A brand exists with a strong intent to continuously grow and survive just like any other living organisms in nature. I personally consider it as a complex organism that always try to adapt and survive in competition between brands. This evolutionary change can either be the catalyst for new innovation by the brand or the driving factor that pushes the brand to extinction. Since a brand can be considered as an organism, hence, like any other living organism, it definitely pulses with life and can easily be differentiated through its characteristics. In the this situation, the characteristics of a brand will refer to its identity.
An exploration on a brand identity will not be a simple and easy task. “Why?”, you might ask. The reason is simple. There are various principles and elements connected to it. That’s why, building a powerful and successful brand will require us to properly understand and master all the essential elements in a brand identity.
What is brand identity?
Just like our personal identities, a brand identity is the special sauce that uniquely set brands apart from each other. A brand identity not only makes a brand instantly recognizable but also shapes the business in the market. In other words, it reveals how a brand wants consumer to perceive it. Brand identity is often referred to any elements of a brand visible to our eyes. This include the name and color used by the brand, its style of design, the logo and of course, without any doubt, everything else that could help us to identify and distinguish the brand in our minds like the packaging design, tagline and even its advertisement.
A powerful brand identity will not only support a brand but also elevate it. In contrast to this, a weak identity will easily degrade brand experience and thus making it harder for the brand to connect with and establish a relationship with the people it’s trying to reach. This is because the audience will associate a brand identity with the product or service being provided through the connection forged between them and the brand. Besides that, a successful brand identity will also help to build customer loyalty and determine their perception about the brand.
Understanding a brand identity.
A brand identity is what makes your brand instantly recognizable to your customers. This is because they will instinctively associate your brand identity with your product or service. In other terms, this can be put in a way that a brand identity is what forges the connection between a brand and its customers to build customer loyalty and determine how the customers will perceive the brand as a whole.
For this reason as well, it is important to ensure that a brand identity is consistent throughout its usage such that in marketing and messaging. For a business, this could lead to a consistent sales that can significantly improve its growth as a brand. There are numerous brands in out there that I personally considered as the best real-life examples of a brand identity at work. From beverages to electronic equipment and bedding even, each of these brands have artfully utilized their identity to successfully entice and engage with their audience in creative ways.
However, for me personally, I find that none can actually beat Apple at using its brand identity effectively. For me, Apple has consistently and successfully created a brand image and brand identity that are closely aligned. We all knows that when it comes to Apple, the products will always be innovative, sleek, a symbol of high quality and extremely useful. This is the kind of brand that I hope will inspire us to do the same. Of course, there are plenty of other brands out there that are doing it right too such as Adidas, Casper, Pepsi, and even Facebook.
Don’t forget to create a brand style guide!
Once you have got each of your design assets done, all that’s left is for you to create a brand style guide. By having a style guide for the brand, we will be able to ensure that each assets are used in the right way and the identity of the brand is consistent throughout its usage especially for marketing. As I’ve highlighted earlier, consistency is the most important key when it comes to creating a strong brand identity. You don’t want your brand to look and feel different on different platforms since such situation will definitely confuse your customers while simultaneously make your brand feel less trustworthy and professional. Thus, creating a brand style guide for your brand that covers all the different elements of the identity of your brand will help you to build better brand recognition and loyalty in the long run.
Color and font used for the brand are some of the elements that should be in a brand guide.
Conclusion:
In a nutshell, a brand identity is a multi-disciplinary strategic effort with every element of the brand supporting the overall message and business goals that helps to set the brand apart from the endless sea of competitors. It will help you to show your customers who you are as a brand through the brand’s name, logo, look, social media presence and even the style of design. Not to mention that, a brand identity will also help your customers to know more about what they could expect from working with you.
If you are interested to know more, you can always read the full article that I've written on this topic at: Building Brand: The Principles Behind A Brand Identity
