Brand Vs Logo …and the difference is?
South is all about building and supporting strong brands. To better understand a brand’s potential, it’s important to understand the fundamental differences between a logo and brand identity. It may seem simplistic, but many designers, agencies, and ‘marketing gurus’ claim to support and service branding, but actually offer logo design and brand identity support, if even that!
What is a Logo?
A logo is a visual mark, wordmark or icon, showcasing the character and essence of the brand. A memorable logo is an essential component of a powerful brand and serves as a visual shortcut to the company within a competitive market.
A logo is a key part of your branding and brand identity but it is not your brand.
What is a Brand?
A brand is the emotional and experiential qualities that fuel perception and ideas that others share about a company. It is a consistent tone of voice or visual language that represents competitive advantages and the company’s position within the market. The Brand is everything else — Colour, typography, additional graphics, photographic style, composition, essentially the look and feel of your product or business.
A brand is not just a logo, a website or your business card, it’s an experience!
Which matters more?
The brand is the foundation of a company and the logo is the visual shortcut to the trademark of the brand. A logo identity system and a strong branding system are both crucial when marketing and promoting a consistent image and voice, but a brand speaks for itself. The opinions people have about a business and its product largely affects the business’ success at the end of the day. We’ve seen evidence of this throughout social media. Brands are often boycotted for their political stance, brand image, and reputation.
The strength of a strong logo identity comes from its union with clear-sighted definition, uniqueness, and articulation of the larger brand voice. The logo identity can be compared to the tip of the iceberg. The iceberg itself comprises the majority of the mass, while the visual portions above the waterline represent the logo within a marketing community.