BRAND LANGUAGE

Understanding the BRAND LANGUAGE

Brand
American Marketing Association - Brand is a Name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services, to differentiate them from the competition.
22 Immutable Laws of Branding – Al Ries and Laura Ries - A singular Idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect.

Brand Essence
It is the heart and soul of a brand – a brand’s fundamental nature or quality.
Kevin Keller’s Strategic Brand management – Brand Mantra- should define the category of business for the brand and set boundaries. It should also clarify what is unique about the brand.
Ex- Nike – Genuine Athletic Performance – Just Do It.

Brand Promise
Only [brand name] delivers [benefit] in [product or service category] or [brand name] is the (trusted/quality/innovative) leader in [benefit] in the [ product or service category]
Kristin Zhivago – Marketing Technology Newsletter July/Aug 94 – A brand is not an icon, a slogan or a mission statement. It is a promise – a promise your company can keep.
It should drive
a) Mission Vision and strategy
b) Communication
c) Operations, systems and logistics
d) products and services
e) values and behaviors

Brand Association
It is anything a consumer associates with the brand in his/her mind

Brand Equity
Is the commercial value of all associations and expectations that people have(+ve/ -ve) of an organization, its products and services due to all experiences of, communication with, and perceptions of the brand over time.

Brand Image
Is the totality of the perceptions resulting from all experience with and knowledge of the brand. It is how consumer’s perceive the brand.

Brand Identity
This refers to a combination of visual, auditory and other sensory components that
· create recognition,
· represent the brand promise
· provide differentiation
· create communications synergy
and are proprietary.
Names and nomenclature, logotypes, symbols, shapes and colours, brand voice and visual style, sounds, jingles and other mnemonic devices, typography, theme lines, slogans, textures, scents, flavours etc. are some elements of Brand Identity.

Brand Architecture
It’s the Brand’s family tree.
It addresses issues such as criteria for becoming a separately named entity to the nature of relationships between the named entities at different levels.
Trade dress – is the description of the aesthetic elements that provide legal protection for a brand’s identity

Brand Portfolio – is the mix of brands owned by an organization.
Corporate/ Umbrella brand – is the brand bearing the company name. It is the highest in the brand hierarchy.
Master Brand- is the most dominant, highest level in the brand hierarchy. It may or may not be the parent brand.
Parent Brand – is the brand which is extended into more than one product category. It may or may not be the Corporate Brand.
Sub – Brand – is a new brand that is combined with a parent or corporate brand in the brand identity system.
Endorsed Brand – is the primary name the consumer is intended to use to refer to a product. It is the brand that is endorsed by the parent / corporate brand in the identity system.
Brand extension – is the introduction of an existing brand in a new category or market segment.