A Model of Brand.
During a recent archiving exercise, I stumbled upon a small pile of reference works containing a handy nugget for describing brand. But before I go further, if I may, I'll take a step back and explain.
In our client work, the conversation of "brand" regularly turns from one of "we need to brand this" or "let's focus on our branding" to one of defining what the very term means. (If you'll indulge me, I'll add that I believe we have all engaged in conversations where each party seems to be having their own unique discussion about what is an assumed shared collection of terms.) From there, I'll either enquire as to what, exactly, the client understands the term (brand; in its harried verb tense) means to them. And invariably, the focus of their answer relies mostly upon the practice of applying a logo to any number of applications.
I can't say I really blame them. We've all gotten used to the ill-informed concept of branding as it applies to, say, Nike. Or NASCAR. In both cases, we've come to identify the "brand" as what we see. The Nike Swoosh on Tiger's pristine golf cap, or your uncle's undersized, unauthorized, and likely soiled, Lakers jersey (KB24 4 Life!). Or the malt liquor, battery and aftershave logos plastered on the Dale Ernhardt Jr. 8(8) car. Fact is, those are indeed part of the brand (as is your uncle or the fuel economy of that left-turn-only stock car), but only a part. Sure, they've technically been "branded"—in the same way that the steer receives his fiery mark—but the discipline of brand is actually about a complex set of relationships and the intersections that make them interesting.
I'll return to the point at hand; that handy reference piece. Way back in 2001, Hugh Dubberly and his team at Dubberly Design Group developed an excellent visual reference to illustrate and map the elements of brand. If you're a client and you've not studied this piece, then you've likely been talking in circles (as I did in illustrating the argument above). And if you're a creative firm who hasn't shared this with your clients (at least at the conversational level) then you too, have been working too hard. Kidding aside, it's a fine piece of work that's worth coming back to again and again. Download this PDF, and a handful of other useful models here.