Brand Advertising

Brand advertising is one of the most important tasks to be performed by any business. Your brand is more than a representation of your company; in the minds of consumers, your company IS your brand. It is thus an imperative to raise your brand profile and get the word out about your business. Building a strong brand will give your company the one resource coveted by every business; fiercely loyal customers.

Your brand is more than your logo and your slogan; it is the connection you make with the consumer. The strongest brands elicit a genuine emotional response in the consumer; there is one common element to any successful brand and brand advertising campaign: trust. Your brand needs to tell consumers - trust me. While you know how great of a product or service you have to offer the public, you need to win them over by making your brand visible and beginning to take hold in the collective consciousness of the public.

Brand advertising can be done in any medium, although some are more suitable than others for the task and each form of media used in a brand advertising campaign calls for a different approach. Print media is traditionally the primary means of delivering a brand image to consumers, particularly in a re-branding effort; witness, for example the 'Pop' campaign for Pepsi-Cola currently underway in New York and other major cities. A stylized version of the classic Pepsi logo appears within the copy of the adverts, which is very simple; something which is a hallmark of a successful brand advertising campaign. Multiple impressions are created by the placement of the adverts in subway cars, billboards and various print media outlets.

While print may be the traditional medium of choice for brand advertising, it is certainly not the only choice. Television advertising is of course a powerful way to convey a brand image to consumers; it also is a great way to build the emotional ties which consumers have to favored products. Together with print, this is the strongest way to build brand identity.

Other media should not be neglected; radio is still a popular way to advertise, although there are obvious limitations to the medium which make it not ideal as the primary vehicle for a brand advertising effort; however, it is a useful adjunct to print and television campaigns. Online advertising is becoming an increasingly important venue for brand advertising as well. A growing number of companies are choosing to use websites, banner adverts, video and even blogs as a way to establish their brand as a trustworthy friend to the consumer. With a growing shift to web based media, these new media brand advertising opportunities should not be ignored.