When talking about branding, we are talking about creating an experience. The definition of an experience is to personally undergo or encounter something through direct observation or participation. When explaining this to a client, either big or small, what needs to be made clear, is that we are helping them define what they need their respective clients or marketplace to experience or feel, every moment someone connects with their company, small business, product or service so, they can properly and uniquely position themselves within the minds of their end users. This is priceless when executed properly.

For example, Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Audi are all German luxury/sport automobile makers that sell a similar product in similar price ranges yet, when we think of each, we quickly recognize them for very different things; Mercedes Benz—supreme luxury; BMW—ultimate driving experience; Audi—understated elegance and technology.

So how has this been carved into our collective conscience? Simple, each company has positioned themselves by creating a strong and clearly understood brand. Or one could say, brand experience.

The next question is, how was this accomplished?

A successful brand establishes itself at every point of contact with the end user. Starting with the company identity (logotype/mark, colors, typefaces, tagline or slogan); onto collateral materials such as their stationery and product packaging; followed through sales, marketing, and advertising materials like websites, brochures, print ads, billboards, commercials and point of purchase items; onto social media interaction via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Pinterest; ending with the environmental or retail space or any other space of engagement that occurs one-on-one with the end user such as a kiosk or in the case of Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Audi—their dealerships.

A successful brand establishes itself at every point of contact with the end user.

But now, one needs to ask, what makes a brand strong and clear? The answer is consistency.

To be consistent, every aspect of the brand, from the seen to the unseen, must be unified and say the same thing. (If elements are not the brand will be muddy, weak, and unclear.) This is developed further with proper messaging and positioning.

As stated earlier, a brand is an experience, and an experience isn't something tangible rather it is felt and unseen so a strong, clear brand is founded on a concept such as supreme luxury or ultimate driving experience. Once the foundation is set, everything that is seen (from imagery to color onto copy) will follow suit so, in the case of Mercedes Benz, we see ads of a silver CLE sitting by itself on a modern brick paved driveway in front of a building with the phrase "Only the Best". Meanwhile, a BMW ad will show a red M3 racing along a Californian highway at an aggressive angle saying "Fasterpiece". One is clearly saying supreme luxury while the other is saying, ultimate driving machine. Now, imagine if that silver 500SLK was yellow instead of silver, and the phrase was "Escape to Somewhere". What would that say? Rather than luxury the color yellow and copy tell us this is exotic. (That's because everything has a denotative or literal meaning and even more powerful connotative or interpreted meaning i.e. silver is associated with metal, money, and value, while yellow on a car may make you think of a canary or leopard and where are these found? In exotic places.) Once more, what if the BMW ad showed the M3 parked instead of racing along and used the phrase "Reliable and Affordable"? Surely, you wouldn't think ultimate driving experience but you might think—what happened to BMW? This is what is meant by every aspect of the brand needing to speak to the conceptual foundation consistently.

Concerning poor or weak branding, one can look at the recent trend of self-serve frozen yogurt shops. Whether it's TCBY, Red Mango, Orange Leaf, or Sweet Frog none of these franchises have much brand loyalty because they look similar, and say the same thing which truthfully, isn't much. They seem to be quickly developed franchise ideas that are simply clones of each other. In turn, you don't care which one you visit because it's all the same experience.

In short, identity work encompasses the surface or that which is seen of a company, small business, product, or service, creating a simple first impression. Branding includes every aspect, the seen and unseen of a company, small business, product, or service including the identity, onto print and digital media; into messaging and its tone, to create a deep, rich experience that clearly defines their place in the market.