Brand Identity and Brand Image

Brand Identity 

Concept: The visible elements of a brand such as colors, design, logotype, name, symbol that together identify and distinguish the brand in consumer's mind. (Business dictionary)

Examples: Signature tunes like Britannia “ting-ting-ta-ding”), trademark colors (- Blue color with Pepsi), logo ( - Nike), tagline ( - Apple’s tagline “Think different”),etc.

An organization is responsible for creating a distinguished product with unique characteristics. It is how an organization seeks to identify itself. It represents how an organization wants to be perceived in the market. An organization communicates its identity to the consumers through its branding and marketing strategies. A brand is unique due to its identity. Brand identity includes following elements:

• Brand vision     vision of the company delivered to the customers through their brand 
• Brand culture    set of symbols, values and behaviors that a specific company or brand reflects. It is the organizational culture of the business. According to numerous marketing studies, consumers of the products prefer to buy brands that possess symbols, values and behaviors that match their own culture, values and behaviors.
• Positioning       an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner that it occupies a distinctive place and value in the minds of the target customers        
• Personality       something to which the consumer can relate
• Relationship     is the relationship that consumers, think, feel, and have with a product or company brand.
• Presentation      The way a brand is presented in the eyes of the customers

Differences Between Brand Identity and Brand Image

 

BRAND IDENTITY	BRAND IMAGE
Develops from the source or the company	Perceived by consumer
Tied together with the company’s message	Brand message is untied
General meaning is “who the company is”	General meaning is “how market perceives “
Substance oriented or strategic	Appearance oriented or tactical
Enduring	Superficial
Total promise that a company makes to consumers	Total consumer’s perception about the brand
Signifies: ”what the company wants to be”	Signifies: “what the company has got”

Brand Identity Models
Brand Identity was mentioned for the first time in Europe by Kapferer in 1986. His model explains the brand identity as physique, personality, culture, self image, reflection and relationship:

Dove example of a Kapferer model.

Importance of Building Strong Brands

Strong brands can impact organizations across a variety of fronts:

• They support price premiums over competitors
• They attract new customers
• They help block new competitors, as loyal customers are less likely to switch to new or different brands
• They help protect a business during economic downturns
• They create reservoirs of goodwill that can blunt the impact of business crises
• They create a bigger footprint to enable expansion into new markets

Realizing such benefits takes a brand building strategy that is built around trust, recognition and a positive image.

Re-branding

Concept: Re-branding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors, competitors, and other stakeholders.

How to Re-brand

• Give your brand a story
• Do not compromise brand equity
• Streamline your identity
• Do not confuse the consumers
• Revitalize to broaden your appeal
• Do not re-brand if you are just changing the name
• Create buzz to reach new target demographics

Why to Re-brand

• To re-position the brand in the minds of consumers and market
• Differentiating the situation for stakeholders
• To distance the company from certain negative connotations of the previous brand
• To stay modern, signal a change in attitude, focus, direction or strategy
• Differentiating from competitors

Advantages of Re-branding

• Stay current
• Differentiate the company
• Reflect a shift in focus
• Capitalize on advances
• Connect with new demographics

Sources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-brand-culture.htm#didyouknowout

http://managementstudyguide.com/brand-positioning.htm

http://www.slideshare.net/Zeynepkn/kapferer-brand-identity-prism

http://marketinglessons.in/2015/03/16/aaker-model-defining-brand-identity/

http://essentialsofbusiness.ufexec.ufl.edu/resources/marketing/the-importance-of-building-a-brand/#.VryXV7R97IU

Muzellec, L. and Lambkin, M. C. 2006. Corporate Rebranding: the art of destroying, transferring and recreating brand equity?. European Journal Of Marketing, 40, 7/8, pp803-824

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237296

http://refinerysource.com/branding/the-benefits-of-rebranding/