I was thinking about how to explain the fundamental importance of brand, especially how to differentiate between brand, identity and logo, when I got pulled into a TV binge of Yellowstone.
Now, I’m no academic but I do know that the origins of the word brand are just as you’d expect – related to cattle-ranchers marking their beasts, over 500 years ago. The brand was the tool that was used to burn a symbol into the skin and these symbols were, in effect, very early logos.
It wasn’t until the pace of change hit fast-forward with the industrial revolution that companies really started to use graphical devices to stylise the name of a product or a service, to make it stand out from the ever-increasing noise in their marketplaces.
I’m not sure what it says about the human race that two of the oldest trademarked logos in the world are both for beers – Bass and Stella Artois. But it didn’t take long for the logic to catch on and the logo as a way of differentiating your offer and connecting with audiences became a thing of great value and importance.
Trademarking a symbol didn’t really come in until the 1880s, so it wasn’t until then that companies started to think about protecting the use of the fonts and colours that they put alongside those symbols – the elements that we refer to as their brand identity.
The way we talk about brand, identity and logo has evolved greatly over the years, but here’s my ever-simplistic take on the matter. There are plenty of variations to these explanations but here’s how it works in my brain.
Let’s make up an example again – how about Smiths Accounting Services.
Smiths Accounting Services has a simple, contemporary and clear logo. An easy to read and professional looking font, and a stylised image of a bar chart as a symbol to sit alongside the name. That’s the logo. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
Their designers have put together a suite of design items that support the logo, to help build consistency in the way they present themselves in their marketing and advertising. That’s logical, of course, because if they’re consistent, people will recognise them more. Chop and change, customers will get confused.
They’ve also thought about how they want to be perceived. They’ve thought about their audience and what they relate to, understand and like. The designers have focused their attention on design elements that will appeal to the kind of clients they want to attract. They’re targeting small to medium businesses so haven’t gone for a look that makes them look gold-plate expensive. Instead, the colours are warm and friendly, but still businesslike.
They’re a relatively new firm who could have tried to hide that newness with a deliberately old-fashioned and traditional design but, no, they want to keep it real so have opted for neutrally trendy, not too out-there.
Everything in the toolkit that makes up their identity – fonts, colours, additional design shapes or features, and even style of photography – have all been carefully considered to reflect the true essence of Smiths Accounting Services.
And that’s where we get to the modern meaning of brand. Essentially, there are three types of brand – corporate, product or personal – and I’m really focusing on corporate. But the same general principles apply.
Unlike logo and identity, brand is not something you can see. It’s reflected in the interactions, the ethos, the philosophy on the organisation. It’s all about perception – a perception that we can manage and lead by having principles and behaviours clearly defined. Behaviours that our staff are motivated to reinforce and principles that our customers can admire.
This is where I come back to the TV series, Yellowstone. It’s the story of the vast Dutton Yellowstone Ranch in Montana. It follows the dramas that beset the family, the staff and its neighbouring communities, as time, money and dirty dealings ensue.
A stylised Y is proudly emblazoned on buildings, liveries, cattle and, you soon discover, its people. But just as with the modern marketing brands, the rancher’s brand means more than ownership. It carries the weight of reputation, generates loyalty and represents a way of being and behaving that is deeply engrained in more than just the symbol.
Through the intangible brand that the family has created (not always good in this case, mind), Yellowstone creates a largely inexplicable force that keeps its people entwined, or draws them back.
In a way, it represents the strengths of a brand, where the Y is more than simply a shape scorched into tissue, but a connection that burns deep in the soul. In principle, something every company aspires to.
