BRAND I.D. and BRANDid


Today’s Brand Communications finds that the positioning of brand image and meaning are more challenging than ever.  Creating a memorable I.D. and appealing to the consumer’s connection to the brand’s id, is more demanding than ever.

Every communication with a target audience should offer the brand an opportunity to reinforce its mission and positioning.  Its message content should contain more than image.  It should communicate relevant functional and/or emotional meanings for the customer’s aspirations, wants and needs.  Successful brands connect with the consumer’s id, the source of instinctive energy.

A logo must be more than a graphic (see Branded Logoman for logos which have BRAND I.D.).  Each of these logos have established the Brand’s I.D. in one’s memory, as well as work with a tagline and/or slogan to create an aspiration, fill a need, satisfy a want, and stimulate the id. If a brand is multi-regional and/or global, it must also be aware of differences in language, pronunciation, connotation and interpretation that vary from region to region, from country to country, and continent to continent.  Globally, brand names and messages often don’t translate as intended.

Figure 1 Branded Logoman sketch by Dr. Arthur A. Winters 2010
Figure 1 Branded Logoman sketch by Dr. Arthur A. Winters 2010

An example of a brand communication translation gaffe was when Gerber, the well-known baby food company, learned that global marketing could be problematic.  In French Canada – the French translation of Gerber is vomiting.  How’s that for image and meaning?

The logo and brand name communicates brand image, but they should be used with serious thought.  A good example is Campbell Soup‘s new slogan:  “It’s amazing what soup can do”, rather than – “It’s amazing what Campbell Soup can do.”  By leaving out their sole ownership of “great soups,” they make their communication more consumer-centric by recognizing the consumer’s desire to choose for themselves the brand that will deliver amazing soup to their family.

Arthur & Peggy Winters co-teach SXB 200 Brand Marketing Communications for Image & Meaning and SXR 050 Intro to Branding: The Art of Customer Bonding.

One thought on “BRAND I.D. and BRANDid

  1. Love this post and the simplicity of branding when done well. And that even the bigcos (like Gerber example) need to pay attention to their own branding.

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