In our days of mass consumption of goods, numerous small and large markets, all kinds of manufacturers, brand names, every now and then flashing before our eyes, striving to get into our field of vision from shop windows, posters, city lights, television screens, very It's easy to get lost in the basic categories of the modern consumer system. Indeed, many people believe that the concept of a brand and a trademark are one and the same. However, it is not. The concepts are really related, almost always accompanying each other.
You can even say that these two concepts are eternal and inseparable companions. To some extent this will be true. However, they still have some differences. They can be formulated as follows. A trademark is a legally certified right for the manufacturer of a product to manufacture. This is what sets it apart from other documented manufacturers, one might say. The brand exists mostly in our minds. This is a set of certain positive stereotypes about the product, diligentlycreated by marketers. Perhaps the first well-known trademark is the mark of an Egyptian craftsman who left his mark on the product. The trademark itself was also used in the Middle Ages, when craftsmen marked their goods in a special way.
As you can see, the practice of celebrating one's own works goes back centuries. After all, this is the official confirmation of property rights. But the concept of a brand, although it had its forerunners in the same Middle Ages, was fully born only in our age of global consumption. The desire to attract a buyer to their own counter and to beat cunning competitors has led to the creation of simply brilliant advertising campaigns in recent decades. So, sandwiches from the McDonald brothers, which are not attractive in their taste, became known to the whole world. And the name of the company Xerox has become a household name for all devices of this type. These are all examples of successful advertising.
And if the creation of a trademark consists in its registration, then the creation of a brand is a much longer and more complex project. The fate of the manufacturing company largely depends on it.
No wonder we live in a world of advertising! Chocolate manufacturers insist that their product is the sweetest, children's clothing brands insist that their fur coats are the warmest for babies. Everything is aimed at creating a positive image, which objectively overshadows quality in a consumer society. Hence the mark-ups for brand popularity, becausebuyers perceive it as an integral part of the product.
Interestingly, a trademark is not always a match to the brand name. Legally, it can exist under a completely different name than millions know it. Moreover, ostentatious brand wars, allegedly competing with each other, in practice sometimes turn out to be a clever PR move to promote both firms. As happened to eternal competitors Pepsi and Coca-cola, owned by a single investor PepsiCo.
