Regardless of the size of a company or the nature of a business, there are certain ideals that characterize the best brand identities. They hold true whether the brand identity project is about launching an entrepreneurial venture, creating a new product or service, repositioning a brand, working on a merger, or creating a retail presence.
An effective brand identity will:
- Be bold, memorable, and appropriate
- Be immediately recognizable
- Provide a clear and consistent image of the company
- Communicate the company's persona
- Be legally protectable
- Have enduring value
- Work well across media and scale
A brand is the promise, the big idea, the reputation and expectation that resides in each customer's mind about the product and/or the company. It is a powerful yet intangible asset. Brand is about making an emotional connection. People fall in love with brands. They trust them, develop strong loyalties, buy them, and believe in their superiority. The brand is shorthand: it stands for something and demonstrates it every day. Branding used to be the exclusive preview of big consumer products and institutions.
Why have brands become so important? Bottom line: good brands build companies. Ineffective brands undermine success. As products and services become indistinguishable, as competition creates infinite choices, as companies merge into a faceless monolith, differentiation becomes increasingly imperative. While being remembered is essential, it is becoming harder every day. A strong brand means a company or its products will stand out in a densely crowded marketplace. There is substantial evidence that companies whose employees understand and embrace the brand are more successful. Translating the brand into action has become an employee mantra. What began as corporate culture under the auspices of human resources is fast becoming branding, and the marketing department runs the show.
While brands speak to the mind and heart, brand identity is tangible and appeals to the senses. Brand identity is the visual and verbal expression of a brand. Identity supports, expresses, communicates, synthesizes, and visualizes the brand. It is the shortest, fastest, most ubiquitous form of communication available. You can see it, touch it, hold it, hear it and watch it move. It begins with a brand name and a brand mark that builds exponentially into a matrix of tools and communications. On applications from business cards to websites, from advertising campaigns to fleets of planes and signage, brand identity increases awareness and builds businesses.
The need for effective brand identity cuts across public and private sectors, from new companies to merged organizations to businesses that need to reposition or repackage themselves. The best brand identity systems are memorable, differentiated, meaningful, authentic, sustainable, flexible, and have value.
Recognition becomes immediate across cultures and customs. Brand identity is a tool that is powerful and omnipresent. Brand identity is an asset that needs to be managed, nourished, invested in, and leveraged. When done well, it is the consistent reminder of the meaning of the brand.
The best identity programs embody and advance the company's brand by supporting the desired perceptions. The identity encompasses every tangible expression of the brand and becomes intrinsic to a company's culture a constant reminder of its core values and its heritage. The mark is at the pinnacle of a branding pyramid; when the customer sees it, recognition fuels comfort and loyalty and sets the stage for a sale.
A stellar identity demonstrates a unique point of view, from the interface of a website to the design of a product to the clarity of a PowerPoint presentation. Design does make a difference.
