A Brand is all the representations that can suggest its name.
Everything can become a brand, for example, an event like the World Cup or the Tour de France (cycling). The event needs only to be repetitive and enjoyed by a lot of people.
Managing brands developed concurrently with globalization; it has been growing since the end of the XXth century, when firms decided to stop manufacturing in their home countries in favour of out-sourcing abroad. These firms* could then concentrate on brand management, marketing and conception of products. This change accentuated and specified the difference between "the product" that is made in factories and "the brand" that is created and developed intellectually.
The brand :
– Increases desire, maintains consumers' emotion until the purchase of a branded commodity to the disadvantage of the competitors (who are sometimes proposing better prices)
– Protects humans from doubt by setting up a familiar, cosy and intimate world
– Provides spatial, temporal, social points of reference which bring comfort of everyday life
– Strengthens social links by its mimic effect on populations
– Belongs to consumers more than firms
– References for community ; Brands participate in the development of communities, that define themselves in part, by sharing the same goods and services
– Is a recognizable sign, the Brand offers to the individuals the opportunity to put their social image into their posessions (for example : cars)
– A foundation for the firms' communication
– Creates the link between the manufacturing process and the customer
– Allows the firm to sign and to leave its mark not only on products and services but also on the consumers' minds
– Expands area of visibility, defines a territory and claims possession for firms and non profit organizations
– Sways our behavior as well as our level of caution according to the interlocutor's nature
– Innovates to strengthen its position on the market; without innovations the brands lose their reason to live
– Harnesses human energy and follows the changes that a group undergoes or generates
– Guarantees the reliability of a message, a product, or a service.
– Absorbs everything it encounters (events, actors, goods, services...)
– A social and cultural partner (sponsoring).
* Big firms have created a new job called "brand manager".
