Courtney McCarron Hastings, director of communications at APCO International breaks down a brand.

When you think of Volvo, what do you think about?  Do you picture a circle with an upward-pointing arrow surrounding the word Volvo?  Or do you think about safety?  My money is on the latter (but if you chose the former there is even more reason for you to continue reading)! 

As consumers, we seem to understand the difference between a company's corporate identity system and its essence.  When we think about a product we instantly recall our impressions rather than their logo or advertisements.  But as brand managers inside our own organizations, we tend to forget this important distinction.  Or, more often, we get the elusive direction from above to rebrand, which is often code for redesign our logo.

But before you pick up the phone and call your designer you need to understand what your brand is.  More importantly, you need to understand what a brand is.  And the first, and most important, step to understanding what a brand is, is understanding what a brand is not.

A brand is not a logo, a Web site or a brochure.  It isn't even a product or service.  A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service or organization.  To put it simply and bluntly, a brand is not what you, as an organization, say it is.  It is what they - the consumers - say it is. 

With the continual increase in media quantity and variety, brand management is more important than ever.  We all played the game of telephone as children and understand how diluted (and, sometimes, inappropriate) a message can become after being passed from person to person.  The goal is to have a clear and consistent message and this message is your brand.

Volvo's logo is the circle with the upward-pointing arrow surrounding the word Volvo.  Volvo's product is cars.  Volvo's brand is safety. 

Most of us don't work for companies as well-known as Volvo and probably won't have a one-word brand that every consumer can recall on a dime.  But the principle is the same.  Your brand is a very brief and direct statement that describes what you do, who you are and why it is important.  If you don't have that, you don't have a brand.  And if you don't have a brand, your logo, Web site and even your products are probably not as effective as they could be. 

Courtney McCarron Hastings is the director of communications for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International, a non-profit professional development organization for the individuals who build, manage and operate the communications systems used by police, fire and EMS agencies.  Courtney is responsible for directing the association-wide communication program, including public relations, marketing, publication administration and brand management.  Courtney has more than eight years of experience developing, implementing and evaluating communication programs for public, private and non-profit organizations and is currently pursuing her MA in Communication and MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment