Brand Ascension Group

BRAND GLOSSARY
(Glossaryof key Branding Terms through perspectives of The Brand Ascension Group)

‘Authentic’ Brand:	A brand that is ‘true’ to what it stands for—as demonstrated through every employee’s thoughts, actions and interactions with one another and customers, and which has achieved a strong emotional bond and level of trust both internally (with employees) and externally (customers, vendors, partners and communities).
Brand Advantage:	The result of ensuring a favorable position in the market by continually differentiating the brand behaviorally, enhancing the brand experience, innovating and evolving the brand.
Brand Blueprint:	The formalization and documentation of the Brand DNA (Dimensional Nucleic Assets®); the fundamental essence and the promise the organization commits to deliver at every internal and external touch point.
Brand-centric:	Organizations where employees are inspired, motivated and passionate about and protect the integrity of the brand as demonstrated in their consistent behaviors, actions and interactions both internally and externally.
Brand Conscious-centric:	Organizations where employees consistently live and embody the brand through every thought, action and interaction—at every moment of every internal and external touch point.
Brand Culture:	A unique system of shared beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors that people cultivate and emulate through learning and experience with the brand. Brand culture comes alive both internally with employees and externally with customers (e.g., The Harley Owners Group®—a membership organization of one million people around the world united by a common passion: making the Harley Davidson® dream a way of life. (www.HarleyDavidson.com)
Brand Diagnostic:	A baseline assessment through employee and customer surveys, focus groups, etc. that captures how a brand is currently perceived both internally and externally relative to its Brand DNA—its distinctive attributes.
Brand DNA:	a brand’s Dimensional Nucleic Assets®. The brand blueprint for success consisting of the most distinguishing brand attributes: VALUES, STYLE, DIFFERENTIATORS and STANDARDS, BRAND PLATFORM and BRAND PROMISE upon which to create competitive advantage and build an authentic brand.
Brand Engagement:	How an organization “embeds the brand in contexts that generate strong emotional responses (of a Brand Experience) that resonates in terms of an individual’s personal needs and values.”—expAgency (www.expagency.biz)
Brand Experience:	The feeling or sensation (positive or negative) a person has as result of personal contact with the brand, its products and services, and employees. Positive brand “experiences are events that engage individuals in an inherently personal way… They actually occur on an emotional, physical, intellectual or even spiritual level.”—taken from The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage by Joseph Pine II and James Gilmore, 1999. “A Brand is a living entity—and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.”—Michael Eisner.
Brand Management:	A proactive process that organizations take to continuously measure, monitor and adapt behaviors and business practices to safeguard the integrity and evolution of their brand and ensure continued brand advantage.
Brand People-centric:	Organizations who are fanatical in showing exceptional treatment and valuing their employees and customers at all times.
Brand Perception:	The sum of all impressions that consumers have for a brand based on their emotion and defined by their experience (as taken in through all the senses—sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and intuition) with the brand, its products and services, and employees.
Brand Platform/Mantra:	The fundamental essence, nature or quality of a brand. The Brand Platform is like a ‘MANTRA’ and is derived from the most distinctive attributes of the Brand DNA – usually two to three highly descriptive words. It is the platform for emulating the brand’s unique “way of being”.
Brand Promise:	A declaration and commitment that articulates a brand’s value proposition and exemplifies the behavioral experience the organization commits to deliver in every interaction, business decision, and customer touch point; it engages everyone both internally and externally and sets the rules for doing business.
Brand Presence™:	The extent to which an organization and its employees understand the essence of what the brand stands for through “thinking and acting with full awareness” to elevate the brand in minds of its market.
Brand Strategy:	The ‘branding fuel’ and ‘roadmap’ of highly targeted actions that results in consistent and distinctive ‘on-brand’ experiences. It reaffirms the brand at every touch point, allowing the ability to adapt to changing market conditions through the alignment of strategy, leadership, culture, business processes and metrics.
Branding:	The process of creating and living a brand’s message. The process starts at the internal level with a clear understanding of what the brand stands for – its unique Brand DNA – company values and behaviors, the culture created that represents those values, customer relationship practices, the sensory experiences created and delivered through consistent systems and processes
Brand Value/Equity:	The valuation of the brand that includes a range of assets both tangible (bricks & mortar, financial performance, quality of products and services) and intangible such as customer perceptions, customer lists and intellectual capital – such as patents, technology, people, concepts, knowledge and processes. A study conducted by Interbrand and JP Morgan concluded that on average the intangibles of a brand account for more than one-third of shareholder value. Brands are important assets requiring proactive and consistent management, investment and measurement.
Brand Vocabulary:	Organizations use specific vocabulary as expressive means of communication that people can share with a common comprehension. Brand vocabulary is a distinctive and meaningful way to reflect the unique and distinctive attributes of a brand both internally (with employees) and externally (with customers).
Byline:	A descriptive phrase accompanying a brand’s name that communicates the business or industry the brand is in.
Marketing:	The process of communicating and disseminating a brand’s message. it is a key part of the external brand experience through the creative vehicles used to market the business such as advertising and promotional campaigns, signage, PR activities, web site, trade shows, etc.
On-brand:	An organization that has aligned its leadership, culture, business processes and metrics to consistently deliver experiences that are highly brand-relevant to it Brand DNA
Tagline:	A descriptive phrase accompanying a brand’s name that describes the W.I.I.F.M. (What’s in it for me?) to those the brand wants to attract both internally and externally.
The Brand DNA JourneySM:	A proprietary, step-by-step conscious, deliberate and strategic process consisting of four critical phases: DEFINE, ASSESS, BUILD and EVOLVE that ensures the elevation and sustainability of a brand over time.