What is a brand, really?

Let us deal with branding. What is this concept called the ‘brand’ in marketing? I am not going to deal here with the technical or theoretical underpinnings of the concept. As a layperson, I am interested in what it all really boils down to.

Steering clear from official or expert definitions, I want to throw out what I understand about the term as a commoner.

From my perspective, a brand is simply a feeling. It is about the mental symbol I associate with a company’s standing in the world. Let me illustrate it. When I think about Google, the immediate association that I make with it is the feeling of ubiquity. It is everywhere in the digital space.

On thinking about Amazon, the visceral association I make of it is a sense of its indispensability. Its logistical tentacles embrace all that I purchase online.

Thus, for me, the moment when a company’s logo really becomes a brand is when customers automatically associate a feeling to it. For a brand to become a really powerful brand, it has to transcend that conceptual framework itself to become an archetypal existential reality of its own.

Google = Ubiquity

Amazon = Indispensability

Your company’s brand = ?