Re: Branding & Marketing

From: Jerry Blanton <jerry.blanton_at_marchfirst.com>
Date: Mon 12 Mar 2001 10:18:23 -0600

HUGH SMITH <hbsmith_at_AllSunshine.com> WROTE:

> Me, too. I think some folks are merely confusing
> terminology.
>
> Brand = a class of goods identified by name as the product
> of a single firm or manufacturer
>
> Branding = to impress indelibly
>
> For example, Kenmore and Craftsman are brands; the Sears
> name is not. Branding is accomplished through some
> combination of quality, service, price, convenience and
> marketing. Don't know any other way to do it.
>
> Are services "goods"? Can services be brands? Probably not;
> but branding techniques can be and are used to build services.

Indeed the problem is terminology -- moreover it is the
problem of trying to define the boundaries of the
terminology.

In the extreme and most limiting sense, "brand" is the
mark of ownership. Nothing more, nothing less.

Your definition above expands that to talk about
"class[es] of goods identified by name..." This is
also correct. However in starting to expand the meaning
we are now on a slippery slope. David Aaker (a well
respected brand expert and author of several books on the
subject) defines a brand much more broadly -- a
short-cut to consumer choice, a collection of
associations, attributes (both rational and emotional)
pertaining to quality, status, value, etc. etc. etc.

If you allow for the broader definition of brand then
by extension something like Sears is a brand in its
own right (called a "parent brand") and has powerful
and valuable associations in consumers' minds. (I know
this from direct experience as I have done some brand
strategy work on Craftsman vis a vis Sears and their
relationship).

If, as marketers, we can leverage these associations
to create demand (awareness + interest + action) then
we are in the business of "branding."

I would recommend that before anyone makes any further
declarations as to whether a service can or can't be a
brand etc., that person first articulate their definition
of what a brand is.

my 2 cents worth.

Jerry Blanton



Received on Mon Mar 12 2001 - 10:18:23 CST