What, exactly, is a brand?

That question has confounded academics for decades, the answer eluding some of the sharpest scholars of consumer and business behavior. Coming from the real-world branding trenches, then, we’ve defined the term and given it meaning. A brand consists of eight basic building blocks:
>> The Name
>> The Logo (the Brand Icon)
>> Colors
>> Slogan and Brand Messaging
>> The Sound of the Brand
>> The Overall Look and Feel (a.k.a. the Brand’s Position)
>> The Packaging
>> The Brand Experience

The best brands are greater than the sum of their parts. Branding is about making me (the consumer) more fly, more hip, more “in the know,” more cool than anybody else. We are a generation — in fact, we’re a nation — that wants to be special. We want to be richer (in all senses), more beautiful, better dressed and more effortlessly gorgeous than any other generation that has come before.

We want everything to have meaning. We want to be a part of something new and cool. That’s why we flock to reality shows like The Apprentice and American Idol. In an age of fabrication and falsehood, we crave authenticity. We just want to be real, just want to have fun. We either want to pursue a goal of our own, or support someone in pursuit of a goal we admire. We want to help causes. We want to start movements!

We want to be able to trust what we buy and who we buy from. That’s why Coca-Cola is still the number one brand in the world. The more we know about a brand, the more we trust it. The more we trust it, the more we buy it and experience it. The more we experience it, the more loyal we become. Brand loyalty is the priceless currency that cannot be traded for cash. It can, however, be earned by over-delivering on your promise as a business owner.

Branding is much more than just a thoughtful logo or slogan and it’s more than just a unique color scheme. Simply put… a brand is a feeling. It’s how customers feel about you (personal brand) and your company. I listed the building blocks you get to use to create the feeling you want your customers to associate with your brand. Creating a brand is on of the most fun aspects of building your business!

I hope this helps

cool tho

Very interesting/educative.

Lemme break it down.

A brand is 'everything' about a business. It is more than having a logo.

Brands are built by the consumers/customers.

Nice