What is not a brand

Most technology companies do not understand what a brand is. They often focus solely on the representations of brands:

• A logo is not a brand. Often brands are recognized by logos, but logos are not brands. A consulting company called Interbrand publishes an annual ranking of the best global brands. In their 2007 rankings, Microsoft was the second most valuable brand in the world with a brand value of $59 billion. Do you remember what Microsoft’s logo looks like? I didn’t remember it till I looked for it on their website.It doesn’t even seem to matter what the logo looks like.I find the IBM (rank 3rd) and Google (ranked 20th) logos quite ugly (others may disagree). And yet, companies spend an inordinate amount of time and energy on creating a logo.
• A name is not a brand. Would Google, Yahoo or IBM brands be any less powerful if they were called something different?

What is a brand?

Seth defines brand as follows:

I think it is the product of two things:
[Prediction of what to expect] times [emotional power of that expectation].

So what should the companies focus on when they look to create and maintain a brand? Here the the three questions the companies need to answer:

• Who are you trying to target? A brand has a meaning only for the target segment that you are serving.
• What is the promise of your brand? Be clear about the key benefits you promise to deliver.
• Why should the consumers believe your story? You need to supply consumers with proof so that they believe your story.

In future posts I will give some specific examples of these three components of brand strategy.