The relevance of the brand elements

Brand elements are the pieces of content or unique aspect that build a brand. They are the building blocks that create a consistent and recognizable identity for a person, company, product, or service. These elements include a logo, tagline, color palette, typography, videos, sounds, taste, smells, and images.

What are the criteria for choosing brand elements?

According to many authors like Kevin Lane Keller and Vanitha Swaminathan*, there are six criteria you need to use when choosing your brand elements.

1. Memorability. The elements should help consumers to recognize and recall the brand.
2. Meaningfulness. Be descriptive and help to persuade the consumers.
3. Likability. Interesting, fun, and visually rich.
4. Transferability. Easy to adapt to any culture, language, and different product categories.
5. Adaptability. It can be updated according to the times, flexible.
6. Protectability. Trademark laws can protect it.

Here are some reasons why brand elements are important:

1. Consistency: Brand elements help to create consistency across all marketing materials. Consistent brand identity makes it easier for customers to recognize and remember a company, product, or service. Consistency helps to build credibility with customers. For example, the Apple logo, fonts, colors, and sounds are standard in packaging, store, online store, and products.
2. Association or Recognition: A solid and recognizable brand identity makes it easier for customers to find and remember a company, product, or service. A logo, for example, is often the first thing people think of when they think of a brand. Recognizable brand identity makes customers more likely to choose a company, product, or service over its competitors. Apple logo is easy to recognize, is everywhere across all the products, and people quickly identify an Apple product.
3. Differentiation: Brand elements help to differentiate a company, product, or service from its competitors. A unique logo, for example, can help a brand differentiate from a competitor. Apple logo is unique and is different from Samsung, HP, and Microsoft; in the computer, the industry is hard to find another logo related to fruits with the success Apple has created.
4. Emotion: Brand elements can evoke emotions in customers. The colors, imagery, and typography used in a brand’s visual identity can evoke feelings such as trust, confidence, or excitement. A tagline or slogan can also evoke emotions, such as a sense of humor or a call to action. Apple’s sleek and minimalist design revolutionized the concept of personal computers and personal tech products in general, and people are always excited about new Apple product launches.
5. Storytelling: Brand elements can help to tell a brand’s story. A logo, for example, can tell a story about a brand’s history, values, or mission. A tagline or slogan can also tell a story about a brand’s promise or what it stands for. Every time Apple launches a product, the storytelling on the features of the product is crafted in a way that they cure every detail, and the storytelling goes beyond the product.

What are the Brand Elements?

• Brand Name. This is the most important element when building a brand. Choosing a good name is an art and a science. The brand names can describe a product, evoke certain features of the product/service, be very abstract and not related to anything, be the last name or name of the founder, etc. Once you start building your brand using your name, it’s tough to change it. One recommendation is to use names that are easy to pronounce, spell and write.
• Logo. A logo is a graphical representation of the brand. It can be just the name of the company using a distinctive font like Coca-Cola or very elaborated symbols with a meaning like Master Card to circles, or a very abstract one with no meaning or relation with the brand, like the Mercedes Benz star. Logos and symbols help consumers to recognize products or services.
• Characters. These particular types of symbols help identify a brand, which can be a figure, a cartoon, or a trace. Some examples are the Nike symbol, The Energizer Bunny, The dolphin from the Miami Dolphins Football team, etc.
• Slogans. These are phrases that tell you something about the brand. They appear in packaging, other printed material, TV commercials, digital ads, etc. A good slogan can help build brand awareness and equity, and they represent the brand. Bounty: The Quicker Picker Upper or Nike Just Do It are samples or perfect slogans.
• Packaging. This is how you will present the product to the consumers and are represented by containers, boxes, bags, wrappers, etc. You can have a good brand name, logo, and slogan, but if you present the product in a poor or cheap package, consumers might pick your competitors instead of your products.

The list above is just an example of some of the most important and common brand elements, but also we need to consider that many companies use sounds, tastes, and smells as a part of their brand identity.

In conclusion, brand elements are the building blocks of a solid and recognizable brand identity. They help to create consistency, recognition or association, and differentiation, evoke emotions and tell a brand’s story. They are essential in creating a memorable and effective brand that stands out from your competitors.

*Keller, Kevin Lane; Swaminathan, Vanitha. Strategic Brand Management (p. 112). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.