Branding 101
“Brand n. & v. • n. … • v. … 3 impress unforgettably on one’s mind.” – The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, 1996 American Edition
If you were in Thailand and were offered one of the mysterious drinks at right, what would you expect? Surely the can would not actually be very mysterious at all, in fact you’d probably know exactly what’s inside it, without knowing a single thing about the Thai language. No matter where you are in the world, chances are you’ll know a Coke when you see one.
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In the image at left, the logo is so badly mutilated that the only letter that is fully legible is the letter “a” at the end of the words “Coca-Cola”, and yet I’d wager you were able to recognize the logo at a glance.
Furthermore, I’d wager you could do it at 100 yards. Try crushing a coke can and taking it to the other end of a football field. Hold it up, and ask a friend what you’re holding. They’ll guess right, almost guaranteed.
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If you were walking down the street in New York, and you saw the poster at right on a plywood barrier, would you know what it was for? Chances are you would, and you might even suddenly feel thirsty. You don’t even need words or logos to know a Coke ad when you see one. The combination of the white “swoosh” with ben-day dots on a red background is unmistakably Coca-Cola.
When you read the words “Coca-Cola”, what comes to mind? A logo? The color red? Glitzy commercial ads? Certainly these things come to mind, but surely more than that comes to mind: the taste of Coke, a hamburger and fries, guilt for having had too much Coke despite your resolution to drink less, anxiety at the thought of growing fatter, anger at unfair trade practices, a sense of familiarity and well-being? These simple words could bring to mind a wide variety of thoughts and feelings, sometimes even contradictory ones.
Graphic design isn’t the only element of the Coke brand. When Raymond Loewy–one of the founding fathers of “Industrial Design”–modernized the glass Coca-Cola bottle, he was working with a form that was at once familiar and unique: a bottle that could be recognized as a beverage, but distinguished from Beer and other bottled liquids. Using simple forms that complemented the organic lines of the Coke logo, Loewy created an icon that was utterly unmistakable. He is quoted as saying “the Coke bottle is the most perfectly designed package in the world.” Indeed.
As a form the coke bottle is just as recognizable as the Coke logo. If you saw a person drinking ruddy-brown liquid from a bottle like this one, you would know immediately that it was a Coke.
Of course, simply designing a beutiful “visual identity”–industry jargon for the visual cues that define a brand, such as logos, type-faces, shapes, colors, et cetera–is not enough to create a great brand. A great brand has to be drilled into minds by constant repetition. Coca-Cola relentlessly bombards the globe with advertising, knowing that this is the real secret to their success.
Coca-Cola is certainly an enjoyable substance to the majority of people, but this in itself would not be enough to make them one of the biggest and most powerful brands in the world. Coke is the classic branding case-study because of this fact: the product is secondary to the brand. The success of Coke as a brand is certainly affected by the quality of their product, but in reality their power has been purchased with the clever and relentless use of branding. Like Pavlov’s dogs, we have been conditioned to salivate at the sight of Coca-Cola red.
What is “Branding?”
In design industry jargon, the term “brand” used more frequently than almost any other. As designers, the majority of our time and energy is justified by its effect on the brand. We work to “build the brand”, we justify decisions as being “in keeping with the brand,” and we poo-poo decisions that “cheapen the brand.”
What a designer means when he/she speaks about “the brand” is not just the “logo”, the trademarks, the color schemes, or the design aesthetic: the “brand” is something more than the sum of these elements. A brand is what we try to “impress unforgettably on one’s mind.” It can be described anecdotally as the thought or feeling that first comes to mind when the item, person, or company in question is brought up.
For example, what comes into your mind when you read the word “Starbucks”? A logo? The color green? Jazz music and the smell of coffee wafting from a hardwood-framed glass door to a downtown sidewalk? Maybe, but more likely than seeing something, you felt something. You may have felt comfortable, pampered, and at-ease. You may have felt angry, resentful, and indignant. You may have felt belittled or empowered, rich or poor. The power of a brand evokes emotions.
What about the word “Obama”? For the majority of Americans, this word brings to mind positive feelings. The slogans “Yes we can,” buzzwords like “hope”, “Main Street,” and “change,” and images of a hansom, smiling black man probably come to mind. Campaign images like a screen-print of Barack’s smiling face in red, white, and blue, or memories of campaigners holding signs next to the local courthouse might appear. You might remember a TV ad or a particular hot-button issue. You might remember a particular speech or a particular debate. You may remember an argument you had with one of your co-workers. All of these are parts of the Obama “brand,” which was, for better or worse, one of the most highly-polished political brands in recent history… a brand that took a young, no-name senator from Chicago to the White House.
The study of this complex psychological topic and its application to business and politics is known as “Branding.” Since the Brand carries with it so many intertwined thoughts and ideas, its no wonder that literally every part of a given business contributes to its “brand image”. Everything you read, hear, or experience about a business contributes to its brand image.
The Roll of Designers
If you’ve read anything from me in the past, you know that I believe strongly that designers are first-and-foremost communicators. We communicate using the elements of art and the principles of design, using functional and environmental considerations, and taking advantage of cultural references and moods. Design is one of the single most powerful elements in the creation of a brand. A high-quality product that does not communicate its quality to the user is valued less than a low-quality product that communicates value beyond its real worth.
Having the “best” product on the market is worth nothing if people don’t believe that it’s the best. Branding is about perception of a reality, not necessarily the reality itself. Good designers are trained to be masters of perception.
It is often thought that designers take a product and make it “look cool.” This is true in many cases, particularly when it is important to the brand that the product look “cool.” But there are many cases when this simply not the case. Fashion is one element that can be used to differentiate a product, but it is certainly not the only one.
The Elements of a Brand
A brand consists of several elements of competing importance, depending on the type of product and the end marketing goal, shown here in no particular order. This list is not nearly exhaustive, but should help to give an idea of the kinds of elements that influence brand perception. A business must keep all of these things in mind when attempting to create and control a brand.
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the product itself as a functional entity
- functional importance
- performance
- quality/durability
- uniqueness/differentiability
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the name of the product
- sound when spoken
- in English
- in other languages
- meaning, possible alternate meanings
- cultural references
- e.g. putting “i” at the beginning of a name, like “iMango”
- appropriateness when
- spoken (ie “is it easy to say?”)
- heard (ie “is it easily recognized when heard”)
- written (ie “is it easy to write?”)
- read (ie “is it easily recognized when read”)
- sound when spoken
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associated words and phrases
- catch phrases and slogans
- e.g. “I’m loving it.”
- industry-specific words
- e.g. “user-friendly”
- key words in messages
- e.g. “hope”
- e.g. “change”
- catch phrases and slogans
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visual trademarks
- colors
- e.g. “Coca-Cola red”
- e.g. “Kawasaki green”
- shapes
- e.g. the Coca-Cola “swoosh”
- logos
- e.g. Coca-Cola
- e.g. the Nike “check”
- visual iconography
- e.g. the circular control pad under the rectangular screen of an iPod
- mascot
- e.g. Tony the Tiger
- e.g. Barack Obama
- colors
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other trademarks
- smells
- e.g. the smell of Starbucks
- e.g. the smell of Cinnabon
- textures
- e.g. the smooth chrome on the back of an iPod
- e.g. the rubbery grip on the steering wheel of a recent Honda
- sounds
- e.g. the sound of a Harley Davidson
- e.g. Jazz music emanating from a Starbucks
- e.g. the voice of a Ben Stein on a Clear Eyes commercial
- e.g. jingles like “My bologna has a first name, it’s o-s-c-a-r!”
- temperature
- e.g. cold Coke on a hot day
- e.g. warm Nestle chocolate chip cookie on a cold day
- smells
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quality perception
- materials
- e.g. Apple aluminum and glass
- fit-and-finish
- e.g. Bang & Olufsen manufacturing perfection
- form and proportion
- e.g. the front of the Parthenon
- materials
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demographic perception
- ie “is this product intended for me?”
- fashion
- e.g. Samsung attempts to create phones that appeal to fashion-conscious consumers
- e.g. Eames’ chairs are as beautiful today as ever, and were never “fashionable”
- cultural relevance
- e.g. pink overalls are not culturally appropriate to construction crews in America, but are perfectly accepted in Japan.
- form and proportion
- e.g. the Smart car appeals to a demographic that values “cute”
- e.g. the Smart car appeals to a demographic that values “cute”
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endorsements
- friends/family
- spokesperson/mascot
- celebrities
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environmental considerations
- where you see the ad
- e.g. Vogue vs. US
- e.g. convenience store window vs. Mall Kiosk
- where you encounter the product
- e.g. Wal-Mart vs. Nordstrom
- e.g. at the beach vs. at an ice-skating rink
- where you see the ad
Conclusion
In coming posts I’ll be exploring some of these elements of branding, particularly the parts most affected by designers. Stay tuned!
Great Post!