BRANDING: A BRIEF HISTORY
IN THE BEGINNING
The term branding comes from the Old Norse “Brandr” meaning to burn. Cattle, slaves, timber and crockery were branded with the mark/symbol of the owner using a hot iron rod. The concept of branding was essentially to show ownership and dates back to 2000 BC. The transition from “This belongs to me, so leave it” to “This was made by me, so buy it” only started to evolve in the 1800s.
1800s
The discovery of the new world saw the rise of Pitchmen - salesmen and hawkers - and perhaps the precursors to Mad Men advertisers of the 50s and 60s. Pitchmen favoured by the English Royal Family were granted patents to make and sell medicines to America.
Even in the early 1800s medicine was big business. With little regulation, there were also a lot of ridiculous claims concerning efficacy - one miracle potion pitched itself as a cure for exhaustion and headaches - the main ingredient was cocaine! Coca-cola is still sold today and has become a household name - although it no longer contains the main ingredient that inspired its name!
1890 - 1949
The end of the 19th Century saw massive expansion of railroads and the postal service. This allowed individuals to access products from outside of their normal reach for the first time in history. The invention of the mail order catalogue (also known as Wish Books) enabled people to shape their homes and living environment like never before - by the 1920s, especially in the west, society evolved from a culture of need to a culture of desire.
The manufacturing boom of the late 1940s saw many factories, originally set up to produce military equipment, used to make commercial products. With mass production now in place, brands could produce products for almost anyone, anywhere.
Soon there were multiple brands vying for customers’ attention. This led to the concept of the Unique Selling Point (USP) often embodied in a company slogan. Some USPs were outlandish and others conceptually amazing - ranging from Lucky Strike’s weight loss related - “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet” to IBM’s THINK campaign. IBM used this single word on most of its advertising material. It became so powerful that other companies also began to incorporate THINK into their communications - VW started THINKing small while Apple sought to THINK different.
1950s
Brands have always used characters to endorse their products, but by the 1950s they became more than decorative illustrations and started to represent the brand ethos, with their own back stories and mythologies.
Clarence Hailey Long was an ordinary cowboy who appeared in an article in Life Magazine. The chief of the Philip Morris Tobacco Company was having a hard time selling a certain brand of cigarettes to women. In a moment of clarity he pictured Clarence as the face of his brand and aimed them at men instead. The Malboro Man was born.
The success of the Marlboro Man was so great that Philip Morris saw the sales of their cigarettes increase by 300%. Young city workers, wishing to associate themselves with the ultimate alpha male, could do so by merely smoking the correct brand. Poor Clarence went from a shy cowboy to a world famous celebrity. Sadly he died of cancer but his memory lives on in the form of the most successful cigarette brand of all time.
1960s
Semiotics and word play start to become more important in branding and advertising and even in product names. Americans in the 1960s believed that the Danes produced the best dairy in the world. With this in mind two men created premium ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs. Both men were in fact Polish and lived in Brooklyn - the name is actually nonsensical, and not Danish at all!
Stories, and the perceptions that they create, are powerful tools - Levi’s Jeans aren’t made in Texas, they are made in China. Even the material used to make them comes from Asian countries. But when we think of Levi’s Jeans we think of America, the Wild West or rebellious American teens from the 1960s.
1970s
By the 1970s brands became more than just a product - they were idealistic status symbols, cultural icons and sometimes early adopters of burgeoning new cultural phenomenons.
Using youth culture to sell a product was a relatively new idea - but a powerful one. For Adidas the early days of hip-hop proved to be a fertile ground for their trainers and sportswear. By targeting major players and paying them to wear their gear, the company became one of the biggest selling sportswear brands of all time.
1980s To PRESENT
The recession of the early 80s, and the boom that followed, created an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust. Suddenly authority figures could not to be trusted and society started to question the truth, stories and language of their favourite brands. Family favourite McDonald’s was suddenly seen as unhealthy, damaging fast food restaurant. Eventually the harsh red and yellow graphics and plastic furniture were out and refined green tones and wooden furniture were in - McDonald’s was advertised as an occasional treat to be enjoyed as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Many other brands came under scrutiny, aided by the arrival of the internet - Nike’s sweat shop manufacturing practices were laid bare for all to see and Calvin Klein’s treatment of its models also hit the headlines. No brand was safe. This is a trend that continues to this day with young consumers demanding more of the brands that they buy - they want engagement, transparency and good practices.
Today attention spans are incredibly short. Consumers have become increasingly impatient - we live in the “everything now” era. Brands ultimately live and die by the will of the consumer. The internet is now accessible from almost everywhere - even the biggest advertising company in the world is also its number one search engine. A lot of 1990s anti-brands (Google, Ebay…) have tempered their branding to “fit in” and become part of the establishment.
What we need now is a revolution but for that we need a brand…
Article based on one written by Mustafa Kurtuldu from his Design Today Website. Used by kind permission.
Copyright © 2019 Mustafa Kurtuldu