”…. regurgitating the flawed concept of brand used by Wolf Ollins.
The definition we use is “A name and symbol that promises a known and trusted customer experience that appeals to head and heart”.
- Name and symbol as this is a key part of branding
- Promise: this is what brand ultimately are there for
- Known and trusted experience – whether its Heinz Ketchup or Google, this works. And this is what brand owners should work on, the experience they deliver
- Head and heart: it is about functional/rational and emotional appeal…best brands combine both
There. I’ll get off my soap-box now.
David