Branding

The first era of branding came to the new world in 1541 when Cortes imported Spanish cattle stamped with his trademark brand of 3 crosses, this solved the issue of knowing who's cow belonged to who. Branding is an extremely important communication platform in the marketing communication process. If a company brand isn’t effectively communicated customers could easily become confused and possibly give their attention to another organization. Branding goes beyond having a logo, its how businesses communicate on behalf of their company, verbally and visually. A brand is a conversation, It is how people talk about your company when you are not in the room. Consumers are constantly interacting and meeting with brands. This can be through television or other media advertisements such as event sponsorship, personal selling and product packaging. Brand exposure such as this is known as a brand touch point or brand contact whereby the organization can try impressing its consumer. Without branding, consumers wouldn't be able to decipher between products and decide which one they like most. People may not be able to even tell the differences between some of the brands, they would have to try each brand several times before being able to judge which one was best. In order to help with purchase decisions, marketing communications try to create a distinct image for the brand. Brand associations are made to encourage linkages with places, personalities or even emotions which creates a sophisticated brand personality in the minds of the consumers. This shows how brand communications add value to products and why branding is a crucial aspect to the communication platform.