The Tangible, Intangibles of a Brand?

Brands are wonderful things - there are not many intangible "things" in this world that create as many jobs, profits and of course perceived individual value to the world.

However, the concept of a brand amuses me in a way -  after all, the only intangible part of a brand is the concept.....in reality a brand will only exist through the tangibles

• The delivery, time after time, of the promise
• The service, time after time, of the promise
• The reality of whether, time after time, it worked for you.

So when you think about it, this intangible is ....well, tangible! And when you really want to be confused then think about this....
How is it that such a tangible, intangible is perceived as difficult to measure, when the tangible parts are so easily measurable......?

People often struggle to measure the success of the brand, but I think that is when they are thinking of the concept - the intangible. When you turn it into a tangible object, then the measures are easy!

Now you see why I don't usually drink coffee so late at night :)

Comments

[Ashley K. Edwards]

What, in your opinion, are some of the strongest brands in the world? I have my own opinion about who the strongest one is, but I'd love to know what you think.

[Anna Farmery]

Ooh gosh that is hard as it really does depend on what circumstance. For example, personal or corporate brands ? I say that because in some ways I think people have been more successful on branding than corporations in the last decade! Do you mean just in terms of global reach, B2B or B2C etc....clearly Coke, McDonalds, Google, Harvard, Amazon, Nike, and actually The Queen! would all be near the top of my list. But then so would Nokia, GE, etc etc
I think one difficult thing now is that brands used to be much more "nationalised" now they are truly global and therefore the list has grown and grown....bet that doesn't help does it!
What were you thinking of when you asked the question?