CreNative

2012/1/17

Brands are like people, they all need to communicate. Especially today, when we live in the "Information Age", communication is a vital concern to us all. Brands also engage consumers in many different areas, and try to communicate their primary message no matter what the media forum. We often judge people by the way they look and the way they behave before we listen to what they say, and the same is true for brands.

With a lot of sports brands, universities will adopt an animal that embodies the team's best characteristics and gives the fans an image to rally behind in support of the team. Some mascots are strong and aggressive, like the Arkansas Razorbacks, the LSU Tigers or the UC Merced Bobcats:

While others are clever and surprising and you never know what they'll do, like the UCSB Gauchos, the Marist Red Foxes or the UMass Lowell River Hawks:

In the case of both the Gauchos and the Red Foxes, they both extend their brands to youth marks to communicate with their younger fans, like so:

Brands also need to translate into promotions and advertising, and keep their personality in the process:

Some brands want to represent such a broad range of constituents, that they choose to simply represent themselves with type or type and simple graphics like Harvard or the University of Michigan.

While the graphics may be simple, the appeal is universal. When we think of the different areas that brands engage consumers or fans, one of those is at the event. So logo branding needs to work in the environment of the event that it is representing, such as the Big Chill branding, which is for the world's largest outdoor hockey event:

But what about brands outside the sports arena? Jaguar, known for their luxury automobiles, creates branding that has to work in their print advertising, the internet, and on the cars themselves, like the logo below:

Sometimes a fashion or consumer brand will want to create a mystique around themselves, so that the consumer reaction will be to wonder what is going on with the brand, Is this brand intriguing to me, what does this brand offer to me as a person, and for my lifestyle? In common everyday interaction, we will often present multiple aspects of ourselves to those around us. Cheerful, intrigued, helpful, interested: We express these qualities and more when we are interacting with those around us. A brand always wants to communicate to it's audience that there is always something more to be discovered within the brand, just like people do in every day life. Judith Leiber presents it's brand with four different animal icons like so:

Judith Leiber creates high end purses and accessories for fashionable women, and their product has nothing to do with any of the animals in their logos, it's the juxtaposition of the imagery against they type that gives the brand its' aura of mystique and intrigue, and entices the consumer to interact with the brand and investigate what the Judith Leiber brand is really all about.

Brands have many different personalities, and serve many different purposes. They aren't just to promote products or represent organizations. In many cases, brands occupy a large presence in our lives; the teams we cheer, the cars we drive, the food we eat, the clothes we buy. Think of the brands that exist in your own life, and think of the people in your life. You may find that some brands have been in your life longer than some people you know. And, depending on who you're thinking of, you may like some of those brands better than some of the people you know! Whatever the case, the next time you walk down the street, look around you and think about this; all in all, brands are just like people.

author

Jamie Skiles
Jamie Skiles is the President of Phoenix Design Works and also works as a Creative director of the company.

View company details of Phoenix Design Works

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