Brand

A brand is an identifying mark, image, name or concept which distinguishes a product or service. Originally the word meant anything that was hot or burning; by the European Middle Ages it was commonly used to identify the process of burning a mark into a stock animal so as to identify ownership. Animal branding in the American west has evolved into a complex marking system still in use today.

By the more contemporary definition, a brand means the immaterial attributes attached to a product or a service. Without the brand, Coca-Cola is just sugared water; Tide is just another detergent, and Chiquita is a banana just like another.

Brands are central to the debates on intellectual property law, intellectual capital, consumerism and moral purchasing.

Brands were born with the 19th century advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. These factories needed to sell their products nationwide, to a customer base that was only familiar with local goods. It quickly became apparent that a generic package of soap was a hard sell next to the familiar, local product. The packaged goods manufacturers needed to convince the public that their product was just as trustworthy.

This is illustrated by many brands of that era, such as Uncle Ben's rice and Kellogg's breakfast cereal. The manufacturers wanted their products to appear and feel as familiar as the local farmers' produce. From there, with the help of advertising, manufacturers quickly learned to associate other kinds of brand values, such as youthfulness, fun or luxury, with their products. This kickstarted the practice we now know as branding.

Branding seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favorable. It may also enable the manufacturer to charge more for the product. A premium brand typically costs more than brand X. The value of the brand equals the amount of profit it generates to the manufacturer. This is a combination of the increased sales and increased price. The 2001 ranking of the 100 most valuable brands worldwide by Business Week magazine contained 62 American, 30 European, and 6 Japanese brands.

Brands (American):

Brands (European)

BP (petrol)
Brio (toys)
Cadbury (chocolate)
Ferrari (automobile)
Ikea (furniture)
Lego (toys)
Mercedes-Benz (automobile)
Nestlé (food)
Nokia (cell phones)
Orangina (soft drink)

Brands (Japanese)

External links

BusinessWeek 2002 Global Brands Scorecard

Brand is a play by Henrik Ibsen 1865.

Brand (Dutch language for "fire") is a commercial Dutch beer -- see Brand (beer).