Brand identity and branding are not synonyms. At Twelve12, we want to share with you some information about branding in Orange County and the concept of brand identity.
To put it in simple terms, think about yourself as a brand. You have several distinctive characteristics that make you unique, and even if you hang out with people with similar looks or interests, you are one of a kind.
That being established, let’s see what makes a brand distinctive. In the deep end, and following the same example, a person has a set of values, interests, state of mind, etc., and even a way of expressing themselves. It is easy to recall a friend who is sweet and caring, always thinking about ways to help, etc, and you probably also have a feisty friend who is passionate, who always talks louder than the rest, who is hard to convince and is strong-willed.
The same happens with a brand. It might be a brand that cares about customers, that is very interested in using only natural components, involved with the community, or charity oriented, among others. And you may have a brand that is disruptive, always looking for new things or designs to offer to their clients, with cutting edge technology, innovative, etc.
When you think about those examples, you probably even consider how they could look: a sweet person, with light colors, flowered dresses, clean, light, neutral make up (if they even use any), and the same with the brand – pale colors such as blue, pink, yellow, green, with some sort of logo that is nature related, right? And then you think about the loud friend or the state-of-the-art company, and you think about bright and strong colors, jeans, boots, leather jackets, black, neon within the black background, reds, deep blues, silver or gold – and you are not mistaken! This is what we call brand identity.
As you can see, brand identity has a concept and a look, which translated to the marketing world would be the values and mission of a company and the visual art that goes with it, such as logos, ads, promotional material, etc.