Branding Without The Iron

What Branding Is . . . and Isn’t

Branding is not a trademark. It is not a logo or slogan, nor is it advertising,” says David Hopkins, managing director of the Carlson Brand Enterprise, a experiential gaming and consulting group that includes MBA students at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. “Sometimes people confuse branding with logos and slogans and expect it to be a magic fix-all. But branding is more complex than that. It is the set of associations that are developed over time between a customer and a company. Ultimately, it’s a person’s feelings or emotional connections to a company’s products or services.”

Hopkins says that strong brand association can act as a key differentiator for a company’s products or services. To build this differentiating power, companies need to understand the drivers of brand equity: name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations or images.

Hopkins adds that branding benefits consumers because it simplifies their choice process. And for companies, a strong brand improves customer loyalty and allows price premiums.

Aha! That must be why standing in the toothpaste aisle overwhelms me. There are so many different brands of toothpaste, each offering tartar control, anti-microbial properties, and whitening agents—not to mention all the flavors in which they are available. (Is there really any difference between peppermint, wintermint, and spearmint?). I just end up grabbing the same brand.

Hopkins explains that over time, I’ve developed a relationship with my brand of toothpaste. In essence, branding leads to greater loyalty, Hopkins says. He adds that the strongest brands can command around a 20 percent price premium over the weakest brand in their category because of customer loyalty.

“That’s why branding is not just a logo or slogan,” Hopkins says. “It relates to everything you do as a company that affects all touch points that customers have with your products or services.”

Lynn Casey, chair and CEO of public relations and marketing firm Padilla Speer Beardsley in Minneapolis, agrees. “Branding isn’t something that you do,” she says. “It’s the sum total of every experience that anyone who is important to an organization’s success has that relates to that company.”

Another truism about branding, she says, is that every organization has a brand—and is building that brand whether the company knows it or not. Conscious brand building will make the company stronger.