How to create a relevant,
distinctive brand identity
Before you start building a
brand through advertising, marketing, and public relations, you had better know the
difference between identity and image in order to establish an effective, enduring brand
identity - a verbal, visual, and experiential formula that bestows credibility and
attracts attention. Before the Brand is a crash course in brand identity basics
that describes successful long-term strategies for creating and refocusing brand
identities for all types of companies, products, services, and technologies.
Knowing one's true
identity makes it easier to speak the right message to intended audiences and allows for a
strong, consistent, relevant, and differentiated brand. This persuasive primer is
packed with case studies that glance into the identities of such premier brands as
Nutrasweet, Intel, Gatorade, FedEx, and many more. It introduces the controllable elements
of brand identity-positioning strategy, brand name, nomenclature, tag line, logo, and
more - and shows marketers how to:
- develop simple, flexible
positioning strategies,
- create a brand name that
hits home with your market,
- create a dynamic, visual
brand personality,
- reinforce the brand
identity through messaging,
- leverage identity
opportunities through cobranding and other formulas.
Alycia Perry and David Wisnom III are cofounders of
Versant Identity, a branding identity consulting company. Their clients include AT&T,
DuPont, Frito-Lay, Visa, Procter & Gamble, and Lucent.
228 pages