Re: Brand Identity

Who do you know that has a strong brand identity? 

Besides the heavy hitters, some of my personal favorites are Wegman's and Dollar Shave Club. Both keep a consistent visual brand that holds true to the morals and values of the company. The two are completely different in terms of product and look but both are easily respected because of their uniformity to their brand. People (me) get a good a good guy feeling about the company- which is essentially what branding is.The most interesting/important thing about branding to me, is that the brand is NOT what the COMPANY says the brand is, its what the CONSUMER says it is.

Here is basically the best video ever that really displays great branding and marketing. 

Do you know anyone or anything that has failed to create a strong brand identity? 

Clearly from last week, I think that my company is having a hard time with this. However, I'm confident that its something that we are going to work on and fix! Right? I mean that's my job so I hope so!

I'm also in Design Business Link and while Vehicles for Change is a great company with an exceptional mission, their brand is all over the place, making it hard for the company and brand to grow because its so confusing.  I think we see this a lot with non profits and small businesses. Building a brand is difficult and time consuming. Its easy to get lost if your not 100% sure what you are doing.

Do you think consumers even realize why they are attracted to someone or something with a strong brand identity? 

No. For the most part, I really don't. I'd like to say I'm pretty aware of design/marketing/advertising because of my profession but to be honest, I know I make decisions all the time based on brand and am completely unaware of it. There are certain cases where I can objectively see what I am doing. For example, there are about 12 different brands of spaghetti sauce when you go to the grocery store. To me, they are essentially all the same, but I always choose my sauce on label. Not taste, not price- only on packaging. I don't know why, but it makes sense the prettiest label has the best sauce (obviously???).  My husband and I will even fight about it if the brand I want doesn't have the flavor he wants. But I'm pregnant, so I win every time. ;)