Branding & Design (S_BAD)
Full summary
Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam
2024
,Table of contents
Lecture 1: What is corporate branding? .......................................................................................................... 3
Lecture notes ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Article notes ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Lecture 2: Branding & Identity ...................................................................................................................... 13
Lecture notes .................................................................................................................................................... 13
Article notes ...................................................................................................................................................... 21
Lecture 3: Word Branding: Names and Claims ............................................................................................... 26
Lecture notes .................................................................................................................................................... 26
Article notes ...................................................................................................................................................... 33
Lecture 4: Visual Branding: Color psychology ................................................................................................ 36
Lecture notes .................................................................................................................................................... 36
Article notes ...................................................................................................................................................... 47
Lecture 5: Visual Branding: Logos .................................................................................................................. 52
Lecture notes .................................................................................................................................................... 52
Article notes ...................................................................................................................................................... 62
Lecture 6: Sonic Branding: Jingles, Sounds, and Music ................................................................................... 71
Lecture notes .................................................................................................................................................... 71
Article notes ...................................................................................................................................................... 76
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,Lecture 1: What is corporate branding?
Lecture notes
Article 1
Hatch, M.J. & Schulz, M. (2008). What is corporate branding? In: Hatch, M.J. & Schulz, M.
(eds.) Taking Brand Initiative. Wiley, San Francisco.
Definition of a brand: A brand is “a name, term, symbol or design, or combination of these,
which is intended to identify goods or services of one seller, or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competitors.”
Brands can be taken down into their different parts: name, term, symbol and design of the
brand. These parts are intended to identify goods or services of one seller, or group of
sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.
Brands become icons, they become recognizable by things that have nothing to do with
them but become strong symbols.
Symbols: any object, word or action that stands for something else. You might see the logo,
the color, the music that reminds you to the brand. You connect the symbol with the brand.
There is a physical way in which brands are symbols: the logos, names, and even color
choices of a brand make it recognizable and distinctive.
These symbols convey meaning. These meanings arise when a brand works, each element
associated with it reminds its audience to the associated organization. But it also recalls
previous encounters with the organization, says something about the company values and
leadership and communicates something about the products.
Brands hold identity not just for consumers but for everyone who holds with them. You have
an identity by choosing to wear a specific brand but also by choosing to not wear that
specific brand.
Stakeholders include corporate brands within their identities, this can mean: Driving an
expensive car to communicate status, looking for a part time job at EKOplaza rather than AH
because more sustainable or trying to engage with brands as little as possible.
Product versus corporate brands:
Product brand is Pringles and a corporate brand is Hema.
Product brand:
- can have a completely different identity than the organization behind it (Pringles
was owned by Procter & Gamble until they sold to Kellogg’s in 2012).
- only really concerns one product, or a small group of products.
- targets consumers only.
- is only meant to survive as long as the product survives.
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, Corporate brand:
- if endorsed (such as HEMA) it influences all the products of an organization, no
matter what kind.
- originates from the company’s heritage, its values and beliefs, and what members
of the organization have in common.
- targets all stakeholders, including employees, managers, suppliers and even
politicians.
- is meant to be long lasting.
è Corporate branding is hard to change (successfully).
A changing branding or a reconsideration of what a brand is can have a much larger effect
in the scale. Whether the employees still recognize themselves in the company etc.
Example of two different airlines (British Airways (BA) and Southwest Airlines):
Rebranding is important (rebranding BA), they decided to expand into more international
branding. They changed the tale of the airlines to make it more international. However,
three things went wrong:
- They did not consider that consumers who choose BA wanted the first branding of
the company.
- They did not ask they staff what they thought about this change.
- In the principle for rebranding to achieve the goal, there was no consideration with
stakeholders and the effect it had for the consumers and staff.
This situation is compared to Southwest airlines (relatable to RyanAir), that has centered
their staff.
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