BRANDBRANDING

With everyone tossing around the term 'branding,' it's
time for us to work together on a brand for branding, to define exactly
what this is, to establish sound business practices and effectively
promote the discipline.
As a service industry, we have
been so busy defining our clients' brands that we forgot about a more
important one: our own. Ironically, the entire communications industry
is in a state of self-inflicted confusion: marketing, advertising,
graphic design, visual identity, Web design, new media, multimedia,
interactive, packaging and, of course, branding. Of all of these,
branding may be the most misconstrued.
While positioning
branding as some new phenomenon has sold many books and filled many
seminars, it has certainly made the topic less credible. Those of us
who have been in the industry for many years understand that branding
is not a revolution only the evolution (and perhaps renaming) of an
existing practice.
Brands have existed in some form for
hundreds of years, so the process of developing them is hardly new. The
word 'brand' originates from the old Norse brandr, meaning 'to burn.'
While branding's past brings to mind many negative impressions, the
most common is the marking of cattle. Less known is the fact that many
other occupations utilized brandmarks throughout history - potters, to
authenticate their style of bowls, and stonemasons, to distinguish the
quality of their work. The need to establish ownership/origin has
existed ever since humans have traded goods and services. Brands
evolved out of necessity and so must branding.
Commercially,
brands came from the product world and have encompassed the
organization. Branding is no longer for cattle owners or just big
corporations. Today, sole proprietors, non-profits and even nations are
viewing themselves as brands. Now it is time for branding itself to be
viewed as a brand.
BRANDING HYPE
Hyped
by so many, branding is in real danger of becoming meaningless. Ask the
'experts' to define it and too often they have their own complex
explanations. No wonder clients don't get it branding is over-branded:
digital branding, employment branding, environmental branding, nation
branding and even kids branding.
Ever-expanding brand
glossaries are only adding to the confusion: brand architecture, brand
equity, brand extension, brand personality, brand platform, brand
promise, etc. Since few can agree on what brand means, it is
unrealistic to expect anyone to comprehend such an extensive glossary,
which has actually diluted the meaning of branding.
Part
of the reason for this brand-mania is that brand developers have all
created their own elaborate brand stories. This is understandable after
all, when your job is to uniquely position your client's industry, it
is a given that you will try to position your own.
Dramatic
phrases such as "a brand is a promise" and "the customer owns the
brand" emerged. While some are valid claims, they speak more to an
individual approach or promotion. Like taglines, some are clever and
others promote thought, but they do not succeed in defining the
concept. Brands are about clarity and yet many consultants (who claim
to help clients find 'brand essence') strive to make branding more
complex by repackaging it to sell more books, seminars and workshops.
It seems that creating confusion and then clarifying it justifies their
existence. It is up to the qualified branding practitioners to tame an
industry that is out of control with 'brand-speak' - or risk losing not
just a valid term, but also credibility.
SIMPLIFICATION
Marketing
academics have tried to turn branding into a complex science. But at
its core, branding is a very basic concept based primarily on common
sense. Branding is all about simplicity getting to the essence of an
organization, product or service. If the most successful brands are
straightforward, shouldn't the practice of developing them be the same?
Still, even the largest branding agencies have very
different and complex definitions of branding, demonstrating the need
for a shared definition to unite our industry. We have already made the
mistake of individually trying to interpret branding; now we must come
together to define it. An industry-wide agreement of what branding
really means is a step toward public understanding. Perhaps the easiest
way to define branding is to make it synonymous with brand development
with this simple equation: Branding = Brand Development. Just as
advertising is defined as "the business of producing advertisements,"
the definition of branding could be as simple as "the development of
brands." Imagine if the answer to the most frequently asked question
(what is branding anyway?) could be this short.
Regardless
of our opposing views, branding must be defined simply and precisely.
Claiming that "branding is everything" will define it as nothing.
TERMINOLOGY
If
we drop the word 'branding,' what single term do we replace it with?
After spending countless hours searching for an alternative, I could
not find anything better. Branding works because it relates directly
back to brands, whereas vague terms such as 'identity' could relate to
anything. Branding is specific, yet broad enough to cover many aspects
of brand development, from the verbal (naming/tagline) to the visual
(logo/colour). Branding also works in many languages, whereas compound
terms, such as 'brand development,' must be translated.
We
must agree on a common terminology and list of related terms that we
use to position ourselves. Currently, there are too many identifiers:
Branding, Branding and Identity, Branding and Corporate Identity,
Branding and Communication, Branding and Design, Brand Consultants,
Brand Strategy and Design, Brand Design, Identity, Identity
Consultants, Identity Design Firm, Identity and Image Consultants. And
we must identify and correct the inaccurate and confusing consultancy
descriptors:
- Branding and Identity (identity is part of branding)
- Branding and Communication (branding is a form of communication)
- Branding and Design (design is part of branding)
- Branding and Naming (naming is part of branding)
How
can we build an industry with so many contradicting and overlapping
names? If we are all using different terms, with different meanings,
then we are diluting our own brand. Some people in our industry are
still using 'identity' a term that is too vague to represent a
specialized expertise. Most of the pioneers of the corporate identity
business have made the switch to 'branding.' As the industry evolves,
so must the terminology.
INDUSTRY CHANGES
Changes
in our industry will follow what is taking place internally at our
clients' businesses. Today, the brand is the organizing concept that
drives the entire organization. Branding is a holistic, cultural
activity. It is less about protecting the brand and more about sharing
it with the whole organization and the community. Less about "targeting
consumers" to create "shareholder value" and more about creating value
for all stakeholders of the organization.
A brand must
be realized from the highest levels of management down, because it
affects more than just sales, it shapes the internal culture of an
organization. A properly defined brand will have a positive impact on
every department within an organization.
This is why a
brand can no longer belong to the domain of the marketing department or
the advertising agency or design studio. Branding is not a marketing
event, but an ongoing management process.
We, as 'brand
servers,' have to embrace change. Print isn't dead, but digital is more
alive. Media bias should be a thing of the past. In wired environments,
where information can be disseminated in seconds, brand identification
and content is more important than ever.
The Web is
causing even the biggest of agencies to rethink their business models.
The future will be less about agencies fighting to win accounts and
awards and more about each specialist's role in development of a
unified brand.
Unfortunately, too many clients and
practitioners are still using an old formula where branding becomes a
marketing/advertising campaign or graphic design project. They are
quite content to fall back on the "ad agency + graphic design firm +
Web firm = brand" equation.
The ultimate goal of any
organization is to deliver a unified verbal and visual message that is
understood and identified by all of its stakeholders, using their brand
as a leadership tool. Yet the above equation undermines that goal. As
each creative agency strives to reinvent the wheel expressing the brand
in its own way and in its own medium cohesiveness is lost, ultimately
diluting the message.
EVERYONE DOES BRANDING
An
Internet search for 'branding services' yields almost every type of
business you can imagine: advertising agencies, design firms, marketing
consultants, interactive shops, management consultants, communications
consultants and even public-relations firms. Ironically, successful
brands focus on what they are good at. For too long, branding has been
lost in the communications mix a sub-brand of other areas such as
advertising and design.
Advertising and branding are two
very different ventures with very different expiry dates. To really
take, brand identity must be consistent over many years, but
advertising or marketing campaigns should change regularly, or else
their audiences will tune out. Too often people confuse brand identity
with brand campaign.
Graphic design is a discipline that
contributes to the development of a brand, in the same way it
contributes to advertising or architecture. However, "graphics" are
only part of the equation. Many designers make the mistake of viewing
branding as only a "look-and-feel" exercise when it involves many other
tasks, such as naming, positioning and legal work, including searching
and securing trademarks.
SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE
Developing
a brand requires skills that a "jack-of-all-communications" just cannot
master. Branding may be on the clich service list of every full-service
shop around, but who can honestly claim that they specialize in
marketing, advertising, investor relations, Web/interactive, packaging,
environmental design... and branding?
Branding is a
specialized area of expertise. It takes many years of experience
working through various brand scenarios to be a true brand 'guru.' Like
any discipline, branding requires total dedication and focus to achieve
professional status.
Brand development is a balance of
both strategic and creative ability. Currently, most practices are
either strong on the strategic (business) side of branding or the
creative (design) side. Too much strategy yields elaborate rationales
with no tangible result and too much creative turns brand development
into a beauty contest.
Today's practitioner must combine
both skill and talent. Not only must he or she be a strategic thinker,
but must also possess the creativity needed to come up with the big
idea. No longer can consultants declare themselves 'brand strategists'
and farm out the creative thinking. On the other hand, 'artists' who
are looking to express themselves using someone else's brand should
find another canvas. A brand and especially a brand consultant must
demonstrate, not just promise.
BRANDING AS A BRAND
The
development of branding as a specialization has been delayed by the
lack of a proper definition of the term, and its continued use as a
catchall phrase for general communications. As a result, branding has
not received the professional distinction it deserves.
Adding
to its already poor brand image, branding became the scapegoat for the
unethical business practices of multi-national corporations. Branding
was seen as a manipulation technique because it was often confused with
tactless marketing and ad campaigns.
As an industry, we
must come together to address the problem of branding being perceived
as a fuzzy and deceptive labeling exercise by proactively repositioning
it. After all, branding provides a very useful and necessary service:
It helps people consistently distinguish an organization, its property,
products, services and communications. The good news is that the hype
has subsided. Branding's own brand is well under development and, when
launched, it will dramatically change the way the communications
industry is structured. My prediction is that branding will eventually
rise to the top level of the communications chain above advertising. My
own industry research led me to question why no professional branding
associations existed. There are hundreds of books, articles, blogs,
seminars, workshops and conferences on the topic of branding, but no
organized professional group. Perhaps the primary reason that we have
not reached 'brand consensus' is the lack of a centralized forum.
Advertising professionals have clearly benefited from the solidarity of
their community. Imagine if those of us who were passionate about
brands and branding could also gather in one place. If we could jointly
work to make the concept of branding so crystal clear that it would
eliminate the need to pitch it at every client meeting.
Last
January, I decided to launch the Canadian Branding Association the
first group of its kind. Why a branding association? Many of us
practising within the vast communications field are drawn to the
specialized expertise of branding. Understandably, we are not
adequately represented by business, marketing, advertising or design
associations, which must deal with multiple categories.
The
Canadian group was launched with the objective of inspiring the
formation of other national branding associations ultimately creating
the International Branding Association.
THE FUTURE
Can
the bad reputation of branding actually be rescued? I believe it can.
But the situation is not going to change if we just talk amongst
ourselves. We must properly package and then promote branding to
businesses, to schools, to governments. For this area of expertise to
progress, it must be more than a trendy concept that generates money
for consultants and corporations. It must become a holistic practice
that has a positive impact socially and culturally. The
brand-passionate need to be at the forefront of this mission.
Of
course, there is no way to certify brand work. I am not suggesting that
branding be an exclusive or registered profession. We launched a
professional association to gather like minds and distinguish a valid
expertise. Unless an industry defines itself, sets standards for
practice and education, it will never evolve and it is up to the
qualified branding practitioners to elevate their own practice. Like
all associations, we will try to weed out the fakes and raise the bar
for the remaining professionals.
Just as a successful
brand requires the collaboration of many, so does the launch of an
association. If you are passionate about branding, we need your help to
further our cause.
Is branding a brand? With its own association, it is certainly on its way to becoming one.
About Errol Saldanha
Errol Saldanha runs the Toronto-based branding agency Saldanha Inc.
(www.saldanha.com). This article is based on Saldanha's industry
research for the Canadian Branding Association, which he founded in 2005, with excerpts from his branding blog. The article was first printed in Applied Arts Magazine and is reprinted with permission.