brand fascination

More times than I can count in my career in advertising and media I have been involved in conversations about branding and brands. As you might expect, the tenor of that conversation depends on the client-in-question. One common rule I think you can establish, though, is that most clients do not really understand the difference between brand and branding. The two are often confused for each other, and though they are part of the same overall picture, they are not the same thing.

Essentially, a brand is the identity you create. In visuals and copy, it is what becomes your identifying mark. Branding is different; it is the feeling evoked by your brand. And it is a great deal more complex.

You can always create a great, memorable visual identity. Think Target or L.L. Bean. The thing is a great visual identity doesn't create the brand identity. Or more to the point, the visual doesn't create people's feelings about the brand. The company, instead, needs to connect with people's experiences and emotions. For example, Target has done such a good job of building its branding that many people (including me) think of that big red bullseye whenever a question of essentials from socks to shampoo to toilet paper comes to mind, and the biggest consumerists may even make the leap from essentials to figuring out what else they need (or want) from the store.

While I've found this a difficult concept to communicate in the past, the WSJ pointed to a site today where you can see what people's perceptions of brands are. Considering the extent to which consumerism and branding shape our society, it's a pretty interesting little exercise.

marketing through mad-libs

Our new place is at an odd edge of the Fan. The area mostly gentrified years ago, but walk over a block and you're on the ever-funky blocks on Broad. That said, we have some decent restaurants nearby, as well as one of the best diners in Richmond. Unfortunately, they had just closed when Banana and I went to get our post-painting lunch. Arby's, however, was open.

I'm not a big fan of any of the big fast food chains... but the Beef and Cheddar sandwich I had brought me back to life. Banana wasn't thrilled with her chicken, but the fries and Tropicana juice were favorites.

As unhealthy a lunch as this was, I wasn't prepared for how unhealthy the "prize" would be. A Mad-Libs book is what it was, and at first glance, it seemed far better than the movie-branded toys that come with most kids' meals.

Until we did our first "story."

It was a neat little fitness story about a figure-skating girl who wins the gold medal and jumps in her coach's arms. Hello, Bela Karolyi. Anyway, the story ended with the sentence "Plus, she's looking forward to ___verb ending in "ing"___ tonight at Arby's!"

For fuck's sake, how's that for trying to create subtle brand identification? It's not enough that parents end up taking their kids to these "restaurants," is it. No. We have to create life-long consumers. I've given up thinking that I'm being too cynical in seeing these efforts for what they are; I've been in the business too long. No, these companies want to create fat children addicted to food high in fat, sweeteners, and salt, and addicted to their brands.

And it's not new. Remember candy cigarettes?