What is branding and what is it for?

Do you want to know what branding is and what it does? Imagine a tool used by brands to conquer consumers’ hearts and minds. That, in essence, is the main goal of brand management.

Branding, also known as brand management, comprises a set of actions related with a brand’s positioning, mission and values. Its aim is to create conscious and unconscious connections with a target audience to influence their shopping decisions. In other words, branding is focused on making a brand known and desirable, as well as evoking a positive image of it in the hearts and minds of consumers.

So, with that said, another question that may now spring to mind is: What actually is a brand? A brand is much more than just a logo and a visual identity; it is also defined by a series of feelings and experiences that products and services produce in the consumer.

It is important to understand that everyone perceives a brand in a different way, depending on their social, cultural and economic context and, especially, their experience with the company behind the name. That is precisely why branding is such a key factor in the success of any company, regardless of their sector or size.

So far in this post, we have focused on branding from a corporate perspective, but it is important to understand that branding is not just for companies, but also for people:

In our fully globalised world, competition has increased so much that today it is absolutely vital a brand can set itself apart from other companies in the same sector. In this sense, there is no doubt that branding’s biggest potential lies in its capacity to identify and differentiate a brand. It is also crucial for a company’s positioning, as it increases their visibility. Without branding, it would be difficult to get consumers to even recognise a brand.

Branding also plays an important role in marketing strategies, as it helps to give a brand overall meaning and lend strength to a business strategy. Likewise, it also defines a brand’s lines of communication on all channels, media and platforms.

A brand manager is the professional in charge of managing a brand. His or her central mission is to increase a brand’s market value and give it a competitive advantage. The main roles of this position include:

Many people don’t know what they have to study to become a brand manager, and it’s true that there are different paths you can take. The most common way into branding is to pursue a career related with advertising or marketing and then to specialise by studying a postgraduate or master’s degree.

Branding, as we know it today, has evolved way beyond logos and manuals. Today, brands are complex beings, which adapt and change in real time. In this context, one of the big challenges that branding poses is how to build a brand that takes hold, so that it stands the test of time and can overcome change.

That is why, here at Elisava we have created a master’s in branding, which adapts to the new times we’re living in today and has a clear vision of the future. The aim of our Master’s Degree Beyond Branding is to develop a critical and contemporary approach to brand building. The programme is focused on exploring new trends, analysing the current panorama of communication and studying how the aesthetics of a brand and business models have been influenced by changes in technology and the Internet.

If you want to play a part in these changes and explore new brand territories, our master’s in branding could be the perfect tool for gaining an interdisciplinary and collaborative vision of this field. Please contact us to find out all about how our master’s can make a contribution to your future.