The other week I read a pretty poor article on a graphic designer’s website which tried (and failed) to clarify the difference between a logo and a brand. They were sort of on the right lines but not really (= euphemism for not at all).
To really understand the difference, you have to define what a brand is.
My definition is this:
A brand is the sum total of all of the activities and messages that convey – through whatever media and tools – who you are and what you do (whether “you” are a business or an individual).
In essence it’s what you want people to say about you, when you ask them what first springs to mind when you say your name or company name to them (some marketers call this ‘brand equity’).
When you look at it like that, your logo becomes just a single tool in your brand arsenal – albeit perhaps the clearest visual representation of your brand.
But your logo is not your brand, it’s part of it – along with tools like your voice, your speaking style, your writing style, your attitude, your beliefs, your language, your logo/brand colours, your uniforms, your website, your core values, your mission statement, your employees, the way you treat your prospects, customer service and the list goes on. Note: You can replace “you” with “your company”.
So is it worth paying hundreds or in some cases thousands of pounds to have a professional logo created? The answer to that depends upon what you want people to say about you when asked!
(Although with the definition I’ve used above, in my personal opinion no logo is really worth thousands of pounds given that it is only one part of your brand).
But I can quite easily think of several businesses where the first thing that comes to mind for me (being a primarily visual person) is “Ick, they need a proper logo, they look so unprofessional”.
Travel advisory: We are flying to HK tomorrow for a break so postings here will be sporadic – although if you know me, you’ll know whenever I say that, I often end up posting more than usual!!!
Jonathan Woodward Studio
Kinetiva
Location Independent
Vibrapreneur
Good definition. A logo is one face of a brand, therefore it’s part of the brand’s “total package.”
It can be quite difficult sometimes defining exactly what is a Brand or indeed you develop and create one. For me a Brand is made up of 4 Elements:
1 The Core-what is it for a Pharmaceutical it would be the chemical or for certain Electronics say an MP3 Player
2 The associated elements that surround the Brand e.g. Packaging, Colours Schemes,Features
3 The Extended Offering i.e. the Value Proposition and any other Add ons that are not directly linked to the product
4 The Psychological Elements-what do you want people emotionally to feel, believe and think about the Brand, e.g. Safe, Exclusive, Trusted etc this is for me the big one-that is why people pay thousands for say a designer label Item e.g. Gucci Leather jacket v High Street Store one or items that carry out the same basic function e.g. A Ferrari still gets you from a to b as does a Ford-but the associations that people have with a Ferrari are very different from those that they have with a Ford.
We are all (even if we like to think we are not) influenced by Branding, the best example I can recall is the “core” offering of one of the worlds biggest Brands that is consumed a Billion or more times a day…..it is-to quote one of their Marketing Directors.” flavoured, coloured, carbonated water…… would you pay good money for that ?…….or would you rather have a Coke !!
@Dan Schwabel – Thanks, I like my definition too, now I’ve read it back to myself!!!
@Alan Gillies – Coke…good example (but seriously, do you *know* what Coke does to your insides?!?); the other one I like is Nike – great logo/glyph, great strap line and good concepts including the branding of extension of their core products.