The defining and distinctive qualities of a company or product (eg: reliable, safe, friendly). Attributes are the building blocks of a positioning and the basis for audience specific messages.

An organizing system or methodology that a company uses to brand and provide descriptive terms for itself, its business units, its products and its services.
 

A senior level company manager who is responsible for leading and managing the development of a brand.

The collective encounters one has with a brand, encompassing everything from seeing an ad and hearing someone talk about the product to walking into a store or going to a website.

An integrated system of a proprietary name and graphics, and sometimes verbal and aural components, that distinguishes a company, product or service from others within a category.

The coordination and alignment of brand elements across all product or service lines and across different markets.

The analytical process a company initiates to determine how it should situate its brand for optimal profit potential. Factors to consider are the brand’s image, competencies, industry, customers and competitors.

An unwritten pledge or assurance of some measure of performance that a customer attaches to a brand.

Analysis of a brand’s industry, trends, regulations and competitors; options and recommendations for the brand based on these analyses; and a defined action plan. Brand strategy reflects a company’s mission, business strategy, values and culture, and successfully translates these into a meaningful, lasting customer experience.

A generic, common, or commodity product or service that has been given characteristics and components that meaningfully differentiate it from others in its category, thus making the product or service proprietary or unique.

Printed or electronic principles and practices that have been developed to guide company managers in the development and management of brands.
 

A comprehensive survey of the various communications a company uses to tell its audiences about itself and its products and services. The survey uncovers strengths and weaknesses about a company and ascertains how a company talks about itself and what it talks about.

An integrated system of proprietary graphics (names, logotypes, wordmarks, symbols, colors, secondary graphic elements), verbal messages and sometimes aural components designed to represent a company and distinguish it within its industry.
 

The combined total of all impressions, experiences or impressions a person has with a product, service or company. Corporate image can often be measured through qualitative and quantitative consumer research undertaken to help reshape a corporate, product or service identity.

The stylized version of a company’s name using typography. "Logo” is a common term for a company’s identifying name or mark.
 

A company’s system and practices for naming its business units, products and services and the relationship and connections they must have to each other. Typically, a nomenclature system would include the holding company, operating companies, subsidiaries and divisions, business units and all the products and services of these entities and the relationships among them.

An analytical tool used to demonstrate graphically where a brand’s current perception is and where it needs to move to achieve its desired perception. A client’s brand and competitive brands are graphed on an XY axis with different attributes at each axis.

A simple, concise written statement of the concept and parameters behind a brand, meant to convey a brand’s offering relative to competitors.

The permanent position and relationship among a logotype with a symbol where applicable, and with a tagline where applicable.

The written or aural characteristics a communications piece must have to effectively reflect a brand’s personality.

A delineation of the various benefits (functional, emotional, self-expressive) a brand communicates to develop a strong customer relationship. 

The use of symbolic images to characterize one or more of a brand’s attributes. 

A hybrid cross between a logotype and a symbol: a logotype with a graphic element interwoven within it.