If you study the history of branding, you will find these types of visual-identity markers in Ancient Greece, and perhaps even earlier in China. In Northern Europe, they appear in the Middle Ages as merchant marks.
Brand design is more than a mark and a typeface
In other words, they are as old as trade itself, serving the same purpose as modern brands: they assure buyers of provenance, guarantee quality and consistency, and hint at a certain kind of customer experience.
However, let’s not forget that nowadays your first association to a brand could also be sound: a sequence of musical notes, a short auditory flourish or a jingle. With the proliferation of laptops, smartphones and other sound emitting devices, the brand can be represented by its digital “sonic signature.”
Brand collateral
All of these sensory manifestations of a brand translate into “brand collateral,” a collection of printed and electronic media that you can display and distribute. A shop-sign or business card bearing your brand colours, an email with your logo, a webpage that emits your brand’s sonic signature, can all be your brand collateral.
Now, as I have realized over the years as brand consultant and professor of marketing, a surprising number of businesspeople think that this is all there is to a brand. You need logos, fonts and colours, just like you need your company name – a unique identifier, and nothing more.
Brand promise and reputation
But there is another view that has gained ground over the last few decades. As I researched my latest book How Sustainable Energy Branding Will Help Save The Planet (published by Routledge in early 2023). I had the privilege of talking to some of the world’s most influential energy executives.
To my delight, in addition to design, I found myself conversing at length about “brand as a promise,” “brand purpose,” “brand philosophy,” “brand reputation” and many other topics that are crucial to any modern company’s success.
The brand is part of the company's DNA
One of the executives talked about brand being part of the company’s DNA; another discussed the internal culture change, signalled by the rebrand. They all spoke from experience. These executives have shaped their companies over the years, taking them from strength to strength, understanding that brand is more than “image.”
I clearly felt that these energy-industry professionals “got it.” The brand was a much deeper construct than its pure sensory representation. It stood for something, and getting to its essence was often the topic of conversation. In fact, my brandr Index tool measures 30 aspects of a brand as it relates to the company’s marketing, customer service, sales and other facets of corporate activity.
Proto brands
Now, if “brand as a promise” sounds too abstract perhaps it is worth going back to our examples of “proto brands,” those early examples of branding that we mentioned earlier. For instance, in the early Mediterranean wine trade, merchants packaged their goods in proprietary-designed amphorae, with tamper-proof (“truth-in-packaging”) caps. A bit like Coca-Cola bottles today.
Brand assurance
There is evidence that these designs were enforced at state level, and recognized internationally, from the Northern Aegean to the south of France. Thus, at the point of purchase the buyer was promised that they would be getting the product they were expecting. The brand offered assurance and peace of mind.
Rebrand to restate your brand promise
Coming back to our day and age, I find that a rebrand is a perfect opportunity to bring together these two aspects of a brand. Rebranding means changing your organization’s strategy, corporate image and messaging, with the aim of improving your business.
Restating your brand promise will differentiate you from competitors – but any such initiative should be based on facts. Remember: to efficiently adjust branding strategy, solid consumer data is necessary, and any changes should always be based on the results of brand research.
What is it you are promising your customers, perhaps even beyond product quality and consistency? How does your brand bring positive change to your community and the world? Once that purpose is fully felt and understood, it will almost spontaneously find expression in the sensory aspects of the brand’s collateral.
