Alice

The instantaneous reaction to the word ‘brand’ cultures up a logo, a symbol which is recognisable for that company. It is an image or shape that becomes memorable (as long as there is sufficient awareness) and resonates with its customer base to stimulate recognition and acts as its identification.

But logos aren’t always symbols, quite a lot are comprised of words, usually the name of the company. This collection of letters, combined with the font and colour used, become the symbolic recognition point, and in some cases the font and colour themselves are protected, as for the BBC and Oxfam respectively.

And then there is the absence of a logo, when the verbal rendition of the name is relied upon to conjure up recognition of the brand. Remember a brand is also a promise of excellent customer service and quality of product, so the mere mention of a brand’s name should result in immediate expectation from that particular target market. To go a step further, blind people can’t recognise symbols, so they have to rely on reputation and referrals to make their decisions.

Another example of brands without logos could be celebrities. They depend on their appearance and performance to command appropriate recognition, so supposedly their faces or whatever they do becomes their brand. In this case it is their relationship with their customers that needs to be cultivated in order to perpetuate their brand.

And finally search engines don’t depend on logos to promote and elevate a company’s brand, as spiders cannot read images. They rely solely on carefully optimised words within whatever digital medium the business uses to bring themselves to their customers’ attention.