What a Brand Says To Us

Sometimes a brand says more than we realize.

Brand Logos

Do take a closer look at the Amazon logo. With a smile-shaped arrow that stretches from the “A” in Amazon to the “Z,” they are saying their goods and services happily cover the entire alphabet:

In 1945, the first Baskin-Robbins sold 31 flavors. Now, commemorating its past, the Baskin-Robbins logo tells us that 31 flavors are always available. We just need to look more closely at the right side of the “B” and the left half of the “R:”

Meanwhile, the arrow in the Ex half of FedEx, points anywhere and everywhere they deliver:

Hoping we will party with our Tostitos, the two Ts (people) on the logo share the bowl of salsa (red dot) and Tostito above it (yellow triangle):

For me though, this Tour de France logo, with its bicycle was the most clever. The O in Tour is the rear wheel of a bicycle, the U the seat, and the yellow circle, the front wheel:

Brand Value

The brand also represents huge value. Quantified by Interbrand, the numbers in the following graphic just need to get a whopping extra 6 zeros-$502,680,000,000. As for getting the number, some say you can calculate the cost of creating the brand. Others suggest pricing the brand as though you were selling it. A third possibility is the income generated because of the brand. While no method can be close to precise, still they let us identify the top brands.

Below, I copied the top 25:

Another branding company–Brand Finance–says that it multiplies brand revenues by brand strength:

Using their approach, Brand Finance placed Amazon at #4, behind Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

Our Bottom Line: Packaging Economics

A brand is a personality that distinguishes a good or a service from all others. It can relate to a taste, a texture, or a technology, and shape what consumers perceive. As a result, employees and stockholders care about the profit from a well-managed brand. Investors want brands to create value. Consumers use brands to judge what they buy. When a brand is doing its job, it adds to the value of the good or service. And of course, brands help firms compete.

Ranging from the factors of production, to demand, and competitive market structures, a brand is a package of economic ideas.

My sources and more: Thanks to my “Interesting Facts” email for inspiring today’s post. From there, more logo info was at RD and the value of a brand. And finally, Interbrands and Brand Finance had lots more brand details.

Our featured image illustrates Brand Finance’s top 100.