What is a brand?
09-23-10
According to Dictionary.com a brand is -
–noun
1. kind, grade, or make, as indicated by a stamp, trademark, or the like: the best brand of coffee.
2. a mark made by burning or otherwise, to indicate kind, grade, make, ownership, etc.
3. a mark formerly put upon criminals with a hot iron.
4. any mark of disgrace; stigma.
6. a kind or variety of something distinguished by some distinctive characteristic: The movie was filled with slapstick—a brand of humor he did not find funny.
7. a burning or partly burned piece of wood.
8. Archaic. a sword.
–verb (used with object)
9. to label or mark with or as if with a brand.
10. to mark with disgrace or infamy; stigmatize.
11. to impress indelibly: The plane crash was branded on her mind.
12. to give a brand name to: branded merchandise.
13. to promote as a brand name.
Origin: bef 950 ME, OE: burning, a burning piece of wood, torch, sword.
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Well, lets deal with definitions 1, 6, 12 and 13, since the others are not directly related to the licensing version of the word BRAND.
A particular product or characteristic that serves to identify a particular product from another. A trade name or trademark. To give a distinctive identity by means of characteristic, design. packaging, concept, etc…
Legal counsel that I have discussed this topic with have said that it is important to ensure your brand does not cause confusion with other brands, products, services, etc… so that consumers do not think yours is almost identical with another. So make sure your brand is different and especially looks different than anything on the shelf or market. Then you will have a unique brand and that is the most important thing of all when trying to brand something.
For example – I am the only Sandford Tuey on planet Earth. It is easier for me to stand out when someone searches for me on a Search Engine like Google or online. It is much harder to stand out if I was one of a thousand others with the same name. Otherwise, what ever you do has to be superior to whatever the others with your same brand name do to help make you known to your target market and audience.
What kind of strategy do you have to ensure you and your brands are noticed by the world?
Universal Studios = Back to the Future/Jurassic Park/etc.