Constitutents of a Brand

Brands just amaze me. Indeed, in my opinion, they are the biggest creation ever!

The term brand originated from the Old Norse word ‘brandr’, meaning to burn, and is of Anglo-Saxon origin. In the olden days, around 4000 years back, farmers used to mark their cattle, and other livestock, for easy identification by burning the hide. This practice was later replicated to mark fugitives, galley slaves, gypsies, vagabonds, brawlers, and even clergy for an easy identification. However, in the days to come though this practice of burning hide was eventually replaced by painting on the livestock with pine tar or paint, but the term ‘brand’ remained with us forever, and evolved as a concept to be discussed in the finest B-schools across the world. And what also remained back with us were the Egyptian tomb walls, dating back to 2000 BC, which also have some peculiar marks for easy identification, as a fine example of the then branding. Whatever said and done, there is no two-way about the fact that the basic role of a brand, evidently, was to serve as a platform to identify and differentiate objects, like from like, or like from unlike.

Lets now fast forward to the present, a world which is so very 'branded'. Its like living in a closet full of brands, weird analogy, but that's how I feel. I eat, drink, wear, drive, play, talk, write, feel, think and use brands all the time. Infact I feel that I also breathe brand, since the air conditioner, and even the residential or office space is branded :)

Although the constitution of brand is more complex in today's competitive and saturated market, yet the basic role of a brand remains pretty much the same, ie, identification. In the past, it could be a letter, numeral, character, or symbol, or a combination of one or more of any of these, or all of these, however today I would describe a typical brand as a sum-total of the following elements:

1) Name: An identity, much like your name. Imagine if a brand was to have only a visual representation, and not a name, how would someone talk about it. Its like living in a world without names where people talk about each-other by, let’s say, referring to pics. So, we would all need to carry a photo album with us wherever we went, with everyone's pic, everyone we know of of-course. And when we want to refer to a third person, in the course of our conversation, we would need to out our album, look into the index for the right he-she, then flip to the right pic, and start talking. And when we meet someone new, rather than the business card, we would exchange our pic. Sounds funny, but seems like the only possible solution. I would actually maintain albums under categories like 'hot', 'medium' and 'ugly' ;) Or use an i-phone to make things lot easier :) Only catch would be to communicate to people who aren't quite gifted with sight or vision, or simply put are blind.

2) Logo: A visual identity, and very crucial for brand, esp (i) when the name of the brand is difficult to pronounce, or not-so-sure kind of a term (eg Gucci, Actis, Lacoste) (ii) while communicating either a local name to an international audience (eg Haldiram, Ayur) or an english name to a non-english speaking country (iii) while communicating to an uneducated or illiterate audience who can't quite read.

3) Tagline: Often used to sum-up the essence of the brand experience, or the value which the brand promises to deliver. It can also be used for enforcing a higher/top-of-the mind brand recall, by being a catchy or memorable jingle. And some of them could be effective like 'thanda matlab Coca Cola' or 'No one can eat just one'! So, next time you ask for 'thanda', you may actually land-up saying 'Coca Cola' instead, and you may not want to share your bag of chips. (Disclaimer: I don’t have statistics before and after the campaigns to prove if these taglines have actually resulted in an increase of sales and revenue)

4) Typeface: An important constituent, but the least important amongst all of them, and a sort of secondary visual identity. Infact, in many cases, it may even replace a logo. Like the typeface for Coca Cola is a unique font, and patented by the company. Even brands like D'dmas and CRY use a typeface in place of a logo. However, most brands use both the logo and the typeface, like Gucci, Reliance, Castrol, Tanishq, Shell, so-on and so-forth.

I don’t know if this was fair dissection of the term ‘brand’ but I am quite evidently, quite fascinated by the whole phenomenon of branding. And if I could make my bread, butter and fuel out of it, then I guess I would just ideate brands - their name, logo, tagline and typefaces, to add yet another ‘member’ to the closet I live in!

Watch this space for more on ‘Brands’!!!

BJN: A case in Corporate Branding

I appreciate beauty, and I surely can’t help noticing ads. I seldom criticize them, because creativity is very subjective, and its as personal as an opinion!

So, a few days back when I came across this ad while flipping thru ‘Bangalore Times’ – a supplement that most people swear by, I was struck by a clear, white background with a clear, distinct message!

Unlike customary, the ad had no headline, sub-head or body copy, instead it conveys the message pictorially. An ad for the famous hangout – ‘Indijoe’ – it achieves the following objectives:

1) Educates the readers about the three branches Indijoe has in the city.

2) Gives the ph nos for each of the branches – for enquiries regarding cuisines or timings, making reservations, or just finding the driving directions to these joints.

3) Brands BJN Group. Indijoe, being a successful hangout, can have a rub-off effect on the Group company and form favorable associations.

4) Takes a step further by establishing further credibility with a timestamp ‘1998’ – a very ‘been there, done it!’ approach, thus portraying the group as an established company.

Well, I just couldn’t ignore the strong element of Corporate Branding in this ad, which cannot be anything but a conscious management decision. So, I did wonder and put some factors down that may have prompted a strong focus on the parent Group.

1) The Group is looking forward to diversify in related fields, like hotels, tourism, etc. However, my guess is that they wouldn’t move out of the ‘hospitality’ domain.

2) The Group is going global. Now-a-days, everyone seeks an easy way out by way of acquisitions to save the trouble of starting from scratch.

3) The Group is going public. Boy, then they would require ‘some’ branding to ensure a good ‘List Price’ for their IPO.

Besides Indijoe, BJN also owns several other brands in the city, 13 in total (if I may rely on my credit card statement – since half my salary goes to them every month), namely - Samarkand, Hypnoes, Angeethi, Aromas of China, Phirnagi Pani, Sahib Sindh Sultan, Bombay Post, etc. They operate in six cities – Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Jaipur.

Ah, it is beginning to sound like a ‘Boiler Plate’ for BJN…

- Namrta R