Yes, it has happened to all of us, at some point in our lives we have wondered what the real differences between branding and corporate identity are. There are many definitions but at Midnight Creative we really want to clarify this issue.
WHAT IS BRANDING?
Branding is everything that is behind your brand, you can have a very cool logo but what do people think of you? what sensations does your brand transmit? Branding (through emotions, feelings and instincts) creates links with your audience. Therefore, the branding campaign or strategy is a method that helps to define the “personality” of your brand.
Are you elegant? Then your branding will be as if your brand were a polite man in a tuxedo and hat at a dinner in a fancy restaurant. Are you young? Then your branding will be like a teenage gamer 100% connected to social media and consuming Tik Tok and Instagram Reels.
WHAT IS CORPORATE IDENTITY?
Corporate identity is what supports branding. It is all the audiovisual and graphic elements which identify you as a brand. The logo, typography, colours, uniforms and advertising are elements of corporate identity.
SO BRANDING IS NOT THE LOGO?
Not at all, branding is the essence that permeates your logo and not the other way around. Would the Coca-Cola logo mean the same to you if they changed their sector to oral hygiene? I don’t think so, you would see it as incongruous. That’s exactly what happens.
When you see a bottle with a red bottle cap, do you think of Pepsi? Me neither. That’s where branding supports corporate identity.
WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT?
Both branding and corporate identity are equally important and do not exist without each other. Well, there could be a corporate identity without branding, like your local firewood company, but, inevitably, even your local firewood company is going to receive a sensory association, see the cozy warmth of a fireplace or the cold of winter.
What is clear is that both concepts go in order: first the corporate identity and then the branding. You can’t start creating a brand if you don’t have a graphic identity that identifies that brand.
