The BRIGHT side of the BRAND

Logos? Icons? Colours? Well, you’re right – a brand would consist of these elements but it takes more than just that to build a great brand. A brand itself needs to tell a story, have a life of its own, speak its own language and evolve a culture of its own. If your approach to branding is around these lines, then you’re tackling it the right way, the PURE way.

The Sun & Moon

Now don’t get your undies in a twist! Marketing and branding are two totally different things. In 2015, MicroArts released a concise explanation of the difference between marketing and branding which literally hits the nail on the head which compares the sun as being your brand and the moon as being marketing.

“The sun is the source of all light, life, and warmth. It makes the trees grow and the flowers bloom. It is the reason we are all here. That’s your brand.

The moon is an attractive rock that orbits the planet and reflects the light of the sun. That’s marketing. Get it right, and your customers will understand instantly why they should value your brand over your competitors. Get it wrong, and you could end up strengthening your competitors’ brands.”

Not another Brick in the Wall

Look, let’s put it this way. You don’t become a fan of a particular band just because they released just one song which you really liked. You follow a band because of the albums they have released, the artworks on their LP’s, the way they perform live on stage. It’s the whole package which makes you spam their Spotify playlist on a day-to-day basis. Here’s another practical example; When you ask someone who are “Pink Floyd”, most probably you’ll have two different replies. One of the replies would be “Oh Pink Floyd? They’re the ones of Another Brick In the Wall, right?” That would most probably be someone who has either bought one particular product from a brand they never did before or they might just have come across it on a random occasion or two. Going to the complete other side of the spectrum, the second reply would be “ROGER WATERS?!?! DAVID GILMOUR?!?! SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND?!?! HIGH HOPES?!?!… Yada yada yada” Now that’s someone who has been repetitively buying into the same brand for as long as they can remember. They know every detail of that brand, every product, their logo, their main colours, EVERYTHING! Now that’s what we would call branding at it’s finest. It’s not nuclear science. If a particular brand wants to focus on having repetitive buyers rather than one/off buyers for their products or services, each and every element which falls under branding will need to take priority PERIOD.