It Used to Be “Hey! Let’s Come Up With a Logo!” to Design a Brand

When I was teaching, I would open up my class on branding with three symbols:

• A Cross
• A Star of David
• A Swastika

My point was to show that a strong brand didn’t necessarily have to be a good brand.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.”
So today, just designing a logo isn’t enough- the consumer experience is shaped by all media- online experience, logo design, packaging, print, and even the retail environment a product is displayed in.

From an article in the Washington Post: Businesses find they can’t grow without branding

“These days consumers are driving the public perception of companies, offering their sometimes not-so-flattering reviews of products and services through blogs, Web sites and social media marketing goals. Companies are responding to the public’s demand for transparency; in this era of the 24/7 news cycle, consumers no longer are tolerating firms that represent one thing in their branding but demonstrate something entirely different in news coverage, experts say.”