Blue Vine Design

Review: What is a Brand?

What is a ‘brand'?

As consumers all of us are familiar with brands, be they product brands like Coca-Cola or service brands like Virgin Atlantic. In effect, names that we know and trust. So, perhaps it's not surprising to learn that the word brand is derived from the Old Norse "brandr", meaning to burn, in reference to the practice of producers burning their mark or name onto their products or livestock.

But from this early incarnation, branding has moved far beyond the visual identity - name, term, logo, design or colours - associated with a product or service.

Re-branded: Cannes Festival

The annual Cannes International Advertising Festival has re-branded itself to incorporate more elements of creative communication. From next year on, it will be known as the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.

Next year will also see the introduction of 13 new categories covering film, press, outdoor, cyber, media, direct, radio, promo & activation, design, PR, film craft and creative as the festival attempts to embrace communication and creativity in the broadest sense.

Re-branded: Hawaiian Telcom

Hawaiian Telcom has rebranded itself a week after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It unveiled its new look to its employees Wednesday and released it to the public on Thursday.

The rebrand, which was in the planning stages for about a year, includes new colors for its logo and advertising, a tribal tattoo design by Big Island artist Che Pilago, and a motto of being “Always On.”

Re-branded: Sumter

Patriotism is a feeling that permeates any given city across America, especially one that is home to a military base. But only in rare cases will you find a community that shows unbridled admiration toward nearly every facet of its history and people that deems it worthy of being called uncommonly patriotic.

That's a feeling city officials are trying to promote through the city's new slogan - "Uncommon Patriotism" - which along with a new logo is being unveiled to the public today exclusively through The Item.

Re-branded: Jammie Dodgers

Harrogate agency Robot-food has redesigned Jammie Dodgers' branding and packaging, and won an industry award and some Take That Tickets for their work.

Burton's Foods briefed the agency to handle a "full rebrand" of Jammie Dodgers after working with it on a new snack bar product in July.