Corporate Identity and Branding Information

About choosing a corporate identity design

Why do corporate identities work? Why does 3 stripes and a word make us want to trust a company to sell us shoes? The answer is because it is effectively marketed. The image is unique enough to know that it is Adidas, but not overly blatant or complex. The question, though, is what makes for a good and effective corporate identity?

First, it has to be recognizable enough to saturate a market. Something hard to make out, fuzzy, too long, unmemorable, ordinary, or too similar to other identities in that market just won’t do the trick. Here are a few things you should think of: is it legible? Can it be recognized from a little distance? Will it stand out on a page? Does it put forth the kind of image you want? Does it look good in black and white? (you might not always want to pay for color) Can you legally protect it? Is it simple? The more complicated it gets, the larger it will have to be to be recognizable. Your logo can find its way on to a box, or onto a letterhead, or maybe onto a billboard. Can it be seen and understood from all these perspectives?

Do you have a slogan for your product or brand name? How does it match up? Is it memorable, simple, expressive and does it carry the image you want to send? These are all parts of an effective corporate identity. And they very well might make or break your marketing strategy.

Product, price, promotion, and placement
This is a very basic template to model a marketing campaign. It may work well for sponges, deodorant, or printers, but it probably won’t go over very well for some types of businesses.

Corporate brand
This is what the dictionary says under the entry “brand.” Now the question is what does it mean to an everyday person. A brand means image: Not just what it looks like, logos, emblems, style, but also the image of quality, or reliability, or lack there of.

History of brands
Before the industrial revolution, most of the products used around the home were made in that home. The average person would just buy the raw materials needed and make it himself.