We have always been surrounded by marketing and logos. Big brands and advertisements are familiar grounds for all of us, but it is changing. In the past it was rare to see a logo on a shirt or piece of clothing. most branding was kept to the storefront, the business card, and the letterhead. Only in the past 20 years have we begun seeing branding promoted so heavily by the customer. Today logos adorn clothing and cars, stickers and sporting events. Are corporations the ones bringing it to us, or have we been the ones in the drivers seat, propelling this movement forward? Companies no longer need to just appeal to their user, they need to build a culture, and as much as we might think we hate this inundation of corporate identity, we actually love it! Otherwise it wouldn’t exist.

My favorite example of capitalizing big on this idea is Red Bull Energy Drinks. Red Bull was a great idea, and the creator of the energy drink craze. But how did they go about getting into the market? For one thing, they didn’t buy a bunch of airtime on a radio station, or list in a magazine. The creators of Red Bull understood the power of culture, the stickiness of loyalty and belonging. They knew that if they could build a culture that the rising generation could identify with, they would have a loyal customer base. And loyal they have been. The energy drink industry has exploded, with dozens of other competitors to run with the bulls. Soon, drinks from these other brands offered flavor varieties, and larger cans, bright flashy branding and creative pop-tops. But still Red Bull flies off the shelves as the best selling energy drink in America.

Branding is no longer just about repetitious exposure. But the right exposure generating the right response. Red Bull drinkers continue to pick the blue and silver cans because they want to feel part of the culture Red Bull has created. It’s probably rare to see Red Bull as one of many other sponsors at a sporting event, and that’s because they don’t sponsor events, they create their own. Bringing in the biggest names of a particular sport or activity, Red Bull hosts their very own events making them the primary and pretty much only sponsor. In some cases they have not only started their own event, but invented their own sport, drawing the attention of millions. Red bull has come to represent much more than a refreshing energy beverage, they are now an elite group of people bringing entertainment to the world, and supporting an almost fanciful lifestyle enjoyed by but a few, and observed by many.

When a person is confronted with making a selection of which of the many energy drink to go with, more powerful to resist than taste, value, drinkability, and energy content, is culture! You might not be the one jumping from a plane, or skimming across the water on a kite board. You may not be drifting around a corner at 90MPH in a F1 race car, or darting around air pylons in a dynamic race pane, but when you have that can with the distinct Red Bull logo in your hand, when you drink the same thing as your heros and icons, when you wear the logo on your hat or t-shirt, you have joined their ranks, you have become part of the team. You might be a bench warming nobody, but hey, thats good enough to pick Red Bull over any other brand.

This idea of culture is huge! Anymore, if a person doesn’t believe in your product enough to want to help you promote it, they won’t believe in it enough to even buy it.  We feel a personal connection and representation of who we are with the products we buy. For brand loyalty to be displayed by the consumer, a company must display a ten fold measure of that loyalty back, combined with trust, consistency, and innovative progression forward. The stakes are high, but when done right, a company can expect exponential growth and market share due to their growing corporate culture. Does every company need to put on their own events and invent new sports to build a culture? Of course not, but the principle of building something consumers not only need but can join you in believing in, is what will climb any venture to the top!

Branding…..One hundred years ago that word would have only lead people to think about how one farmer can tell his cattle from another.

Today is no different! When a certain company or group decide on a name and logo, the iron is readied and the permenant impression is made. Sifting through the millions of trademarks and logos we all encounter, we can instantly recognize one company over another, more than that, we can recognize the character and personality of that group. Colors, font choices, and the arrangement of simple shapes and lines tell an immediate story about what or who it represents.

The effective design and use of brand identity is paramount to any company gaining recognition, and maintaining the reputation they need.

If corporate branding wasn’t cool enough. The rebranding of an already successful well known entity can be very interesting to see. The success of which can be seen immediately, later down the road, or never.

Comedy Central has released their new logo this year, and this is what people are saying about it:

“serious and boring”; “simple AND boring”; “BORING, LAME, UNINTEREST­ING”; “It’s worse than awful: it’s boring”; “Boring!”; “boringly corporate”

What did the designers have to say about it?:

“One of the things we looked at constantly as we were developing the brand redesign is that it needed to become a next-generation brand package,”

“In the old world you could do a logo mark that was dominant for print. You don’t want that anymore. The way a brand moves in a digital space — where everything moves — is as relevant to your experience as a static logo.”

The copyright is the ultimate emblem of the corporate world. Here, Comedy Central is literally turning it on its head. The joke is subtle but clever. You don’t need comic sans and a brick backdrop at the Ha Ha Club to say “funny.” The new logo brands Comedy Central as funny — and subtly suggests that they’ve got a lock on laughs.Brands are becoming more about how they behave than how they look static. I think this redesign hit the “bulls-eye”. Talk about design with a function; the right branding can be your greatest salesperson, and you don’t even have to pay out it’s commissions.