Even though some might think that brand building is just advertising or that a brand is built via ads alone, the truth is a bit different. In fact, brands are not just what they offer or the functional value they are providing their customers with.
Nowadays, many communities choose to celebrate brands that have achieved cult status. Furthermore, organisations have realised how much power they can have in loyal customer communities. Thus, they’ve focused on nurturing and growing their brands by enhancing their reputation and influence.
Today, brands are even associated with powerful social causes, which they also use to promote the brand as socially responsible. It’s quite normal to see brands supporting cultural, music, or sports events, as well as charities or research. Of course, by associating themselves with such causes, they are also linking themselves to particular fields. Those activities even lead to partnerships. A good example would be Reebok and Nike, which have reached global cult status by supporting sports and sports players.
What are brands telling us about themselves?
When it comes to most brands, we can draw certain conclusions based on their associations. In fact, if we analyse the causes they support, we can see that brands are not just a visual image and a logo.
Of course, their visual image is an important part of a brand. However, we mustn’t forget that there is also a certain type of perception that’s linked to that same image. What’s more, brands also hold distinctive positions, and besides value and image, they also have a personality.
Branding is a complex concept, which is why we need to delve a bit further into it to discover that brands really do have personalities. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean these brands are acting like humans. No – it means they are using famous personalities as their brand ambassadors. Thus, those ambassadors and their public image actually help the brand boost its own popularity and improve its image.
Every product out there has some individual who is promoting it and lending their personality and reputation to its promotion. For example, Richard Branson. Mr Branson is not only a brand ambassador but a brand himself. There’s also Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, for example, not to mention the plethora of actors and actresses who are promoting and popularising perfumes, lipsticks, and even stores.
Therefore, we can say that brands do a lot of things in order to stay relevant. What’s more, the companies behind them are also doing their best to make a good impression, as well as build a sustainable corporate image. However, they are also promoting the brand products individually and gaining additional value from that. In those cases, corporate branding and promotions are conveying a distinctive set of messages to the target audience. Meanwhile, product brand promotions are going in a different direction with an entirely different message.
Thus, there’s a huge difference that we have to remember. Corporate branding ensures that the corporate identity, image, and values are cultivated and nurtured. However, branding at the product level focuses on product and value proposition promotion.
Brands are more powerful than we think
In order to understand how much power brands can have, we must understand all types of branding. This sort of power is a combination of perception and image, and as such, it is of the essence for the brand itself. Moreover, we must remember that brands are not simple entities. They consist of various components and messages.
What’s even more interesting is the fact that brands tend to remain in the minds of both consumers and observers. Their power is so immense that they latch onto the subconsciousness of people quite easily. What’s more, they often use that power to build and enhance brand-consumer and brand-observer relationships.
Once you start noticing how many brands there are in the world, you’ll understand that building a brand is not a simple task. In order to build and grow a brand, one needs a proper design and a powerful strategy so that the brand can actually use all the opportunities to the fullest.
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