Difference between Logo & Brand Identity

People often use Logo and Brand Identity loosely and interchangeably. Logo is not the same as Brand Identity, although they are very closely linked.

Let us first understand what do these terms mean:

LOGO
A trademark-able symbol, graphic, visual representation of an organisation that reflects beliefs and values of the organisation whilst enabling public recognition.

BRAND IDENTITY
Key identifiers of a brand that includes Word, Sign, Symbol, Colours, and Design Style that makes a rand recognisable. Logo is a subset of Brand Identity.

Building a Brand Identity is an exciting process. It’s a collection of tangibles like a logo, Brand Colours, Typography, Tone of Voice and Communication system. The more specific, distinct and cohesive these elements are, higher would be the likelihood of Brand Recall and Brand Association. And this would allow your customers to distinctly remember your brand differently from the crowd. A consumer is only able to do so when a brand is able to consistently communicate this through its service, packaging, use of media and quality of products.

Brand Identity is divided into Visual and Verbal identity. Visual elements make your brand stronger and have a positive recall. While elements like Tagline, Tone of Voice and the use of media form a brand’s Verbal Identity. For any brand to have an effective and robust Brand Identity, it is mandatory that both, Visual and Verbal Identity of the brand are in sync.

On the other hand, Logo is one of the key elements of Brand Identity.  A logo is known to be the face of the brand, the first impression of your brand. A Logo creates a visual impact and consumers instantly connect with the brand with the sight of a Logo.  For a brand to be successful it is essential to have a well designed, unique, memorable and aesthetically pleasing logo.

Logos can be classified in three types: Typographic logos, Symbolic logos and the Combination of the two. Typographic logos are stylised text of the Brand Name or its initials. For instance, brands like Google, Subway, Sony, Disney use it. Symbolic logos have a symbol representing their brand for instance Audi, Mercedes, Apple, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Most of the brands use a mix of both as their logo like Adidas, Pepsi, Doritos, Burger King. Read more about the types of logos here.

To conclude, a Strong Logo is the key to an effective Brand Identity. Though they are overlapping concepts and both are equally important for the success of a brand. 

Article contributed by:

Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing

Evolution of Colours and their role in Brand Identity

It is believed artists invented pigments using a combination of soil, animal fat, burnt charcoal, and chalk as long as 40,000 years ago. Initially, artists only invented a basic palette that consisted of red, yellow, brown, black, and white. Later, through scientific progress and advancement, colours like blue, green and violet were invented. Since then, there have been numerous discoveries of new and colours simply by mixing and experimenting.

Today, colours are present all around us and are associated with every aspect of our lives. They influence the way we think, cause actions and reactions. They can irritate or soothe your eyes. Some colours are calm and give us a feeling of serenity while some can cause anxiety. Every colour has its unique meaning and associations. In today’s society, colours have become a very powerful form of communication and are irreplaceable. The study of human behaviour towards colours is known as ‘Colour Psychology’ and this is a widely used concept in Marketing and Branding. Here, we will see how our mind perceives certain colours:

Red: Red is known to be a very strong, noticeable and an emotionally intense colour.  Red is most associated with energy, youth, courage, strength, warmth, desire, passion and excitement. While on the other hand, it is also associated with war, danger and aggression. Red has the ability to enhance metabolism, raise blood pressure and increase our respiration rate. Red colour also makes objects appear much closer than they actually are and thus, grabs more attention this is why danger signs, traffic signals are in red.

Yellow: Being the colour of sunshine, yellow puts a smile on the dial. The most visible colour from a distance, it communicates cheerfulness, friendliness, energy, reflects joy, optimism, confidence, happiness and creativity. However, at the same time, yellow is the colour of caution and associates with fear, depression and anxiety. Yellow also arouses hunger and hence most of the fast food and ready to eat products are packed in yellow.

Brown: Brown is seen as a serious and very down to earth, warm, with properties like stability, structure, support and sophistication. It is among the oldest colours and is associated with wholesome, natural and organic produce and anything related to the great outdoors, agriculture and farming. Hence, most organic products use brown in their packaging.

Black: The colour black relates to hidden, secretive, unknown, and as a result it creates an air of mystery. It is associated with elegance, glamour, luxury, power, exclusivity. Black is bold, classic and to be taken seriously. Black on the other hand also has a negative side to it like evil, oppression, grief, and insecurity.

White: White represents purity, simplicity, hygiene, innocence, clarity, transparency. It is known to be the colour of perfection. If we had to identify one brand that has uses white to convey its brand message to perfection it would have to be Apple, white represents the simplicity of the products in both their form and function. White can also be associated with emptiness, coldness, unfriendliness, isolation and emptiness. The colour white also depicts peace, cleanliness and calmness; thus hospitals are generally painted in white.

Blue: Blue is a universally preferred colour, having versatile qualities. Blue is widely used and appreciated for its calmness and serenity. Brands using the colour blue in logos give a sense of reliability, trustworthiness and authority. Thus brands like Dell, Intel, Facebook, Twitter, Samsung have their logos in blue. However, being associated with feelings, also expresses sadness or depression.

Green: Green has two very common meanings - one being nature and environment, and the other being finance and wealth. It signifies harmony, balance, freshness, awareness, growth, restoration, and stability. Though, it can also be significant to boredom, blandness. Green representing nature is also considered to be beneficial for Mind and Body and is also said to have amazing healing powers.

Violet: In ancient times, violet was termed as ‘the colour of atmosphere’. It is known to be a soft colour with calming effects that convey creativity and wisdom. Violet is also associated with spiritual awareness, vision, luxury, truth, and quality. Violet also has negative associations like introversion, suppression, and inferiority. 

Colours and Brand Identity:

Colours are known to have effects on a person’s psychological, physiological and sociological behaviour. Thus, colour is an important aspect while considering the Brand Identity System. As every colour has a unique identity, it is important for brands to select the right colour. Using colours that go with your brand personality and consistently using brand colours, has been proven advantages and create a stronger Brand Identity and has higher brand recall. Few examples are Coca-Cola is known for its bright red labelling on bottles; Dairy milk uses their patent violet for all its chocolates, Christian Louboutin is known or its red bottom pumps and Barbie uses the typical pink for all its packaging. Colours are thus an important element in a brand’s visual identity and needs to be based on logic, meaning and purpose.

Article contributed by:

Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing

Why brands should narrow their focus?

For ages, one question that has haunted entrepreneurs is ‘Should I improve my offerings (and not expand)?’ You must be thinking this is crazy or an invalid question. But it's not. It is quite an smart practice that most established brands have adopted. Yet it goes unnoticed. Let's take an example. We have at least one coffee shop in every neighborhood and it serves everything from coffees to buns to finger food to tempting desserts. But when we talk about great coffee experience why does a green circular logo pop into our head most often.

Merely following what successful brands are doing is not a good idea for an upcoming one. They have done something in the past to reach where they are now. So, we’ll have to look back in time - to their roots & their foundation. And when we do that, we’ll always find that all successful brands at have mastered their core offering.

Domino’s used to sell pizzas, sub sandwiches and everything possible. But then Tom Monaghan dropped the subs, narrowed the focus of brand and concentrated on pizzas. Domino’s innovated the insulated pizza delivery boxes, that can be easily stacked up without crushing the pizza inside, to target campuses. Same focus-narrowing strategy has been followed by Absolut, Hermes, Colgate, and Coca Cola to name a few. Had these brands rapidly expanded to other categories, they wouldn’t be the benchmark of their own category today.

So how does this happen? Why do some brands narrow the focus to strengthen itself? We live in an over-communicated world. We are exposed to thousands of marketing messages each day. In such circumstances, having an astute marketing strategy is hardly going to fetch any Brand Loyalty. Although the following factors, achieved by narrowing the focus, will:

1. Innovation and creativity

Only when you are focused, will you be able to put in maximum effort in understanding and serving your benefit groups. This will help you build innovative and creative solutions in form of your product or service and change lives. Best example would be Adidas. Even though today you enjoy a myriad of merchandise by Adidas it all started from only sport shoes meant for athletes.

2. Association

A brand, most importantly, has to create an association in the consumer's mind. Associating one brand to multiple aspects create a lot of confusion. Dolce and Gabbana, the high fashion brand, shut the cheaper D&G fashion label in order to disassociate Dolce and Gabbana with cheap apparels and to concentrate on their main collection. Because of D&G label the brand faced a slowdown as their benefit groups lost perception of exclusive products. Narrowing the focus aids association.

3. Experience

Any successful brand creates a pleasant experience for its benefit groups at every interaction - before, after or during the purchase. If the brand's focus is not narrowed down and is trying to be jack of all trades, it will hardly be able to create an experience and evoke any aspiration. The best representation of this is Apple. Apple takes immense care that their benefit group must love the brand for every experience it creates.

These factors directly affect the brand awareness and loyalty. The narrower the focus of a brand's offering, the stronger it will be.

For the world’s best coffee, that Green Circular logo of ‘Starbucks Coffee’ pops because the brand once narrowed its focus to master in Coffee – of course it also sells great savories and desserts but it has become synonymous to coffee. Their commitment and focus on coffee is evident from their name, even till today.

- Article contributed by Himali Jangam, Marketing Team, Yellow Fishes

Why is Brand Personality important?

To understand the importance of Brand Personality, we have to first understand the meaning of Brand Personality. Imagine a Brand to be a Person. How would that Person behave? How would s/he speak? Whether that Person is well travelled or s/he seldom travels? What kind of car s/he would be driving? And clothes… how would s/he dress up? Brand Personality is the Human traits/Personality attached to a Brand. For example, let’s consider Apple Inc’s Brand Personality. Imagine Apple to be a Person. What would s/he be like? Creative, innovative, stylish, the cool kid on the block. Brand Personality, simply put is the Human traits that a Brand develops/defines that informs how the Brand talks and behaves.

So, why is Brand Personality important? Brand Personality helps in easing communication with the customers. A customer can relate to the traits that s/he possess with the Personality traits that a brand has. Thus, an Emotional connect is generally created amongst the Brand and the Customer. Consider Levi’s brand. The Brand is associating itself with being Casual. A cool Person would connect immediately to Levi’s because of the casual trait associated with the brand. Thus Brand Personality helps in building an Emotional bond with the Customers.

Every Person has a unique Identity. The way s/he behaves or the way one communicates differs from Person to Person. That is how we like or dislike a Person based on their Personality traits and the ways s/he expresses himself. Brand Personality creates this unique Identity. It helps in differentiation and clear association.

If you were to decide how you look, would you not choose the best? Well, yet we find two brands having quite different Personalities. One preferring the sporty look, while the other, despite having a choice, preferring a rugged one! Adidas associates itself as being sporty, while Timberland goes for the rugged. Though both the Brands are in shoe making, the Personalities attached to them and the way these Personalities are portrayed. There is a nothing right or wrong in defining and identifying Brand Personality. 

Ultimately, of course, everything comes down to – what kind of Customers you want to serve? Customers who reflect the Personality of your Brand will be drawn to it and others – well, let them be drawn to what they can associate with.

Article contributed by Aditya Deole, Marketing Team, Yellow Fishes.

4 Questions that will make you rethink your brand strategy

Your Brand Promise is the singular strong idea that your customers and employees can relate to. In the most ideal scenario, your established Brand Promise should connect meaningfully to all your stakeholders. Brand Promise needn’t be articulated in words; it should be your way of business, delivered at every Brand touchpoint.

If you feel your Brand Strategy is on the mark, think again. Try answering these 4 questions.

1. Do you think your Brand evokes Emotions at every touchpoint?

Just the ‘right emotions’.

2. Do you know why your employees are working for you?

Doing good business and earning profits is fine. But that’s not the end goal.

3. Do you think your Identity communicates your Brand Promise effectively?

Brand Identity encompasses everything - all Visual and Verbal touchpoints.

4. Do you know why your customers come back to you?

It’s important for you to determine what’s the sticky factor of your brand.

If you have answers to all of the above, then your Brand Strategy is on the mark.

But, if your brand needs a North Star and a guiding force - then its time for you to invest in Brand Strategy. Your Brand Strategy will help you define what you truly stand for.

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Yellow Fishes is a premier Branding Agency that could help you identify and define your Brand Strategy.

Brand Architecture

Brand Architecture is an important strategic process in Brand Development. Brand Architecture, simply put, is the relationship between various Brands in an Organisation. It defines how should two Brands be related or be completely unrelated. Brand Architecture informs how should each Brand behave, how should they talk, what should they believe in and how do they Visually Express themselves. It maximises Visibility of every Brand in the Portfolio.

Whether you are establishing your first Brand, or you’re big enough to Merge/Acquire another company or have grown to be Multi-Million Dollar Business with several Brands, Brand Architecture is important to you.

Scenario 1: You are starting your first business

Consider you are a budding Entrepreneur and have plans to start a new fine-dine Restaurant in the coming months. Subsequently, you also have plans to start a Sports Bar and a Themed Cafe.

A. You decide that all these 3 businesses should run as ONE Brand. They should all be built on same Values, have same Brand Name, Logo and Visual Style. Great. You will save on Marketing Expenditure and can leverage the Equity of already existing Brand Name. But, if you deliberate a little more, you’ll realise that all the three businesses will cater to different set of customers.

B. Hence, you may want to consider option B, where you’ll give each business its own unique Identity, unique Brand Name, Logo and Visual Style. Well, there are demerits of doing so as well. You’ll have to establish each of the Brands from the beginning. Investing so much of time and money may not be worth it. Here is where a Branding Agency comes in. By systematically analysing multiple parameters, you’ll be recommended if all or none of the future businesses should carry existing legacy.

 

Scenario 2: Your existing business is successful. Now, time for a new business. Or perhaps, a merger or an acquisition.

In such situations, Brand Architecture Strategy can help you in three ways:

1. Avoids Cannibalisation:

BMW 3 series doesn’t cannibalise sales of 5 Series because they are meant for different Customer Profiles. If you’re sporty and young, you’d go for the 3; and if you’re more of an Executive Class who is mostly chauffeured around, you know the 5 Series is your choice. This takes us to our second point.

2. Clarifies offerings:

Brand Architecture bring order and clarity to the portfolio. It can help Customers differentiate between two products of the same company (House of Brands) or it can help them identify two Brands of the same company (Branded House). This also helps Customers choose what they want. It is easier to decide between MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, as compared to two windows computers from HP.

3. Optimises expenses:

A clear and easy to understand Brand Portfolio helps Brand Owners to optimise Marketing spends on each Brand and control Management expenses that otherwise would have been out of proportions.

About The Brand Meridian Model:

The Brand Meridian Model is our Proprietary Tool that solves most complex Portfolio issues to help maximise business resources. It irons our any anomalies in the Portfolio whilst also optimising and leveraging Brand Equity. You can learn more about The Brand Meridian Model by writing to us.

Read more about Brand Architecture here.

Brand Expansion - How to make a local brand global?

If you're reading this, our best guess is that your brand is doing well. Congratulations! And probably you're ready to grow outside the Geographical Limits - moving to another city, state, country or continent. This goes without saying that before finalising your next business location, you should have enough Customer and Market Understanding. And once you've finalised the location, you should be taking the following steps to make your brand a success in new markets.

1. Standardisation and Consistency

When you're expanding to new geographies, the most important thing is standardisation of Brand Experience. It doesn't matter whether you're a Retail Champion, a Restauranteur, a Fashion Label Owner, or a Service Provider. You stand for something today and you've spent time and energy in getting there. When you expand to new location, your Brand should continue to stand for the same Promise. Have the same taste in your Restaurant, same fragrance, lighting and ambience in your retail store, and same Business Values, Ethics and Principles. This is critically important and hence it is Numero Uno on our list.

2. Localisation Strategy

While expanding, staying consistent and bringing in Brand's own legacy is important. But, Brands should also adapt themselves to the local markets. This is best implemented in the Food Industry. Mc Donalds remodels and alters its menu for each country. Starbucks couldn't sell lot of coffee in China (because it is a tea-loving country). This led them to create a menu specific for that country - with loads of tea on offer. This applies to you too - no matter what your business.

This may appear dichotomous. Hire a Branding Expert to strike the right balance between "what to continue" and "what to change". In India, "Bata" - the Footwear Retail Brand is perceived so Indian, that now we have hard time believing it is an international brand, that too from Europe. Hyper-Localisation can ruin the Brand Imagery. And so does Franchise Model without strict Guidelines. Here, an outsider's POV is paramount. Branding agencies have best understanding of market and customers. Write to us if you're looking at entering Asian markets.

3. Distribution and Reach

Distribution is important for Product Brands. For a Product Brand to be successful, it needs to have significant reach in the new Geography. Customers should be aware of the Brand, what it offers and how it is different. So, in addition to the robust Supply Chain Management, you should also have good Communication Budget to announce your entry into the Market. You could do this with extensive Social Media Engagements also.

4. Research and Penetration

Once you're in the new market, you should continue to Research on the Trends, Beliefs, Aspirations of the new Market. The impulses & triggers to purchase a Product or buy into a Brand differs every 250 miles. When you introduce a Product specifically for new Markets, the Consumers are pleased. We often see this in car Market when country-specific Models are launched. They are very often successful, and are based on their Research and understanding of the Market needs. But, you could do it in any Category. Leverage your Brand, capitalise on your strengths and live upto your Brand Promise. 

Recession and Brand Building — Put the pedal to the metal, when everyone else slows down.

In a car race championship, if you're trailing behind and want to win the race, what do you think you can do? Nope, accelerating won't help, because you're already pushing your car to its limits and so are all others. So, how will you win? Well, you can. Read on to find out how.

Drawing a parallel to the business world, perhaps you have strong growth plans but the competition is doing better than you. Your company is hustling every day, your teams are giving in all they have got and your competition is still ahead. So, how will your Brand win? Wish there was Nitro in real world too.

If you want to take the lead and win in the car race, the only opportunity you have are the corners of the circuit — where every one will slow down. You too, have to slow down, but accelerate harder and quicker than others. That's your only chance. Don't miss it.

In business, if you want to be the industry leader, or start a new business — NOW IS THE TIME. Use this economic slowdown to your advantage. Everyone else around you is slowing down. Go Zag, when the world goes Zig. While they cut down on expenses with layoffs, you should be brainstorming on your next move, invest in Branding (the best time to do it), scale up your digital presence, revamp your website, build strong customer relations, plan diversification and international expansion of your business.

If you’re like us, you’ve always prided yourself on a particular process and/or a certain way of doing things. We immensely respect your commitment to who you are and how you work. But, unique circumstances demand unique responses. Don’t be afraid to adapt your perspective, shift processes, offer online ordering, and refocus on how your business can maintain cash flow and build momentum for the future. Who knows? You may find a new, profitable revenue stream as you adapt and shift your business that you can take with you long into the future.

The worst thing you can do is panic right now. Remember what got you here. Rest easy in that, while we don’t know how long things will be this way, it is temporary and there is a return to normalcy at the end of the tunnel. Understandably, we’re all refocusing and shifting to survive and sustain something none of us have really faced before. No one has all the answers, and “figuring this out” looks very different for each of us — but don’t panic. Take things in stride. Be open to change and new ideas. Be flexible with what you may have to do to sustain and thrive in the near term so you can sprint out of the gate when things return to normal.

Our only request is DON’T SLOW DOWN! Put the pedal to the metal. This is your only chance, until the next recession.

What is a brand? What is branding?

What is a brand? What is branding?

‘Brand’ is perhaps the most overused word in today’s marketing & business vocabulary. You will most likely agree when I say that a brand is any product or service that is trademarked and/or is differentiated from its competition by virtue of name, symbol etc. Great! You are not wrong, but not completely right either. That is what ‘brand’ meant about 50 years ago, or may be 75 years!

Today, in this ever changing world amidst liberalisation and globalisation, there is more competition for every company than ever before. That means there is more need for marketing. Companies are deploying their push and pull strategies to get maximum customer base. The customers that we are talking about are discerning, well-traveled and extremely conscious about his/her choice. How can that customer be tricked into a marketing gimmick? Or a fancy advertisement campaign? 50 years ago, a trademarked name was enough to make the purchase decision, or at least induce purchase behaviour. Today, even a unique value proposition may not be enough to inspire purchase. Every trademarked company (read brand) is talking about what it has to offer and how its products meet the needs. So, effectively in today’s world- every company has a value proposition that they want to talk about- some big, some small, some rational, some emotional. Thereby, everyone ends up talking the same language, confusing the customers even more – ”I have salt in my toothpaste, other says- I have sodium, third says- I have potassium chloride.” The companies may think they have differentiated offerings, but the truth is none of those offerings are remembered (poor recall and poor recognition) because all of them talk the same language. They are all fighting for ingredients, or in other words functional RTBs.

We can talk about 10 different things a brand has to offer but only one such thing is remembered. Every brand today needs to stand for one-something, and they have to communicate that effectively and live by it. In simpler words, the word ‘brand’ can be deciphered in two words:

1) Promise and 2) Experience.

Brands are not built on whims or competitive behaviour, they are built on values. You will only be able to keep such a promise that is true to you. If you overpromise- you will doom your brand. All advertisements are great, but they only increase awareness and seldom inspire any action. Branding determines what is to be communicated. Branding therefore is the art (more than aesthetics) and science (not rocket-science) of identifying that one-something. It is the belief, it is the core, it is your brand’s purpose built on value system of your company that will steer your organisation for the years to come.

Today, branding is not placing your logo on every touch point. It is the art of determining how can you visually and verbally translate brand’s core promise and use it across touch points in order to gain recall, recognition, awareness, et al and all other parameters that make a brand stronger.

Get Branded!