Branding   Branding, a sub-component of the marketing process, is for all intensive purposes, a discipline of its own.  Developing a brand that will transcend time, changes in company leadership, mergers and acquisitions and economic turmoil is a difficult and rather complex problem.  Creating, growing and sustaining a brand image requires a tremendous amount of time, resources and capital.  The reason why is relatively simple, to create or strengthen customer loyalty.  When a customer goes somewhere else to buy a product or service, it is a lost opportunity for the incumbent company.  Too many of these lost opportunities can spell certain doom for a company.   A brand is much more than a logo and a color swatch.  A brand is the very essence and personality of your company.  A brand is an ambassador for your company that is designed to convey a specific, pre-determined message to a specific group of people.  This message may denote performance, quality, an expertise, safety, service or other.  As an example, in the automobile industry, safety is often equated to Volvo and quality is equated to Mercedes.  In the home entertainment industry, Sony is considered to be a performance brand while Audiovox is considered to be a value brand.  Would you buy a computer without “Intel Inside” or would you look at purchasing audio equipment without Dolby NR?  Why do we care?  Companies care because they can charge more money if their brand is highly-valued.  And, customers generally want the best they can buy for their money.  Second, your brand is always “on.”  When the doors are closed and it is the middle of night, your brand continues to speak for your company.  Whether good or bad, a brand is 24/7 advertisement that you want to make sure is delivery the right messages about your company.   Brands often are placed on the scale of perception versus reality.  Simply said, branding has more to do with a customer’s perception than anything else.  While realty has its place, in a consumer-driven market people rarely buy based on rational logic, but rather on intuition and coolness factor.    Our experience is in developing specific strategies and methodologies for the creation of a strong and lasting brand image through the use of multiple communications disciplines.