Branding vs. Impressionism
26th June 2006 by Lorenzo Sierra, ABC
As someone who is seen as an advocate for branding, I must admit that I no longer embrace the term branding.
Perhaps it’s because it has been used out of context so much that the term branding, to me, has lost its meaning. If you’re like me, you may have come across an enthusiastic department leader who has requested that you help to “brand my department.”
Branding has moved in the vernacular from philosophical approach to meaningless buzzword.
In addition to the diluting of the term, there is another reason I don’t embrace the term branding. You see, I live in the western American state of Arizona. I live in a community that still has ranches and farms. With my proximity to the rural west, my first exposure to branding was a hot iron emblem that was burned into an animal’s hide to indicate that the animal belonged to a particular ranch. I am sure the farm animal did not want to endure such a painful procedure.
In many respects, I see those who consider themselves brand experts as “burning” their product or service onto a recipient who may not necessarily want to be “branded.”
In my mind, I prefer to think of my self as a marketing impressionist. Let me explain.
The way your organisation conducts business leaves an impression on customers, stakeholders and the communities in which your organisation operates. Based on the way a person has interacted with your organisation, he or she will create his or her own impression. If your organisation provides quality service/products at a perceived value, with a high level of customer service, most customers will have a favorable impression of your company. This impression is something he or she developed of his/her own accord. He/she was not “branded.”
As marketing communication professionals, one of our duties is to understand the attitudes and behaviours of our organisation, which will leave a positive impression on our customers. Once we understand that which leaves the best possible impression, we must work to reinforce those behaviours in or organisation and understand our customers’ ever-evolving wants and needs.
Thank you for getting this far in my initial entry into the IABC Communication Commons. I truly look forward to contributing in this space. As we move forward, I will provide observations about the marketing communication world. I will also direct you to interesting examples of marketing communication. But what makes this medium so fascinating is your participation. I sincerely hope that I can move you enough to respond to my entries. Whether or not you agree with me, please take a moment to express your thoughts.
So there you have it. My first blog in the Marketing/Branding section of the IABC Communication Commons. And what do I do? I disparage the term that anchors this section. I wonder what kind of impression that leaves on you.
July 12th, 2006 at 5:52 am
You’re right, Lorenzo, it’s all in the mind of the customer, as you commented on my post on a similar topic. So it is incumbent on us, as marketers, to understand what’s in our customers’ brains much better than we do. The jig is up for marketers who push their brand concepts on the marketplace. It’s the marketplace that’s creating brand impressions, not the other way around.
February 4th, 2007 at 6:24 am
Lorenzo and Merry,
There are a lot of over-used terms in marketing and communication, and “branding” is one of them. In my opinion and using your example of the calf who is branded by the rancher, the “branding” is not to protect the cow, it’s designed to have an effect on anyone who might mistake the calf as their own. In other words, as Lorenzo says, the calf is certainly not the beneficiary; the rancher benefits because poachers stay away.
And this is the key to “branding:” as Merry says, “Branding” exists in the mind of the consumer, not so much as what we choose to put on a label. It is most often a arduous, strategic process based on solid research, creativity and follow-through, a marriage of the science and the art of marketing.
Rather than abandoning the word, I choose to use it correctly and to suggest its true meaning to those who use it incorrectly.