What Is Branding?

Although a logo and a color scheme make up a brand, branding at its fundamental core is about positioning a product or service. Consider Rolex and Tudor. As you likely know, Rolex is an expensive watch known for its exclusivity and price tag. What you may not know is that another watch brand, Tudor, is designed, manufactured and sold by the same company that makes Rolex watches.

Tudor was launched in 1926 by Hans Wilsford as a “more affordable” watch. Rolex was positioned as the more prestigious watch, while Tudor was positioned as the affordable version of the more expensive brand.

Technically there is little difference between the two watches, with Tudor incorporating Rolex signature items into its watches like the “oyster” shell and the self-winding mechanism that Rolex is known for. The main difference is the price.

As can be observed by this example, branding is about positioning a product or service to a specific price point. One can position the same product as a luxurious version worth every penny and another as a more affordable option. Branding at its more fundamental is creating a visual identity for the product or service that encourages customers to consume it and investors to invest in it.

As can also be observed, quality is not always tied to the price point as Rolex and Tudor demonstrate. Thus, Cognent can offer you quality branding and technology that is generally more expensive.

Why Branding Is Important To Political Candidates

It is about controlling your brand. Your brand is you.

Don’t let the news media dictate how voters see you. The carefully crafted brand you have created for your campaign does nothing when a hurried reporter Googles a picture to use on their column for their upcoming story and picks one that isn’t flattering to you. Controlling your branding is making high-resolution headshots easily available to the news media to use in their stories about your campaign.

Some candidates believe that providing a picture of themselves to accompany a negative story about their campaign is wrong. What candidates that believe this forget is, that the story will run with, or without their cooperation. Letting a news outlet add an unflattering image of yourself only makes things worse.

Include easily accessible and downloadable headshots of yourself, as well as your logo for those who want to use it. The more consistent your branding is, the more voters remember you on Election Day - where it matters.

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