I had the weirdest experience, twice in one day, no joke. I was having an email conversation with my sister, Rose. In my email I told her that we had just won a new account to “brand” a company in Rockland County, NY and we were really excited about it. She replied. “What is branding, can you explain it to me?”
The second experience was when I was on the phone following up on a recent referral. My potential client wasn’t available. I got involved in conversation with the woman who answered the phone. I told her that I was Janeen From Hudson Valley Graphic Design and that we were branding specialists. She plainly replied, “What is branding?”
I throw that word around like it’s a household name—clearly it’s not. Not everyone knows that Madison Avenue lingo. So to explain, Branding is the image that comes into our mind when I say “McDonalds”, or “Nike” or “Wendy’s”. When I bring up those names, your mind immediately thinks of some kind of imagery, or feeling. That’s company branding.
Wendy’s new branding
Not Just The Logo
The company’s logo, color scheme, icons and imagery, think the golden arches or the Nike swish, represent their branding. But it goes deeper than that. The brand encompasses many more things that just the visual—a company can have a beautiful logo but lousy customer service and guess what you, the customer, will remember the most? Of course, your crummy experience as you went to return something, no matter how pretty their logo is.
Perception
The perception you have of a company or business or product is it’s business branding. Companies strive to portray a quality, trustworthy impression in the consumer’s mind. They do this by using proprietary graphics and imagery. As Paul Williams & John Moore state in their TAXI article,”Branding is the element that differentiates you from the competition”.
Feeling
How you feel about the company, that’s branding. Here is where branding extends far beyond the companies logo. The way the receptionist answers the phone is branding also. I recently switched servers, now using Hostgator. Their customer service is excellent. Every time I call, every one who gets me on the phone is polite, helpful and cheerful. I would say their branding is excellent—based on my recent experience and perception of them.
The new job we won for the company in Rockland County involves re-branding a 10-year-old successful business that does excellent work. We will work with the owners to step back, and take a look at how they are perceived and how they want to be perceived by their clients, developing a strategy and re-branding program for them. This is what we do best at Hudson Valley Graphic Design.
Is this your experience of branding? If you have anything to add, please leave a comment,thanks!