Brand Glossary

ARCHETYPE

A standardized model of a personality or behavior, often used in marketing, storytelling, psychology and philosophy.

AUDIENCE

The group of people for which a product, service, message or experience is intended.

AUTHENTICITY

The quality of being genuine; also considered a powerful brand attribute that establishes trust and relatability for audiences.

BRAND

The collective perceptions and cultural, experiential and creative manifestation of a product, service, organization and/or company.

BRAND ATTRIBUTE

A distinctive feature of a product, service or company brand.

BRAND AWARENESS

How well a product, service or company is recognized by its audience.

BRAND CHAMPION

Anyone who evangelizes or protects a brand; a brand steward.

BRAND EXPERIENCE

All the interactions people have with a product, service or organization.

BRANDING

Any effort or program designed to increase value and help audiences affiliate with an organization or product by building a differentiated brand.

BRAND PERSONA

The character of a brand as defined in human characteristics or personality traits.

COMMUNITY

A group of people with common interests or a shared culture.

CORE BRAND TEAM

A group of people in an organization that help co-create its brand and serve as brand ambassadors.

FEATURE

Any element of a product, service or experience designed to deliver a benefit.

IDENTITY

The visible elements of a company that distinguish it in the market.

MARKETING

The process of developing, promoting, selling and distributing a product or service.

MEANING

The reason a brand exists beyond making money.

REACH

The number of people exposed to brand messaging and engagement.

TOUCHPOINT

Any place where people encounter a brand, including marketing, packaging, advertising, websites, social media, events, environments, and customer support.

UX

User experience, or the look, feel and usability of a product, service, website or other digital platform.

VOICE

A brand’s unique personality expressed consistently in oral and written form.

BASECAMP

Online project management tool to manage projects and collaborate with clients.

CO-CREATION

The collaborative development of a product, service, experience, process, business model, strategy, message, visual identity or other outcome.

COLLABORATION

The process by which people of different disciplines work together to create something they could not create individually; the practice of co-creation.

DIFFERENTIATION

Establishing an ownable market position with a unique purpose, quality or offering.

KAMP  WORKSHOP

An intensive ideation meeting with the organization’s Core Brand Team that is facilitated by strategists to understand business goals, explore audiences, identify value, discuss aspirations, and uncover opportunities.

EXERCISES

The process by which an organization’s stakeholders submit independent feedback about how they perceive and experience a brand and its future state.

IDEATION

Generating new perspectives and ideas through collaborative intuition, market awareness and audience insight.

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

The process of achieving unified adoption from internal audiences (i.e., staff team, board members, and volunteer leaders) and building awareness and spurring activation from external audiences (i.e., customers, members, partners, and affiliates.)

ITERATIVE

The repetitive process by which brand solutions are explored, created, and refined.

KAMP

The unique and immersive process that involves an organization in brand building and results in the development of a comprehensive brand system in a concentrated timeframe.

RAPID PROTOTYPING

A collaborative process of producing quick rounds of concepts to reach a successful future state of a product, service, strategy or experience.

REVISIONS

The process by which a Core Brand Team provides strategic feedback on messaging and identity concepts to influence refinements that result in final brand solutions.

TYPEFORM

Online tool to share surveys and collect responses from audiences of any size.

BENEFIT

A perceived or actual advantage derived from a product, service or feature.

BRAND AMBASSADOR

Anyone who promotes a brand through interactions with customers, prospects, partners or the media.

BRAND ASSET

A key operational, marketing and/or communication tool that brings a brand to life in the market.

BRAND EQUITY

The accumulated value of a company’s brand assets, both financially and strategically; the overall strength of a brand.

BRAND LOYALTY

The preference for a brand compared over competing brands; sometimes measured in repeat purchases.

BRAND STRATEGY

A plan for the systematic development of a brand in alignment with culture and business objectives.

CORE VALUES

An enduring set of principles that defines the ethics of a company.

CULTURE

The way a brand’s internal community “lives” to its values and purpose.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY

A model or story of how a customer might experience a product, service, or organization over time and across multiple touchpoints.

INFLECTION POINTS

Points in a brand’s life cycle at which it becomes necessary to evolve in order to remain relevant.

INTERNAL BRANDING

The process of empowering internal teams with brand knowledge and know-how by providing tools, trainings, and task forces; also known as cultivation.

STAKEHOLDER

Any person with a vested interest in a company or brand, including shareholders, employees, partners, suppliers, customers and community members.

THOUGHT LEADER

A person or organization whose ideas exert an influence over others, especially through publishing or public appearances.

TRADEMARK

A legally recognized name and symbol or other visual expression that indicates a specific business entity.

BRAND ALIGNMENT

The practice of linking other entities, customers, partners and experiences to a business, institution and/or organization.

BRAND ARCHITECTURE

A framework defining the relationship between a company and its products and services.

BRAND ECOSYSTEM

The network of people, places and things that contribute to building a recognizable brand in the market.

BRAND FAMILY

An inclusive representation of a parent brand and all of its related sub-brands and co-brands.

BRAND FLUIDITY

A brand that grows, adapts and sustains itself by virtue of a healthy brand ecosystem.

CO-BRAND

Two or more separately owned brands linked for mutual benefit.

SUB-BRAND

A secondary brand that leverages the associations of a master brand.

BRAND STORY

A coherent set of messages that articulate the brand in the form of a narrative.

CORE BRAND MESSAGING FRAMEWORK

A hierarchy and system of foundational messages communicating the key value propositions of a brand.

MANTRA

The internal drumbeat of a brand that communicates what the organization stands for.

MESSAGE

A piece of communication with a single purpose.

MESSAGING STRATEGY

The road map of how, when and where an organization positions itself in written and oral form to have impact and influence.

NARRATIVES

Story form content that infuses and adapts the Position, Purpose, and Promise statements, speaking directly to specific audiences.

NORTH STAR

An aspirational (and sometimes audacious) goal that an organization continually strives to achieve.

POSITION

A reflection of who you are. The process of differentiating a product, service or company in a customer’s mind to establish a competitive advantage.

PROMISE

A reflection of why you matter. In branding, a stated or implied pledge that creates customer expectations and employee responsibilities.

PURPOSE

A reflection of what you do. The reason a company exists beyond making a profit; a key component of a core ideology.

TAGLINE

A short and simple statement that extracts the essence of an organization’s mission.

TOP-LINE MARKETING MESSAGES

External facing messages that use concise storytelling to communicate a position, define a solution, and call audiences to action.

BRAND IDENTITY

The outward expression of a brand, including its brandmark, trademark, name, communications and visual appearance.

BRANDMARK

The visual symbol of a brand, usually based on a differentiated market position; a trademark; known as a logo.

COLOR PALETTE

A unique color combination that expresses the personality of the brand.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Various creative disciplines for developing the built environment, including architecture, urban planning, interior design and wayfinding.

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

The discipline of creating unique experiences that are authentic and memorable to the target audience.

ICONOGRAPHY

A visual language used to represent features, functionality, or content. Icons are simple visual elements that are recognized and understood immediately.

LOCKUP

The fixed relationship of the logo which consists of the company name, symbol/mark, and tagline.

TYPOGRAPHY

The art of using typefaces to communicate messages, stories or ideas in print or on screen.

USER INTERFACE DESIGN (UI)

User interface (UI) design is the process of creating the visual interfaces a user interacts with on a websites, software, or digital application.

WEB DESIGN

The creative discipline of developing and improving the customer experience online when interacting with a business, organization, institution, product or unique offering.

WORDMARK

The brand name as represented by a distinctive typeface or lettering style.

MESSAGING GUIDES

A guide that presents each message included in the core brand messaging framework and explains what they are intended to achieve and how they are used in application.

BRAND STANDARDS GUIDE

A master reference guide that describes the graphic standards for a brand, including use of the trademark, typography, photography and colors.

FRAMEWORK

A reference tool that showcases insights and findings, presents strategic recommendations, and maps out implementation tactics.

SLIDE DECK

A series of slides (typically PPT or PDF format) designed to communicate an idea, promote a brand’s benefits, products, services or partnership opportunities.

CONTENT OUTLINE

Building upon the sitemap, a content outline details out all of the different content types and functionality on each individual page/section within a site.

CONVERSION

An action taken by a target audience on the web to become a customer or complete a desired action such as viewing a landing page, submitting a form, completing a purchase, or signing up for an E-newsletter.

ENGAGEMENT

In marketing, any action by a user that creates or deepens a customer relationship, such as clicking, bookmarking, liking, sharing, subscribing or buying.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Information architecture (IA) is the organizing, structuring, and labeling content in an effective and sustainable way to create an intuitive experience to navigate digital content.

LANDING PAGE

A specific webpage created that you want a user to land on and take a specific action through its design.  

SEM

Search Engine Marketing. The practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through paid search results. Often referred to as Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) (e.g. Google Advertisements placed across the web for your company’s services or products).

SEO

Search Engine Optimization. The practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results (e.g. ranking higher on Google search engine).

SMM

Social Media Marketing. The practice of increasing awareness and promotion of products and services through social media platforms.

USER EXPERIENCE

User experience design is the process of creating intuitive, honest, and memorable experiences that encompasses all aspects of an end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

USER INTERFACE

User Interface is the visual interface a user interacts with in a digital application.

WIREFRAME

Developed in the early design phase of a website. Focused on the structural level and used to outline the general placement of content, key features, functions and navigation items.

BRAND AUDIT

An analysis of a brand’s strengths and weaknesses across all of its touchpoints based on a standard set of criteria.

TOUCHSTONE

A survey of internal and external opinions about a brand, often used as a benchmark before and after making strategic changes to it.

BRANDSCAPE

A brand’s broader market including other organizations, competitors and partners that influence the personality and manifestation of a brand.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

A study comparing an organization’s brand with specific brands perceived to take market share away or distract the attention of target audiences.

NAMING

An iterative process that includes research and ideation to develop words or phrases that will represent a business, organization and or product that is ownable in the market.

STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

A series of one-on-one in-person or phone interviews with targeted individuals and brand influencers, to gauge perception of brand value, understand experiences, and uncover opportunities.

TESTING

Opportunities for client teams and other audience groups to evaluate, comment on, and provide refining suggestions for creative concepts, digital experiences and brand solutions.