What is a Brand?

WHAT IS A BRAND?

A brand helps to create meaning about an institution and its set of offerings. A brand creates a personality or character for an institution to which audiences can relate, and creates a mental model or frame of an institution by which an audience can readily recall and understand information and associations about it.

A brand is a systematic method for creating awareness and recall, perceived quality and value, key associations and symbols, “contract” of value exchange with audience, and loyalty, for the institution as a whole and for certain groupings of offerings or services (product lines).

Brand communications are an essential component to deliver marketing effectiveness and marketplace results. The brand, therefore, operates on several levels, and expands and strengthens identity and visibility, and helps share the goals, values, and aspirations, and provide compelling descriptions and narratives of benefits, features, and the unique character of the institution.