Before the Brand: Creating the Unique DNA of an Enduring Brand Identity

How to create a relevant, distinctive brand identity

Before you start building a brand through advertising, marketing, and public relations, you had better know the difference between identity and image in order to establish an effective, enduring brand identity—a verbal, visual, and experiential formula that bestows credibility and attracts attention. Before the Brand is a crash course in brand identity basics that describes successful long-term strategies for creating and refocusing brand identities for all types of companies, products, services, and technologies.

Knowing one’s true identity makes it easier to speak the right message to intended audiences and allows for a strong, consistent, relevant, and differentiated brand. This persuasive primer is packed with case studies that glance into the identities of such premier brands as Nutrasweet, Intel, Gatorade, FedEx, and many more. It introduces the controllable elements of brand identity—positioning strategy, brand name, nomenclature, tag line, logo, and more—and shows marketers how to:

• Develop simple, flexible positioning strategies
• Create a brand name that hits home with your market
• Create a dynamic, visual brand personality
• Reinforce the brand identity through messaging
• Leverage identity opportunities through cobranding and other formulas

Alycia Perry and David Wisnom III are cofounders of Versant Identity, a branding identity consulting company. Their clients include AT&T, DuPont, Frito-Lay, Visa, Procter & Gamble, and Lucent.