What's a BRAND?

A cocktail fueled conversation this weekend brought up an interesting question.  The question was simple but fundamental to our industry - What is a brand?  

Notoriously terrible at small talk with a career that bleeds into everday social life, I decided to pursue this conversation.  In between clanging pinball machines, exclamation of ski-ball victories, and dulled synapses firing, we went through a number of definitions. 

Brand as a lifestyle.  This was appealing at first because of the prominence of lifestyle brands in our contemporary conscious.  Luxury brands have long approached marketing this way, but many CPGs, retail, and electronics are jumping in.  The problem is this definition is limiting.  Although Red Bull, Apple, and Nike could be classified as a lifestyle brands - others like SAP, Goldman Sachs, and General Electric could not.  Mainly because they are not primarily consumer facing.  

Perhaps a brand was a differentiator.  A better definition than last since a main goal of marketing is to differentiate similar categories of products.  This is especially true in the razor thin margin world of CPG where dish soap is dish soap is dish soap.  The trouble with this is not all brand are differentiated.  Although the labels might be different, the perception of the consumer is not.  They brands might be unknown, known but unfamiliar, or have simple emotional responses attached to them.    

The problem with a 'brand' is that it can be essentially anything.  A bottle with a label, laundry detergent, your sporty new car,  or even a personal one.  There are even certain brands of person one gravitates toward.  

The only definition that does such an encompassing concept justice is that of a simple heuristic - or mental shortcut.  Basically, a brand is your knew jerk reaction to a certain something.  It is a collection of all your experiences with this particular brand that produces your heuristic or general thought on the brand.  

This means that essentially every consumer touch point is a brand building moment.  The best ad campaigns in the world won't do you a lick of good if your service or product sucks.  Here's a company that I think does brand building particularly well - American Express.  

All aspects from their product to marketing consistently back up their brand position as a premium credit card, building a consistent, positive mental shortcut for consumers.  A good litmus test on a brand health - when you think Amex what immediately comes to mind?  How about Red Bull?  OREO?  

 Thanks for reading and tolerating my mental summersaults.  Next time, I will ask why a healthy brand, heuristic, mental shortcut is so important to driving incremental sales.

Disclaimer this was not sponsored by Amex, although if you are an Amex representative reading this post please go to my contact page for sponsorship opportunities...