A branding agency is a firm that specializes in creating and launching

brands A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

and rebranding. The role of a branding agency is to create, plan, measure, and manage branding strategies for clients, including support in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

and other forms of

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. Branding is the process of developing a company's brand, including name, identity system,

brand architecture In the field of brand management, brand architecture is the structure of brands within an organizational entity. It is the way brands within a company's portfolio are related to, and differentiated from, one another. According to J.-N. Kapferer, ...

, and messaging platform. These aspects will lead to the development of a "brand message", applied to marketing campaigns. A brand represents a promise to the customer, reflecting the expectations they can have from the products and services offered, as well as the offering difference amongst the competitors. A branding agency allows organizations to gain a competitive advantage, to define a coherent brand communication strategy, and to reach the target market and expand it.

Branding agencies vs advertising agencies

Although branding agencies and

advertising agencies An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

overlap in some aspects, they have different scopes and focus. Celebrity endorsement benefits both branding and advertising agencies, promoting them on social media, such as

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. 'Firms invest significant monies in juxtaposing brands and organizations with endorser qualities such as attractiveness, likeability, and trustworthiness. They trust that these qualities operate in a transferable way, and, will generate desirable campaign outcomes' (Journal of marketing management, volume 15 1999). Examples of celebrities that act as ambassadors for obtaining " likes" for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

and L'Oreal are

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

and

Cheryl Cole Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, she rose to fame in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's '' Popstars: ...

Leading brands and the role of branding agencies

The evolving economy with increasingly competitive markets is creating a greater stress on developing brands that aim at being widely recognized by the public.

Leading brands: Coca-Cola

is globally considered as one of the most successful and recognized brand. A survey conducted by Interbrand, an American branding consultancy, found that Coca-Cola's

brand equity Brand equity, in marketing, is the worth of a brand in and of itself – i.e., the social value of a well-known brand name. The owner of a well-known brand name can generate more revenue simply from brand recognition, as consumers perceive the prod ...

was valued at $63.5 billion, representing just under half of the company's true market value. An executive at Coca-Cola stated, "If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-Cola, the company would go out of business." Coca-Cola has collaborated with a number of branding agencies over the years. Most recently, in the light of a new global campaign, Coca-Cola has partnered with ten agencies (including WPP,

Wieden+Kennedy Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it is one of the l ...

and

McCann McCann may refer to: * McCann (surname) * McCann (company), advertising agency * McCann Worldgroup, network of marketing and advertising agencies * Marist College athletic facilities ** McCann Arena ** James J. McCann Baseball Field * McCann Rescu ...

) with the aim, as a Coca-Cola spokesperson stated, "of uncovering the best ideas and marrying those to executional excellence". The spokesperson added, "this approach allows us to harness thinking from some of the best agency minds in the industry and see the great work that comes from collaborating". The statement acknowledges the collaborative and creative process involved in brand management, which is generally an integral concept involved in branding. Even the most successful brands will seek branding support. This will often be more focused on specific areas, and in particular those related to reaching, attracting and retaining the target market.

Changing trends: Apple

Despite having headed Interbrand's list of the 100 most valuable brands for 13 consecutive years, Coca-Cola has now been replaced by

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, whose surge to the top highlights the dominance of technology today. Three of the top five most valuable brands are technology companies. This data stresses another key element that must be addressed by branding agencies: the value of innovation and the need to exploit trends. The rise of the technology domain has resulted in the emergence of new channels, such as

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. This change in trends results in new approaches to branding. Agencies must be naturally innovative and flexible in order to survive a fast-paced environment. With branding becoming an increasingly vital element to a firm's success, many organizations believe it is in their best interest to seek external support.

Interbrand's Ranking of the 5 Most Valuable Brands (2015)

References

{{Reflist Branding organizations