Brand Element Meaning, Criteria for choosing Brand Elements, Types of Brand Elements

The brand is represented by the various tangible elements that create and formulate a visual, auditory, and olfactory brand identity resulting in the innate and inherent Brand Elements.

For instance, the brand logo, tagline, colour palette, all the marketing, and promotional materials, letterheads, signage, messaging and communication, and so on are all tangible representations of the brand that make up its sensory identity in the market and in the minds of the customers.

According to Kotler, a brand is a:

Name, Term, Sign symbol (or a combination of these) that identifies the maker or seller of the product.

Criteria for choosing Brand Elements

“Offensive Strategy” towards building brand equity

Likability: Brand Elements need to be inherently fun, interesting, colourful and not necessarily always directly related to the product.

A memorable, meaningful and likable brand element makes it easier to build brand recognition and brand equity, thus reducing the burden on the marketer and thereby reducing the cost of marketing communications.

Meaningfulness: Here a marketer needs to ensure that brand elements are descriptive and suggesting something about the product category of the brand. This is important to develop awareness and recognition for the brand in a particular product category.

Secondly, the brand elements also need to have a persuasive meaning and suggest something about the particular benefits and attributes of the brand. This is necessary for defining the positioning of the brand in a particular category.

Memorability: Brand elements that help achieve a high level of brand awareness or attention to the brand, in turn facilitate the recognition and recall of a brand during purchase or consumption. For Example: LG: Life is good

“Defensive strategy” towards leveraging and maintaining brand equity

Adaptability: Consumer opinions, values and views keep changing over a period of time. The more adaptable and flexible brand elements are the easier it is to keep up changing and up to date from time to time to suit the consumers liking and views.

Transferability: The extent to which brand elements can add brand equity to new products of the brand in the line extensions.  Another point, a marketer needs to keep in mind is that the brand element should be able to add brand equity across geographical boundaries and market segments.

Protectability: The final criteria in choosing a brand element is that it should be protectable legally and competitively. Brand elements need to be chosen in such a way, that they can be internationally protected legally, legally registered with legal bodies. Marketers need to voraciously defend their trademarks from unauthorized competitive infringements.

Types of Brand Elements

Brand Name:

Brand name refers to the word, phrases or words used to identify the company, product, service or concept and other core values of the brand.

On the facade, naming a brand may seem quite easy and simple. But coming up with an iconic and innovative brand name is very difficult. Ponder about the brands such as, Coca-Cola, Chevy, Häagen-Dazs, and Target.

Theme Line

A catchphrase or a tagline, such as Bounty’s “The Quicker Picker Upper” or Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” are quite very famous.

Essentially, theme lines such as “Just do it.” for Nike or “Don’t leave home without it.” for American Express help to quickly state the brand position memorably in the minds of the customers. Great theme or taglines have a long run rather than being changed every year.

Graphics

Graphics are those Brand Elements that can also bring a brand to our attention in a fraction of a second. The dynamic ribbon is a trademarked part of Coca-Cola’s brand and Coach’s unique pattern of “C’s” emboldens the look of most of their products in the market. Louis Vuitton’s stylized flower pattern makes their luggage uniquely identifiable amongst other products in the market. The red and tan plaid lining makes Burberry coats stand out from plainer competition and are the favourite amongst the fashion lovers.

Sound:

Sound or a unique set of notes or tones can also assist in forming a brand’s identity as the crucial Brand Elements.

When a brand is mentioned, a jingle may come to the mind of the customers. For instance, any sports fan would be able to recognize ESPN’s Sports Center introduction from the first two notes of the jingle.

Smell

The smell of a brand also adds to the overall elements of the brand identity. For instance, scents, such as the rose-jasmine-musk of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked or the fresh handmade aroma of Lush Cosmetics.

Logo

To simply explain, a logo is a visual trademark that identifies the brand with its design elements. The Nike swoosh has become so well known that the word “Nike” no longer need to appear with it for recognition as a brand name.

Shape

Physical shape is like the distinctive shape of the Coca-Cola bottle or the Volkswagen Beetle that is both trademarked elements of those specific brands and can also be used as a brand identity element.

Colour:

Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can be pink in color. UPS’s unique brown trucks and uniforms have become its trademarks and are quite easily identified. Sephora cashiers wear one black glove with which they handle products before giving them to customers making it the brand’s crucial Brand Element.

Movement

Another Brand Element is the movement or how the product shifts, expands or condenses in its nature and functionality.

Lamborghini, the automobile brand has trademarked the upward motion of its car doors. Apple launched quite a revolution of screen interactions namely, the motion of two fingers moving apart, which allows its users to enlarge images on their iPhones and iPods very easily.

These brand elements include:

Visual Identity: Brand visual identity includes the recognisable and communicable brand outlook like name, logo, colour, slogan, typography, graphics, etc.

Brand Associations: These are the associations that come to the customers’ mind when they think of the brand. These can be advertisements, brand ambassadors, brand’s offering features, class, lifestyle, emotions, etc.

Brand Purpose: Brand purpose represents what the company stands for and what are its social obligations towards society, consumers, and the environment.

Brand Promise: It’s the value customers expect to get whenever they interact with the brand or buy its offerings.

Brand Identity: Brand identity is the set of all the branding activities a company indulges in order to be perceived in a particular way to the target audience.

Brand Personality: Brand personality is the association of human characteristics and traits with the brand to which the customers can relate.

Brand Voice: Brand voice is the uniformity in the selection of words, the attitude and values of the brand while addressing the target audience or others.

Brand Image: Brand image is an aggregate of beliefs, ideas, and impressions that a customer holds regarding the brand.

Brand Experience: Brand experience is awakening a holistic sensory experience to build an all-rounding relationship between customers and a brand.

Brand Equity: Brand equity is the aggregate of assets and liabilities attached to the brand name and symbol, which results in the relationship customers have with the brand.

Brand Architecture: Brand architecture is an organized structure of the company’s portfolio of brands, sub-brands, and other offerings.