Brand

A brand is a concept that is more abstract than it may seem at first glance. This intangible whole consists of several elements — a logo, a name, brand colours, a slogan or any other visual or textual element that represents a particular product, company or organisation. Broadly speaking, a brand embodies the ideas people hold about a company, and so it arises and exists primarily in people's minds.

It is often said that “a brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room”. Brand building is the process of shaping that perception.

A brand consists of several layers:

Brand identity: what we see — logo, colours, typography (visual identity).
Brand voice: the way the brand communicates (formally, warmly, provocatively).
Brand values: what the company believes in (sustainability, innovation, fairness).
Brand equity: the commercial value the brand name adds to a product (why people pay more for coffee carrying a well-known chain's logo than for coffee from an ordinary vending machine).

Advantages

Strong brands can afford higher prices, because customers attribute higher value and lower risk to them.
Customers like to identify with brands that share their values, and they return to them repeatedly.
If a brand has a good name, customers are more willing to try its new product too.
A strong brand attracts not only customers but also top employees.

Disadvantages

Building a brand takes years, yet a single mistake (a PR scandal) can damage it within minutes.
Building brand awareness takes time and budget, and the return is not immediate (unlike pure performance advertising).
If a brand changes its behaviour or quality, it risks losing trust that is very hard to win back.
Brand value is harder to measure than the number of clicks on a banner.