Back-to-Basics Branding: “Burning” Your Image in Your Customer’s Mind

Contributor: Bruce Mendelsohn
Posted: 08/12/2008  9:57:00 AM EDT  |  2

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Marking things, people or animals by burning identifying marks onto them is not new. So why do marketers make branding so complicated? Why do companies spend millions of dollars researching, launching and re-launching their respective brands?

The answer, my friends, is 400 years in the past.

So let’s travel back to the mid-17th century, when livestock owners visibly (and, one must assume, painfully) displayed ownership of their most valuable revenue source by applying a hot-iron “brand” with a unique design.

Fast forward to the 19th century and we become familiar with branding in its modern sense. From the early 1800s, brands (in the form of crude trademarks and logos) were imprinted on casks of wine, timber and other goods (except textile fabrics). Incidentally, for all you beer and trivia lovers, the first registered brand was the red triangle registered by Bass beer.

During the 19th century (primarily in the United States), when cattle farmers marked their livestock with hot irons, the beasts were referred to as brands.

These days, the reverse is true: Brands are beasts. For many companies, the beast is in the branding, and it’s a voracious beast indeed.

While it is difficult to get an overall picture of brand spending—since branding is broken out into so many categories—PQ Media recently released new research reporting that spending on branded entertainment, including event sponsorship and marketing, paid product placement, advergaming and webisodes, grew 14.7 percent to an all-time high of $22.3 billion in 2007.

PQ Media said branded entertainment grew at a compound annual rate of 13.4 percent from 2002 to 2007 and is projected to expand another 13.9 percent to $25.41 billion in 2008, despite slowing overall economic growth and traditional advertising growth rates in the low single digits.

The modern concept of a brand image was introduced in 1955 in the Harvard Business Review by Burleigh B. Gardner and Sidney J. Levy. Gardner and Levy said a brand is developed by attributing a “personality” to or associating an “image” with a product or service, whereby the personality or image is “branded” (or “burned”) into consumer consciousness.

Within the huge brand galaxy rotate the planets brand “equity,” brand “extension,” brand “attitude,” brand “monopoly,” brand “orientation” and others. But the basic challenge to companies remains as it was some 400 years ago: How does a company successfully “burn” ownership of its most valuable and visible revenue source in the minds of consumers?

First Published on Human Resources IQ.

Report Abuse   brm90 08/14/2008 11:21:19 AM EDT J1234: Thanks for your comment. If I had a out-of-the-box solution to that question (the equivalent to the existential question of 'what is the meaning of life?') I'd be a highly sought consultant instead of an unpaid contributor! Kidding aside, it really depends on the most compelling message(s) a company formulates. I mean, you see it with Nike, Starbucks, and the more well-known brands. The challenge is for the smaller brands--with substantially less resources--to get a similar kind of market share and brand recognition. I'd say it takes a laser-like and long-term focus on sticking to what you say you do best. A company or brand that constantly changes messages or advertising campaigns will invariably sow confusion in the minds of its target audience. You don't need to spend a ton of money on doing that--you just need to be tenacious and single-minded. Replies (0) Post a reply Sign in or Sign up to post a comment

Report Abuse   J1234 08/13/2008 9:15:58 AM EDT I think you brought up a very interesting question at the end of your article. In your opinion, what is the best method for companies to brand their company? Replies (0) Post a reply Sign in or Sign up to post a comment