Brand Identity – Visual and Verbal Expression of Brand

A brand identity is an outward expression of the brand, including its name and visual appearance. The brand's identity is its fundamental means of consumer recognition and symbolises the brand's differentiation form competitors. It is important to note that a brand identity refers to the strategic goal for a brand, while the brand image is what currently resides in the minds of consumers. How should a brand and marketing manager develop a set of successful brand identities? This paper ties together several extant researches in this area and provides a comprehensive framework in terms of guidelines for creating and building successful brand identities. A successful brand has high awareness, depicts a desirable and unique image, gets easy recognition and is highly trusted by customers. The first critical step to achieve this level of success with the customer is to have an excellent brand identity However, the extant literature does not provide any research that brings all the elements together to provide an overall understanding of what brand identity is, and what steps are required for establishing a powerful set of brand identities. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to assist a marketing manager understand the various elements associated with brand identities and suggest a framework to help a company establish its brand identity for successful branding.