Using the word “brand” these days is quite the misnomer. As the creative director of a digital agency, I am asked all the time about brand because it has become a word that has been associated with developing your business and people think they need it and can buy it. Of course, I think that the longer you are in business you start to understand what this means, through experience—but it is definitely something that needs to be understood and designed in order to achieve brand enlightenment.
Originally, the word was literally used to define how cattle was marked for identification to show it was the property of a ranch owner. A “branding iron” was heated until red hot and used to burn the name or identification (letter or initials) into the hide of the animal so it could not be erased or removed—always to show who it belonged to. Doesn’t this sound like a logo?
Although it is a good identifier, brand is not a logo. Brand is not your name, your tagline, your flagship product, or any one thing associated with your business. It’s everything in your business. It’s your beliefs, your value system and your culture. It’s what you deliver, how you deliver it and how people visualize the experience dealing with you and any person in your organization. You need buy-in from all team members, and leaders, leading by example of course. Your organization needs pure…
