The Beat Begins
Welcome to the Man On the Street Beat, an advertising and marketing blog with an insider’s eye on the industry. Here you’ll find personal observations on the ever changing nature of marketing, as well as insightful commentary on the best (and worst) ads we’ve seen lately. Every day, we’ll be here to entertain, inform, inquire and include anyone who shares our passion for “the pitch.”
Chase: As avid fans of the AMC drama “Mad Men” (set at a 60s-era ad agency) we also hope you’ll check out our episode recaps as we follow Season 2 of the popular series. You’ll find these Man Men Memos right here each week.
Billy: It’s rare I engage in a collaborative meeting between marketing professionals without certain words bouncing back and forth. That’s why, in the Word on the Street section, we’ll examine some of this commonly used lingo – terms like branding, positioning, strategy, customer experience, innovation, ideation, lead generation, sales force, competitive landscape and more – by discussing them one word at time.
This Week’s Word on the Street is: BRANDING
There are countless articles and essays that cover branding and the branding process, but I believe my company, MLT Creative, adheres to the word’s most basic definition.
Simply put: Branding designates ownership. Just as ranchers burn distinguishing symbols into the backsides of cattle, symbols, labels and other unique marks are applied to a product, service or process to express ownership.
To build a brand, everything that the brand stands for should be “burned” in to the mind of the target audience. From the first impression to follow-up points of impact, you must strive to convey a consistent image, a meaningful message, a memorable experience and a positive association with your product.
Internally, everyone involved with the manufacture, distribution and sales of this product or service should take “ownership” under a common brand, and understand what that brand stands for in the minds of their customers.
I welcome others to share their preferred definition of the word here also.
- Billy