09 Nov Difference Between Your Logo And Brand
If you are a firm, big or small you certainly would like an identity around which you can build your company. This is referred to the brand and this is what stays with your firm, its products, the people who come into which the firm, and even perhaps the people who work in it. However there often is confusion between brand and logo. Hence it would not be a bad idea to try and understand the differences between the two for the benefit of readers.
What Exactly Is A Logo?
When we refer a logo, we refer to an image, shape or something else which is synonymous with the identification of the firm and its products. It could be the Green Mermaid of Starbucks, or the Gold Arches with M for McDonald, just to name a few. Many people often confuse this with branding. In fact, branding has a much larger and holistic perspective. It deals with the overall experience customers have with a firm. It may not be wrong to mention that the logo could be a part of the overall branding strategy. It is just a small part of the overall objective of a company.
Branding
Branding takes into account each and every touch point that the customers could have with the firm. It could brick and mortar stores, the online experience or even corporate events and other such places where there is an interaction between the customers and the company. Hence, a brand is all inclusive compared to logos.
What Does Logo Actually Represent
Choosing the right logo is very important because it represents the main ethos and objectives of the company. For example, when one looks at the swoosh of Nike you can identify it with speed and motion. The shape of swoosh is quite simple but it does convey quite a few things.
On the other hand when you look at the brand Nike we are looking at a whole range of indoor, outdoor and cyber activities. There is branding involved in almost everything that a firm does. It could start from the packaging, the packing strips that are used, the invoices and bills which are sent to customers and much more. Companies use celebrity endorsements, advertisements in the electronic and print media as branding exercises. Branding also plays a big role in the way in which exclusive stores are designed and the way in which products are placed. Even a small 10-second advertisement has a big thrust in branding.
Brand Publicity Versus Product Publicity
Branding also is different from pure product advertisements. While the focus of branding is on building corporate identity product advertisement generally focus on the product more. However, the branding is visible even in small advertisements but the emphasis remains on the product. Branding plays a big role when there is a need to communicate with the customers either personally or through other means. It also is used to communicate with employees, shareholders, vendors, government authorities, stock markets and much more. Branding has a very big role to play when the company is on an expansion mode or when there is a need to take over or amalgamate with some other company. It takes years to build a brand image and therefore it indeed is a tough and difficult task.
Why Logo Has Better Recall Value
Quite often people recall the logo and not the brand. This is because the brand is easily visible and the brand is the silent ambassador working behind the scenes. It would be not out of place to mention here that there are many customers who identify the companies by the logo instead of the brand. Brand plays a big role in positioning a product in a marketplace. It must, therefore, take into account quite a few things. It would not be out of place to mention here that logo is a part of branding. It would not be right to see it separately away from branding. There is no logo without branding and not vice-versa.
The Final Word
In fine it would not be out of place to mention here that brand is the ultimate experience customers and other stakeholders have about a company. On the other hand, a logo is a graphic representation with an image which describes the main objectives of the company in question. Both are complementary to one another and one without the other cannot exist.