International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

In the late 1800s, a brand was a tool used to identify ownership. Cattle ranches placed their brands on their cattle, and biscuit manufacturers burned their brands onto the barrels containing their products. As manufacturing processes improved throughout the Industrial Revolution, brands became a way for parity products to differentiate themselves ( Pope 1983 ). Today, a brand is a symbol that embodies a range of information connected with a company, a product, or a service. Elements of a brand include a name, a logo, and other visual elements such as images, colors, or type fonts (→  Typography ). The term “brand name” is often used interchangeably with the term “brand,” although a brand name is specifically the written or spoken linguistic elements of a brand. In this context, the brand name constitutes a type of trademark, if the brand name exclusively identifies the brand owner as the commercial source of products or services. A brand owner may seek to protect proprietary rights in relation to a brand name through trademark registration (→  Marketing ; Trademarks in the Media ). Many brands have demonstrated a unique durability and sustained competitive advantage that many view as unmatched by any other corporate asset. Every year, Interbrand calculates the brand value of the world's top brands. Brand value is calculated as the net present value of the earnings the brand ... log in or subscribe to read full text