What is a brand?

I don’t like to use the word “brand” too often.  Make no mistake. It is a sexy word. The problem is, more often than not, it is misused. What do I mean?

Remember the old TV show “Batman”? There was a “Bat” version of everything. He had a Batmobile. He lived in the Batcave. He even had Batearplugs to protect his ears. The problem is, after a while Bat got tiring, repetitive and even confusing. (Click here for the full list of his gadgets.)

Same thing applies to the word “brand”. People tend to refer to many things as “brand.” Clearly, there is confusion in terminology. I mostly blame us, branding professionals for that. Over the last decades brand consultants generated countless terms such as, brand differentiation, brand ambassadors, brand rally, brand essence… You get the point. After a while the magic is lost.

Since this is my very first post, I want to clarify what a brand is and what it isn’t. Brand is not your logo. It is not your name. It is not your slogan. It is not your ad. Universally, a brand is defined as “a promise”. Every time your customers contact you, you must deliver that promise. It can be providing shinier hair, best financial advice or wiping out an illness. THAT PROMISE is your brand. What differentiates a good brand from a not-so-good one is the degree to which the brand manages to deliver its promise at touch points that really matter.

The purpose of this blog is to help you better understand how to create relevant and differentiating promises and how to bring those promises into life to create sustainable competitive advantage.

Our next post will look at the criteria of a strong promise.