[Sigia-l] Brand Creation

[Richard Weigel]

Once upon a time there was the product, and the product was good. It became well known, well respected and profitable. It gained the status of "Brand". The people who invented this product decided to capitalize on their new status and launched other products, under the name of the original product. And they enhanced their status among other brands and became more profitable. Think Google.
 
There was another company who had a truly innovative product, and the product was good. It became well known, well respected and profitable. It gained the status of "Brand". The people who invented this product decided to capitalize on their status and launched other products, under the name of the company. And they created a new brand. Think Apple and iPod.  - I would argue that they have created a second brand; most people I know think "iPod" not "Apple iPod"
 
I would suggest that the brand starts with the product. Sometimes, the status of "Brand" can be transferred to something larger, such as the company that invented the product, and the cachet of the original product transferred to other products by association with the company. Sometimes the "Brand" is always just the product, no matter how hard the marketers try to transfer that brand status to the company.
 
Rich Weigel