✍️ Negar Valipour, Branding Consultant in the Fashion and Fashion Industry

Imagine an ordinary day.

You wake up in the morning, pick up your phone, and before you have even gotten out of bed, you have already encountered several brand names and trademarks. You go to the kitchen; tea, coffee, bread, cheese, a dish sitting on the table…. Each has a name, symbol, packaging, or characteristic that distinguishes it from the others.

You get dressed, leave the house, and step onto the street. Signs, stores, cars, and even the applications you open on your phone once again expose you to different brand names and trademarks.

But there is an interesting question:

How many of these brands do we actually remember?

Every day, we are exposed to a large number of messages, names, images, and brand symbols, but not all of these encounters turn into genuine awareness or sustained attention. Being seen does not necessarily mean being recognized; just as recognizing a name does not necessarily mean preferring it.

So perhaps, to understand what a brand is, we should ask another question: “What makes one name remain in our minds among dozens of other names?”

Where Did the Brand Come From?

Today, when we hear the word “brand,” we usually think of a logo, corporate colors, packaging, advertising, or a trade name. But the history of the word goes back much further than the modern world of marketing.

The English word “brand” comes from ancient Germanic and Old English words associated with concepts such as fire, flame, and burning. Later, “brand” came to refer to a mark made with a hot iron on something;

a mark that could be used to identify its owner or maker. Over time, its meaning expanded and came closer to the idea of a sign that distinguishes one product from another.

Here lies a simple but important idea: differentiation.

But the history of differentiation is much older than the modern commercial use of the word “brand.” Human beings have used marks for thousands of years to establish ownership, origin, authenticity, or the identity of objects. Seals and sealing systems in ancient civilizations were not merely decorative tools; they also played roles in ownership, authenticity control, and the identification of goods. Historical research into the origins of branding suggests that some of these marking practices contributed to the gradual development of the modern concept of a brand.

Of course, we should not regard these ancient marks as exactly equivalent to the modern brand. The modern brand is the product of a more complex historical, economic, and social period.

But there is a common thread between them: the human need for identification and differentiation.

As markets grew and the number of producers increased, the issue became more complicated. In a market with only one producer, differentiation may not be particularly difficult. But when dozens, hundreds, or thousands of producers manufacture similar products, having a name or symbol alone is no longer enough.

Two products may not differ significantly in terms of performance, yet consumers may be more familiar with one, trust another more, or perceive one as being of higher quality.

This is where the brand evolves from being a sign of identification into something more.

The question is no longer simply: “Who does this product belong to?”

The more important question is: “What does this name mean to me?”

And it is precisely at this point that the brand moves beyond the product and enters the consumer’s mind.

David Aaker, one of the influential theorists in the field of branding, systematically explained the concept of Brand Equity.

From Aaker’s perspective, brand equity is a set of assets and liabilities associated with a brand’s name and symbol that can increase or decrease the value created by a product or service for the customer or the company. He explains these assets in five main categories: brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand associations, and other proprietary assets such as trademarks and channel relationships.

From this perspective, brand value no longer exists solely in the product itself. Part of that value lies in what customers know, remember, and feel about the product.

Therefore, the question is no longer simply: “Have people seen my name?”

We must also ask: Do they recognize me? What comes to mind when they hear my name? What level of quality do they associate with me? What experience have they had with me? And if they need a product or service in this category again, are they likely to include me among their options?

This shift in the question represents a major change.

Because we are no longer talking about what the brand shows; we are talking about what the brand has created in the audience’s mind.

How Is a Brand Formed in the Mind?

This is where the theory of Kevin Lane Keller, another major figure in brand studies, becomes important.

Keller examines Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) from the perspective of consumer response. In his model, brand knowledge in the consumer’s mind consists of two main components:

Brand Awareness and Brand Image, with brand image being formed from a set of associations connected to the brand.

Put more simply, a trade name becomes something more than just a name when it has created a network of associations in our minds. When we hear a brand name, quality, price, a previous experience, a person, a lifestyle, a memory, or even a particular emotion may be activated in our minds.

In reality, a brand is not merely something we see; it is also partly what we remember and associate with it.

And this is the point at which a simple name can become a brand.

Why Should They Choose Me?

Now we can return to the opening question. In a market filled with similar names, products, and messages, why should we choose one brand among dozens of options?

The answer can no longer be reduced simply to a logo, packaging, or even the technical quality of the product. A brand must occupy a position in our minds; it must be recognized, have meaning, and create a set of relevant and meaningful associations. Within Keller’s framework, strong, favorable, and unique associations in consumer memory are important factors in the formation of brand equity.

Therefore, two products may be very similar technically, yet they may not have the same value in the customer’s mind. One is merely a product, while the other carries with it a familiar name, an experience, an expectation, and a collection of meanings.

Perhaps the historical journey of the brand began with marks once used to identify ownership or the origin of goods and assets. But the modern brand is no longer merely a mark placed on a product. Today, the most visible sign of a brand may appear on packaging, a signboard, or clothing; but its real value depends to a great extent on something that has taken shape in the human mind. Therefore, to understand a brand, we must move beyond its appearance and enter the place where a brand name acquires its real meaning: the human mind.

Because ultimately, a brand is not merely what a company says about itself.

A brand is what remains in our minds from the sum of our encounters with it…