Branding: market research reports

The simple description of branding is the ability to identify a specific product or service. The word branding began as a way to tell one owner of cattle from another by the use of a hot iron stamp. When one is referring to a brand name, it is also known as a trademark. The word brand has evolved to include identity and it affects the personality and view of the product, service or company.

A brand can take the form of many things, including a sign, symbol, name, and/or color combination.

Brands are used in the automotive industry and were originally called marques.

A brand is what identifies a product or service of a particular company and it helps to explain how it relates to its customers staff, partners and investors. Individuals who oversee a brand, often called brand managers, strive to make the brand’s product or service relevant to that product or service’s target audience. When a brand is widely known in the marketplace, it acquires and gains brand recognition. When brand recognition is built up to a point where a brand has a critical mass in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise.

Companies look to branding as a value added aspect of selling their product and services. When there are two products that resemble one another people may often select the more expensive branded product strictly on the basis of quality or reputation of the brand and its owner.