Branding defined

While catching up on news and blogs this evening after spending much of the last two weeks on the road, I came across a post by Seth Godin about branding that caught my eye. Over the last few months, my brand hat has been collecting dust on my career hat rack while I shift focus to more graphic art-intensive work; but ever the brand manager (Abranda, if you prefer), my ears usually perk up when the word ‘brand’ pops up on my screen.

In his post, Godin raises some interesting and valuable points about the breadth of meaning to brand beyond just the logo or visual touch points most of us associate with the word ‘brand.’ So often people seem to relegate branding to simply a function of marketing or design which is both frustrating and reassuring– frustrating in that the topic remains an uphill battle with some audiences, yet reassuring in that the need for responsible brand advocates remains strong. Godin summarizes the issue well when he states “Design is essential but design is not brand.”

What do you think, dear readers? How do you define ‘brand’ or ‘branding’?