The word “brand” itself was first applied by cowboys in the Wild West who would stamp their cows in order to distinguish them from other cows in the prairie. It was not my intention to make a comparison between the firm and the farm, but perhaps we could find parallels and learn something. Each farmer is working hard on having cows that give more milk and healthy offspring and taking care of his longer-term income. So, when farmers recognize and choose quality, they invest in it. Common to the farmers and business people is that they do not want their high-quality product to be confused with other who seems to be similar. Both will protect their product and make it recognizable. The goal of branding is to separate your product from the market (cows). But, enough about the cows, you’ve already figured out: the experience of your product MUST be different. We also don’t want to be marked as one of “those websites” because we also want to be distinguished by our unique solutions. Branding makes you recognizable and stands out from the mass.
More than ever, marketing is in the realm of psychology, in which the focus of attention has moved to “subjectively”. Consumer behavior and habits are being carefully monitored and analyzed, not only with a help of technology. The main consideration is given to the “positive reaction”, “emotion”, “feeling” while terms “brand”, “price”, and “quality” are in the background. There are globally popular brands, like Nestlé, Coca-Cola that spends millions of dollars on advertising and campaigns and flood us with tailored online and offline campaigns. It is considered that the value of the Coca-Cola brand is $ 80 billion ($ 80,000,000,000.00), having in mind only the name of the brand, excluding everything else that belongs to this multinational company.
Many larger companies avoid re-branding because they often encounter users resistance. Thus, JAT Airways, a domestic airline company established in 1947, was purchased by Etihad Airways a company from the United Arab Emirates in 2013 and became AirSerbia. The logo was designed by a 25-year-old student of the final year of the Faculty of Applied Arts from Serbia, and this project was her graduation thesis.
More about the project can be found here: Rebranding JAT Airways
Also, states, cities and various organizations often engage teams to create a new visual identity, to apply a modern concept in a more attractive way, to cultural content and offers, which represents a type of campaign and promotion. Through various promotional videos on global TV stations, we can get an impression about some countries and their image.
State Bulgaria, which was elected to chair the EU from 01.01.2018 until 31.06.2018, and by that occasion they have created a new visual identity that combines three symbols that reflect the Bulgarian identity: Cyrillic (the only EU country whose official alphabet is Cyrillic) ornaments (lace, ie, traditional tassel) and flag colors (EU and Bulgaria). This visual identity is followed by a very active campaign on social networks, Twitter and Facebook.
Let’s say you’re a student who wants to apply for studies in a foreign country. You will have to communicate with the Faculty and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, so that will definitely be the first impression of the country you wanted to visit. Well, we really liked the example of a new visual identity of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose concept and idea of creation can be seen in the following video: The New Visual Identity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland
The process of re-designing and creating a new identity is the tailor-made solution, developed according to the target user groups in order to increase interest in certain products and services. The one thing is certain: your branding is the first impression and your chance to attract more potential customers. Sometimes settling of accounts with the older or poor graphics solutions are necessary future investments. Smaller companies are indicating more often a need to completely redesign their visual identity. Try to be objective. Take a look at your site and compare it with the competition. Perhaps this comparison will show you what is more appealing, whether your appearance radiates energy or that color faded out and graphics seems outdated?