Brands and brand building with Karno Guhathakurta

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The concept of brand was once very simple. The word “brand” came from an Ancient Norse word “Brandr” meaning ”to burn”. In 950 A.D., brand meant a burning piece of wood. And in 1300’s, it meant a “torch” which was still meaning a burning piece of a wood used as a tool. In 1500’s, it meant a marked burned on cattle when farmers used to distinguish their cattle from cattle from other ranches.

In early 1800s, mass production, products like wine started to flourish and sellers started to use the word brand to imply leaving a mark into the crates. Products with better quality and high value naturally became known as a high-end products. In 1870, it finally became possible to register a trademark, and Coca Cola facilitated this to advertise their slogan “Coca Cola Revives and Sustains”.

Why am I talking about brands? Today I have Karno Guhathakurta with us on Audiogyan. He is a Creative director as Please-See agency which has designed numerous brands. They have done brand building for Foodhall, LazyPay, Mami and many more.

We'll try and get some insights behind brand building and discuss MAMI logo in the later half of the episode..

Thanks Korno for giving your time and it'e a real pleasure to have you on Audiogyan. Welcome.

Questions

1. What according to you is branding (brand building) and what is a brand? What do these things comprise of, theoretically and practically in real life?
2. What is easy to brand, a product or a service? How long does it take to brand a product or a service?
3. Is Logo a brand? Can brands be made without advertising? (Can take examples to explain) Can a well-designed logo with a great product become a brand without marketing or Advertising? Any examples if you can share?
4. If every branding, marketing, and advertising person must have seen Simon Sinek's golden circle, why do they still continue the opposite way?
5. You and your team have done brand building for Foodhall, LazyPay, Mami, and many more. I am particularly interested in MAMI. Can you tell us the process in detail? from graphic to type selection to organic evolution of the logo?
6. How and why did you arrive at what is in the public domain today? What were few options and how did it got finalized?
7. Did Jio come a disrupt the form? (non-metaphorically. :) ) Do you think of sub-brands and taking over of bigger brands while designing logos?
8. With a world where long tail are becoming brands themselves, what is your reading of how brands will evolve in the next 5 to 10 years?

Hope you enjoyed the show. MUBI India announced it's arrival at MAMI last year. Now to tell you a bit more about MUBI - it’s a film streaming service, showcasing the best of Indian cinema on their MUBI INDIA channel and classic international hits on MUBI WORLD with a new film every day on each channel.

This week I recommend watching Abhay Kumar's Placebo, Kamal K.M's I.D., Ashim Ahluwalia's Miss Lovely

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