A glossary of commonly used branding terms

I have compiled a short list of commonly used branding terms that we use regularly when interacting with clients.

Brand
A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer resulting from their experience of a product, service or company. A brand has functional and emotional elements which create a relationship between customers and the organisation, product or service.

Brand Architecture
The method by which an organisation structures and names the brands within its portfolio. There are three main types of brand architecture system:
> monolithic – where the corporate name is used on all products and services offered by the company
> endorsed – where all sub-brands are linked to the corporate brand by means of either a verbal or visual endorsement
> freestanding – where the corporate brand operates merely as a holding company, and each product or service is individually branded for its target market.

Brand Audit
A comprehensive examination of all aspects of a brand to assess its health, uncover its sources of equity and suggest ways to improve and leverage that equity.

Brand Attributes
The functional and emotional associations which are assigned to a brand by its customers and prospects. Brand attributes can have different degrees of relevance and importance to different customer segments, markets and cultures.

Brand Champion
Internal and external advocates of the brand empowered with the task of spreading the brand’s vision and values and promoting its purpose within an organisation.

Brand Commitment
The degree to which a customer is committed to a given brand based on the likelihood of them re-purchasing in the future. This indicates the degree to which a brand’s customer franchise is protected from competitors.

Brand Equity
The value someone places on an organisation, product or service brand, based on everything that the person thinks, feels and knows about the brand.

Brand Essence
The distillation of a brand’s intrinsic characteristics into a succinct core concept.

Brand Experience
The means by which a brand is created in the mind of a stakeholder. Experiences can be influenced by personal contact, retail environments, advertising, products, services, websites etc. Some are uncontrolled eg word of mouth. Strong brands arise from consistent experiences which combine to form a clear, differentiated overall brand experience.

Brand Extension
Leveraging the values of the brand to take it into new markets or sectors.

Brand Identity
The outward expression of the brand, including its name and visual appearance. The brand’s identity is its fundamental means of consumer recognition and differentiation from competitors.

Brand Management
This involves ongoing management of the functional and emotional experiences of the brand. These can range from exposure to products, packaging and price – to the customer experience of marketing activities and interaction with people.

Brand Personality
Includes all the tangible and intangible traits of a brand, say beliefs, values, prejudices, features, interests, and heritage. A brand personality makes it unique. It describes a brand in terms of human characteristics. It is seen as a valuable factor in increasing brand engagement and brand attachment, in much the same way as people relate and bind to other people.

Brand Platform
The Brand Platform consists of the following elements:
> Brand Vision - The brand’s guiding insight into its world.
> Brand Mission - How the brand will act on its insight.
> Brand Values - The code by which the brand lives. The brand values act as a benchmark to measure behaviors and performance.
> Brand Personality - The brand’s personality traits (See also definition for Brand Personality).
> Brand Tone of Voice - How the brand speaks to its audiences.

Brand Positioning
The distinctive position that a brand adopts in its competitive environment to ensure that individuals in its target market can tell the brand apart from others. Positioning involves the careful manipulation of every element of the marketing mix.

Brand Strategy
A ‘big picture’ plan for the systematic development of a brand to enable it to meet its agreed objectives. The strategy should be rooted in the brand’s vision and driven by the principles of differentiation and competitive advantage.

Brand Tone of Voice
How the brand speaks to its audiences.

Brand Valuation
The process of identifying and measuring the economic benefit that derives from brand ownership.

Brand Values
The code by which the brand lives. The brand values act as a benchmark to measure behaviours and performance.

Brand Vision
A concise statement of what a brand means to its owners and their intent for its future direction.

Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.

View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au

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