What Is Branding? 4 Minute Crash Course.

Summary

In this insightful transcript, Marty clarifies the misconceptions around branding, emphasizing it is not a logo, product, or promise, but rather a customer's perception of a company. He explains that branding is a result, a collective gut feeling that forms in the minds and hearts of consumers, shaped by every interaction with the company. Marty stresses the importance of understanding this concept to effectively build a brand's reputation, which is a collaborative effort involving every aspect of the business.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Branding is not a logo. A logo is a symbol for the brand, but it does not define it.
• 🛍️ Branding is not a product. It's a perception of a product or service, not the product itself.
• 🗣️ Branding is not solely a company's promise to customers, though it acts as a promise in practice.
• 🎨 Branding is not the sum of all impressions a company makes, but rather a customer's gut feeling about a company.
• ❤️ A brand is a result, formed in the hearts and minds of customers based on their experiences.
• 🌟 Each customer may have a slightly different perception of a brand, creating millions of individual 'brands'.
• 📊 Branding involves a company's reputation, which should be guided to align with the company's goals.
• 📚 Designers often approach branding as storytelling, but the actual brand is the outcome of these efforts.
• 🎯 The success of branding is not in the checklist of branding elements but in the reputation it creates.
• 🏢 Every aspect of a company, including culture and employee behavior, contributes to the brand.
• 💡 Branding is a comprehensive concept that encompasses nearly all business activities, not just marketing.

Q & A

What is the common misconception about branding according to the transcript?

The common misconception is that branding is synonymous with logo design, identity design, or even typography. People often confuse a brand with a logo, a product, or the sum of all impressions a company makes on an audience.

What does the transcript suggest is the actual definition of a brand?

A brand is described as a customer's gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It is a result of the customer's perception, which is formed by the raw materials provided by the company.

Why is it incorrect to consider a logo as the brand itself?

A logo is a symbol for the brand, but it is not the brand. It is a tool for a business, representing the brand visually but not encompassing the full essence of what the brand stands for.

How does the transcript differentiate between a brand and a product?

The transcript clarifies that a brand is not a product. When people refer to buying a brand, they are actually talking about purchasing a specific product from that brand.

What role does the customer play in the creation of a brand according to the transcript?

The customer plays a crucial role as they are the ones who create the brand in their minds based on the information and experiences they have with the company's offerings.

Why is it important to understand that a brand is a result rather than an action?

Understanding that a brand is a result helps to focus on the ultimate goal of shaping customer perception and building a positive reputation, rather than just executing marketing actions.

What does the transcript suggest about the relationship between branding and a company's reputation?

The transcript suggests that a brand is closely tied to a company's reputation. It is the collective perception of the company by its customers, which can vary from person to person.

How does the transcript describe the impact of a company's culture on its brand?

The transcript implies that a company's culture, including how employees behave, can significantly affect the brand's reputation and the way it is perceived by customers.

What does the transcript suggest is the role of advertising in shaping a brand?

While advertising can contribute to the impressions a company makes on an audience, the transcript emphasizes that the brand is more than just advertising—it is the overall perception formed in the minds of customers.

Why is it a mistake for a company to consider their branding efforts complete once they have a logo, tagline, and ad campaigns?

The transcript indicates that these elements are tools and actions, not the brand itself. The true brand is the result of how all these elements, along with the company's culture and behavior, come together in the minds of the customers.

What does the transcript imply about the involvement of various departments within a company in shaping the brand?

The transcript implies that almost everyone in a company affects the brand in some way, whether they are directly involved in marketing or not, as the brand encompasses the entire customer experience and company reputation.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding Branding Misconceptions

This paragraph clarifies common misconceptions about branding. Marty emphasizes that branding is not merely a logo, product, or a promise made by a company to its customers. Instead, it's the collective perception that customers have about a company's offerings. Marty argues that branding is a result, a customer's gut feeling about a business, which is shaped by various factors including the company's culture, employee behavior, and the overall messaging and design of its products. The paragraph highlights the importance of understanding that a brand is not something a company creates in isolation but rather a perception that is individually formed in the minds of its customers.

Keywords

💡Branding

Branding is the overarching concept discussed in the video, referring to the perception and emotional response consumers have towards a company, product, or service. It's not just a visual identity but a complex set of associations that customers form in their minds. In the script, Marty emphasizes that branding is not a logo, product, or a simple promise, but rather the 'customer's gut feeling' about a brand, highlighting its intangible yet powerful nature.

💡Logo

A logo is a visual symbol or mark that represents a brand. While it is an important tool for brand recognition, as mentioned in the script, it is not the brand itself. Marty clarifies that a logo serves as a symbol for the brand, helping to visually communicate the brand's identity to the audience.

💡Identity Design

Identity design encompasses the visual elements that make up a brand's identity, including its logo, typography, and color scheme. The script suggests that while identity design is often used interchangeably with branding, it is only a part of the larger branding picture, focusing on the visual representation of the brand.

💡Typography

Typography refers to the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible and appealing. In the context of the video, typography is mentioned as one aspect that can contribute to a brand's identity, although it is not the sole definition of branding.

💡Product

A product is a tangible or intangible item offered to the market to satisfy a consumer's need or want. Marty points out in the script that a brand is not a product, but rather the perception and experience associated with the product that contributes to the brand's identity.

💡Promise

The term 'promise' in the script refers to the idea that a brand is what a company promises to deliver to its customers. While this is partially true, as a brand does act as a promise, Marty argues that it is more than just a promise—it's the customer's perception and emotional response to the brand.

💡Impressions

Impressions, in the context of branding, refer to the overall impact and image that a company projects to its audience. The script mentions that some advertising professionals view branding as the sum of all impressions a company makes, but Marty argues that this view is limited and doesn't capture the essence of what a brand truly is.

💡Reputation

Reputation is the collective opinion people have about a brand based on past experiences and口碑. In the video, Marty describes a brand as having a reputation, which is the result of the brand's actions, messaging, and the experiences it provides to its customers.

💡Storytelling

Storytelling is the art of telling a story to engage an audience. In the script, Marty discusses how designers and companies often approach branding as a form of storytelling, aiming to convey a narrative or message. However, he emphasizes that the brand itself is the result of this storytelling, not the act of telling the story.

💡Customer Perception

Customer perception is the way customers interpret and understand a brand based on their experiences and interactions with it. The script highlights that a brand is ultimately shaped by the 'customer's gut feeling,' making customer perception central to the concept of branding.

💡Corporate Culture

Corporate culture refers to the values, behaviors, and practices that characterize a company. Marty mentions in the script that how a company's employees behave and the overall culture can significantly affect the brand's reputation, illustrating the broad impact of corporate culture on branding.

Highlights

Branding is often confused with logo design, identity design, and typography, but it's essential to clarify what branding truly is.

A logo is a symbol for the brand, but it is not the brand itself.

Branding is not a product; when people refer to buying a brand, they are actually referring to a specific product.

While branding can act as a promise, it is not inherently a promise made by the company to customers.

Branding is not merely the sum of impressions a company makes on an audience, which is a common misconception in advertising.

A brand is a result, specifically the customer's gut feeling about a product, service, or company.

Customers create their own version of the brand based on the raw materials provided by the company.

A brand is akin to a reputation, which can vary slightly among different customers.

The brand's reputation should be mostly aligned with the company's desired image and be beneficial to the business.

Designers often view branding as telling a story or making a pitch, but the brand is actually the result of these efforts.

Designers should focus on the outcome of their work, which is the brand's reputation in the minds of the audience.

Clients often believe they have completed branding by checking off items like logos and taglines, but this is a misconception.

The true success of branding lies in the reputation created through products, design, messaging, and company culture.

Almost every aspect of a business, including finance, can affect the brand and its reputation.

Everyone in a company is involved with the brand, either by contributing to or potentially harming it.

Marty's unscripted discussion reflects decades of experience and provides a clear understanding of branding.

Transcripts

The term branding people use it

interchangeably with logo design,

identity design, and even sometimes

typography and maybe we need to set the

record straight.

I know you're the best person to tell us

what is branding Marty?

Yes.

So let's start with what branding isn't.

OK.

It's cause it's not a lot of things

people say it is. It's not a logo.

A logo is a very useful tool for a

business, but it's not the brand.

It's a symbol for the brand.

A brand is not a product.

So when people talk about this brand

buying this brand or that brand they're

really talking about buying one product

or another product.

The brand is not that.

People say the brand is a promise the

company makes to customers and there's

some truth in that.

I mean it does end up acting as a

promise, but that's not what it is

either.

Advertising people like to say "well

it's the sum of all the impressions that

a company makes on an audience."

Well you know if you're trying to sell a

lot of impressions I can see where that

might be useful to you.

But from a business point of view why do

they want that? How does that help

creative people understand what they're

doing?

So none of those things are really what

branding is. A brand is a result.

It's a customer's gut feeling about a

product, service, or a company.

It ends up in their heads in their

hearts.

They take whatever raw materials you

throw at them and they make something

out of it, but they're making it.

They're creating it.

And so in a sense when you create a

brand you're not creating one brand,

you're creating millions of brands like

however many customers or people in your

audience.

Each one has a different brand of you.

So a brand has like a reputation.

Right.

So it's your business reputation and

everyone's gonna be a little bit

different about what that reputation is.

And that's OK as long as you have got it

corralled mostly where you want it and

that it's beneficial to the company.

So we tend to look at companies and

designers tend to look at branding as,

from our point of view, like this is

something we're doing. We're telling a

story. We're making a claim. We're you

know making a pitch and that's what we

do.

But that's not what a brand is. The

brand is the result of that.

And if you don't start there, you don't

know what you're doing.

You actually don't know. You think you

know what you're doing but you don't.

So from a designer's point of view I

mean I always tended to be this way it's

like I just had, it was my gut feeling.

Right? About whether this is going to

work or not.

And then I would sell it as hard as I

could to get the client to sign off on

it. From the client's point of view,

they're going off the checklist.

I got the logo, I got the tag line, I

got the ad campaigns. Check! And they

think they're done.

None of that's right.

You know? What's right is what happens

in people's heads. Like what have we

achieved?

What's the reputation that we've created

through the products we're putting out,

and the design of the products, the

messaging we're putting out, the look

and feel of them, our culture. You know?

How does that affect people? How our

employees behave, you know, how is that

affecting our reputation? All that stuff

counts.

So it's a big world.

And it actually takes in almost all of

the business. Not so much finance but

finances involved too because finance

has to greenlight all these things. But

almost everybody in a company is you

know affecting the brand, doing

something with the brand, doing it for

the brand, or hurting the brand.

So you've got to think of it that way.

I didn't want to say one word because

that was perfect and this is unscripted.

Marty is just talking from decades of

experience and writing and articulating

this. It's very clear to me.