What is a Brand???

Often we come across the term brand,from automobile,tv sets to  jeans we wear we hear this word.Even most of us have our own personal favourite brands,often we hear that companies like Ibm, MICROSOFT,GE,BOEING,BMW,MCDONALDS,TATA are big brands,so what is it all  about,  to be very clear the defination of brand is very large and it contains both tangible as well as intangible aspects.A very short one line defination for brands would be to say that its the name,logo,tagline or product (or some specific quality of the product)of a company with which a customer relates it self ,you might love levi jeans and you feel your self connected with it and always prefer wearing it,thus levi becomes your favourite brand when it comes to buy jeans.
But if seen with a broader perspective brand is just not only this,its some thing beyond.The brand value of a product refers to the totality of experience which a customer has when ever he uses the product,the experience of the customer includes various factors such as the quality of service which he is recieving ,the price which he is paying,the value for money which he is going to get,the value of risk reduction with the product(take case of electriacl equipments)brands can  include various other        factors such as aesthetic sense of the product or the resale value of product(in case car,mobile phones etc).Now any product cannot becaome a brand in itself in just a small interval of time ,to be a brand some time is always needed,a proper branding strategy for a company is some thing which needs to include both ,ie right product and right promotion,neither product nor promotion can single handedly create a brand ,to make a brand company needs to create some short of impression in the minds of the prospects or costomers with the help various promotional strategies and when the customer  purchases    the  product  the product must justify this,the standard of the product must be in accordance to the  image which the customer was holding in his mind.This can only ensure brand loyality from the side of customers,if your product is of very high quality but it is not supported with a strong promotional campaign it can never penetrate deep into the customer minds,at the same time if you have created a lot of hoopla with the help of a strong  campaign regarding your product .But when being  purchased  your product is not upto the mark then how ever strong your promotions may be,sooner or later your product will be rejected by the public.

When it comes to branding it should be known that branding is not only asssociated with a product ,it  can also be associated with a group of product or a whole company itself.More on this in some another blog.

REFERENCE:B2B BRANDING BY KOTLER AND PFOERTSCH