If you don’t believe in the power of good branding, you probably don’t know what it is.
I often come across skepticism of how essential a tool brand is for organizations. I always enjoy the challenge of proving the opposite. Those who deny the power of brand often say that they could not live without an iPhone, or pride themselves of how well the principles of their companies are integrated into its processes and behaviours.
That is the magic of "good" branding, you believe in it without even noticing.
A big challenge with branding is the word itself. It’s a term that has been so overused and its area of influence is so broad, that its true meaning can get lost in translation. When people say they don’t believe in branding, what they are really trying to say is that they are not easy to trick with words or aesthetics. Well good. Because that is not what branding is about.
The reality is that brand is the sum total of how an organisation behaves, looks and feels. Audiences shape their feelings about brand based on all these elements, not just through seeing its communications. They build their opinion through the feeling created as they interact with it across all the different touchpoints.
By Jacob Benbunan
Co-Founder and CEO, Saffron Brand Consultants. Author of the book "Disruptive Branding."