December 31st, 2009

Your Product Is A Brand, Not Branded

Branding is a very an interesting topic of discussion among marketers and organizations. But people rarely understand the correct meaning of branding. Yes, there is a common misconception that any company/product that is well known or is doing good is branded, and this misinterpretation is seen even among most brand managers who deal with everything related to branding. So what exactly is the definition of Branding and why is it not same as Brand?

Branding could be best defined as an ‘emotional attachment’ that one has with a particular brand. For example, consider a Rolex watch. What would first come to your mind when you hear the term ‘Rolex’? You would paint a picture in your mind about the high status a Rolex watch carries with it.  Exactly. This is what branding is all about - it gives you a clear picture of the product’s power and rewards that come a branded product brings with it.

A brand is nothing but a product or a product line. Where as Branding is the bond created between the customer and the product (brand). There are many such examples that associate the consumer emotionally with its product - Apple, Harley Davidson, Sketchers, Southwest Airline etc. No, IBM, Kawasaki, Ford are not a branded product. Those are brands but not companies that are branded. Why? Okay, think of IBM and do you get a clear picture of what someone related with IBM is like? (In the Rolex case, it immediately made you think of ‘class’). So that was the difference between brand and branding.

One great advantage branded companies have is their customer’s loyalty. You can never  make an Apple user switch to some other brand - you would only end up entering a heated argument. Yes, a branded company’s consumers are emotional about the product and stick with it irrespective of the same Product of different Brand being offered at low price. To put in one sentence - when you are branded, you are more than just a product but a part of the consumer’s life which he/she  is emotionally attached with.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 4:51 am and is filed under marketing online. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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