Brand

A brand is an identifying mark, image, name or concept which distinguishes a product or service. A brand is a symbol created by a marketer to represent a collection of information about a product or group of products. When a brand has accummulated a mass of positive sentiment among consumers, the company is said to have acquired brand equity. A brand name is that part of a brand consisting of words or letters that can be verbalized. A brand name that has been given legal protection is referred to as a trademark.

A brand is often associated with the product's promise, the product or service’s point of difference among its competitors which makes it special and unique. It is also an important element of advertising,. It’s a quick way to show and tell the consumers what is being offered to the market.

Consumers look at the brand as an important aspect of a product and it can also add value to a product or service. It carries the reputation of a product or company. A branded laundry detergent is usually sold twice as much as a store-brand detergent. Although it’s almost exactly the same people always think that the branded product is better and because it’s more expensive it has a better quality.

Advertising spokesperson also became part of a company brand such as Mr. Whipple of Charmin’ and Tony the Tiger of Kellogg’s. Brand became part of pop culture over the years. Everything has a brand from a common table salt through designer clothes. Without brand we will be confused which particular product we want to buy in the market.

History

Brands were born with the 19th century advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. These factories needed to sell their products nationwide, to a customer base that was only familiar with local goods. It quickly became apparent that a generic package of soap was a hard sell next to the familiar, local product. The packaged goods manufacturers needed to convince the public that their product was just as trustworthy.

This is illustrated by many brands of that era, such as Uncle Ben's rice and Kellogg's breakfast cereal. The manufacturers wanted their products to appear and feel as familiar as the local farmers' produce. From there, with the help of advertising, manufacturers quickly learned to associate other kinds of brand values, such as youthfulness, fun or luxury, with their products. This kickstarted the practice we now know as branding.

Examples of prominent brand names

The 2001 ranking of the 100 most valuable brands worldwide by Business Week magazine contained 62 American, 30 European, and 6 Japanese brands.

Brands (United States):

Brands (European) Brands (Japanese)

See also

External links

Alternative uses

Originally the word meant anything that was hot or burning; by the European Middle Ages it was commonly used to identify the process of burning a mark into a stock animal so as to identify ownership. Animal branding in the American west has evolved into a complex marking system still in use today.

Brand is a play by Henrik Ibsen 1865.
Brand (Dutch language for "fire") is a commercial Dutch beer -- see Brand (beer).






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