Blog 8

The topic of today’s blog is that of branding. The company brand has nothing to do with the product, but rather the image or message a company wishes to convey about itself.

     Naomi Klein says in regard to companies and branding is that “What these companies produced primarily were not things, they said, but images of their brands. Their real work lay not in manufacturing but marketing (pg. 4).”  Many would confuse this in thinking that branding is little more than advertising, but this is not the case. On page five of Klein’s No Logo, she says “Advertising any given product is only one part of branding’s grand plan, as are sponsorship and logo licensing.” This clearly conveys that advertising is only a part of the branding picture and that there are many other factors that contribute to the overall company brand.

The people at Thunder Tech would agree with Klein. In their segment of Good Morning Marketers: Your Logo Is Not Your Brand, they talk about the various things that do contribute to a brand. They believe that just about everything a company does will contribute to the brand image. From naming of the company and products, to the services offered, affiliations, staff interactions with customers, even how the company interacts with the community; all of this conveys to the consumer a message about the company itself.

To analyze the idea of branding as the overall message or image, I will use The Home Depot as an example because of my personal dealings with the company both as a customer and employee. The advertisements present the idea of the do-it-yourselfer with the mantra “You can do it, we can help” which empowers the consumer with a sense of self reliance and ability. Next, the products themselves are of very high quality and most have a warranty; this, coupled with a very easy going return policy in the store, gives the consumer the peace of mind that if something is wrong with a product or it is the wrong product, The Home Depot will fix it. Then there are community-build programs which employees volunteer to help build playgrounds for the community using materials that are all donated by the company. These are just a few examples which all contribute to a helpful, trustworthy, and community-friendly image about The Home Depot.