All About Branding

Brands are all around us in the world today. It seems like you cannot walk five steps without encountering some kind of brand, logo, or advertisement. I mean, they are everywhere. According to one my old marketing management textbooks Marketing Management: Knowledge and Skills by Peter and Donnelly a brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. In addition, branding is the process of trying to make one’s product or service different from that of a competing product or service by using the characteristics mentioned above.

According to Sturken and Cartwright the role of the brand has been central to commodity culture. Furthermore, the process of branding may include the look of the packaging, the typeface of package and ad print, and product, packaging and ad design concept and language, as well as the content and form of the product itself. Sometimes, it is a company that becomes a brand and not just the specific product.

With this being said, my question is: What attracts people to a certain brand?

To answer this question, I believe that what draws people to a brand is the association and visual insight that the consumer has with a certain brand. These associations and visual insights can be established through advertising, word-of-mouth, or any other promotional medium. This means that when a consumer sees a product they desire they immediately try to associate themselves with the name, term, design, symbol, product, or any other feature of the product. For example, I have bought a few pieces of Under Armour equipment because I was able to associate myself with the brand in the advertisements/branding efforts that I witnessed which I was quite impressed with. Essentially, it was the ad design concept that attracted me to the brand. The ad design concept according to Sturken and Cartwright is a process of branding and it caught my attention.

This concept worked for me, however, there are more ways people are attracted to certain brands. Perhaps some consumers have a particular attachment to a brand from past experiences. Or maybe once a person consumes a particular brand they like; they stay loyal to the brand. Anyway, what attracts you to a certain brand?

In addition, another thought crossed my mind in the wake of thinking about branding. Rather it is a question which is: Does the influence of certain brands change as we get older?

I think yes. When we are younger I believe that we are influenced more by brands that friends are deeming as superior and chill, thus, as a follow up we may be inclined to consume these certain brands. However, as we age and are more and more able to think for ourselves, we tend to veer away from the brands that others consider high-end. Nonetheless, the influence from others is still there but not as much. Hence, I believe that marketers realize this and will try to attract people to establish brand loyalty when they are young. In essence, it is a battle that the brand is attempting to win as it tries to hold onto your loyalty before you start swerving to other competing brands.