TOTAL Recall - There's a reason we call it Branding

I'm a big Formula 1 racing fan, and recently there's been a great deal of buzz over RedBull Racing's #F1 car dropping Renault engines for Mercedes, but a great deal of difficulty is ensuing because two of its biggest sponsors are tied in directly to Renault, and will unlikely accompany them on their move.

For several years now, I've watched the car as it maneuvers the chicanes, sails past the finish line, and gets released from pit lane in 2.1 seconds, glancing at the "Total" logo on the front wing. And strangely, all along I've assumed, "Hmm. Colgate Total is an F1 sponsor. Cool."

Admittedly, as the "dumb American," you're not as often aware of European brands, let alone a French multinational oil and gas conglomerate. So I figured, "Hey, if Go Daddy can sponsor NASCAR, why can't Colgate sponsor a top F1 team?" It is the world's biggest sporting event, after all.

And here's where I had my own Total Recall moment.

My mind was merely being tricked by an imaginary ingrained memory, and worse yet, I had been creating associations attached to imagery as fact. The electronic pulses were rewiring and refiring in my brain just like a supercar having problems starting.

This is why branding is so important to being stand-alone and unique.

Similarity of colors, shapes, boldness, font choices, and styles can be easily misinterpreted by the casual viewer.

As it turns out, the actual Colgate Total logo is tremendously different than the Total Oil and Gas company's, but the bold white and red of Colgate, combined with the action swoop of Total creates the same sense and feel. "Colgate works fast. It's fresh. It boasts EXTRA power." Just like an F1 car.

Now interestingly enough, I did not tie in the famed General Mills' "Total" cereal to be in this mess of faulty programmed visuals to word associations - mainly, due to its logo being so radically changed over the years, I can't even begin to keep track of its identity. At this point, I can't even keep track of which it is currently on store shelves.

Total cereal's brand to me means "Whole grains, healthy, wheat, All-American, heartland, vitamins and minerals," but there's nothing about its logo that says "Fast, Furious, take-no-prisoners, and I belong on a race car" like Colgate Total.

But here's where I realize the very nature of the word "branding" comes into play.

CK One, anyone?

Take the above. I cannot even begin to look at that piece of iron without immediately thinking "Calvin Klein."

Brands are being seared into our memory exactly like a rancher's hot stamp to our inner wiring.

For we are the cattle that do not even realize its effects until moments like this help bring about an awareness of just what goes into building truly powerful brand identity.

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Olympia Lambert is the Global Branding Account Manager at Hirst Pacific Ltd, a creative global branding and design agency in Soho, NYC, and Owner of Social Ewe, a small business social media consultancy.