Chapter
2:
What, exactly, is a brand, anyway?
Home > Promote > Marketing
> Branding
by Rob
Frankel
This is an excerpt from the book The Revenge of Brandx by Rob Frankel. You can find out more about the book by visiting this site.
Before we move too far down the road here, I should probably
address the fact that almost nobody in America seems to truly understand what
a brand actually is.
Well, that may be a bit harsh.
Let me restate that: Almost no branding expert in America seems to know what a
brand actually is.
Yes, that's much better.
Branding is definitely the most misapplied term in all of marketing. Like pornography,
everyone seems to think they know what it is but still can't define it. So let
me take a moment here and set our definitions straight. I want to go through a
couple of examples that at most, should provide a common ground as to what branding
is - and isn't.
The first example is a multiple choice test.
It was going to be an essay, but my publisher refused to devote that many blank
pages to the effort. This is a simple test to see how you might define what branding
is.
Q: What is branding?
1 That thing they
burn into cows
2. A logo or a trademark
3. A jingle or a slogan
4. I
don't really know, but I'll look like a complete idiot if I admit it.
If you haven't guessed by now, the most popular answer - the one you'll find in
most boardrooms - is #4. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in meetings
with real life MBA's who sit on their hands or ask to refill your coffee when
they're put to this test.
