Branding 

How can different companies sell the same product but still convince people to purchase their product instead of the one from the competition?

The answer is: by creating a brand.

You can consider a brand as the idea or image people have in mind when thinking about specific products, services, and activities of a company, both in a practical (e.g. “the shoe is light-weight”) and emotional way (e.g. “the shoe makes me feel powerful”). It is therefore not just the physical features that create a brand but also the feelings that consumers develop towards the company or its product. This combination of physical and emotional cues is triggered when exposed to the name, the logo, the visual identity, or even the message communicated. 

A product can be easily copied by other players in a market, but a brand will always be unique. For example, Pepsi and Coca-Cola taste very similar, however for some reason, some people feel more connected to Coca-Cola, others to Pepsi.

Let’s illustrate this with a water example. The product sold is water, but in order to convince people to purchase a particular water, companies developed different water brands, such as Evian, Perrier, Fiji or Volvic. And each one of these brands provides a different meaning to the product water:

– Evian makes you feel young

– Perrier is refreshing, bubbling and sexy

– Fiji Water is pure, healthy and natural

…and so on.

In the end, a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a specific product or company. Each person creates his or her own version of it, and some brands increase or decrease in popularity because of how consumers feel about them. 

Branding can be achieved through the definition of the following elements:

• Brand essence and core identity: This includes the brand’s purpose, vision, mission, values, and guiding principles
• Brand positioning
• Brand promise
• Brand identity: For example, the brand’s name, personality, communication style and tone of voice, visual identity design (including logo design, color palette, typographies, etc.)

Additionally, it’s essential to devise a brand communication plan to bring the brand to life and allow it to be experienced by different audiences. The brand also needs to be aligned with all aspects of the organization to ensure its coherence and strength. This part of branding, which involves implementing the brand, often overlaps with marketing strategies. Some examples include:

• Web design and online presence
• Advertising and communication campaigns: e.g., newsletters, social media ads, TV commercials, radio, magazines, outdoor ads
• Product and packaging design
• In-store experience
• Sponsoring and partnerships: e.g., sponsoring events, influencer marketing
• Customer service
• Workspace experience and management style

In very simple words, a product is what you sell, a brand is the perceived image of the product you sell, and branding is the strategy to create that image.