Most small businesses would define branding as the identity by which their company is recognized and all of the items it’s associated with, whether that be an advertisement, business card, voicemail message, etc… This would be correct by definition. But when it comes to owning something with your brand, many b-schools, books, and articles don’t touch on that.
By owning an object, I mean a physical object, colour, saying, sound, style, phrase, shape, packaging, texture, or anything that you could uniquely call your own. Something that people can identify, relate to, and instantly associate with your brand.
Below, you’ll find 9 examples of brand ownership from the past and present, without the brand. See if you can name the brand behind each item and post your numbered guesses in the comments.
Note: You have to click on number 5 to hear the audio clue.
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These examples are pretty easy. Of course, all of the companies behind these brands are massive compared to our small businesses, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and create a branding object to call our own. It’s actually much simpler for an entrepreneur to find a unique object to own because of our market size and chanches are, our competition lacks any sense of branding insight.
I’ll post the brand behind each of the objects tomorrow. Until then, see if you can go 10 for 10.
You young go getters got pretty close, with 9 out of 10, but that last one may not have been as distinctive a palette as I thought. Here are the correct answers.
1) Fender, 2) Corona, 3) Tiffany’s, 4) Kanye West, 5) MSN Messenger, 6) Mary Kay, 7) Rolling Stones, 8) Swingline, 9) Altoids, 10) Kodak.
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