Brand Identity: Making Your Brand Stand Out in the Market

To make your brand stand out in a saturated market, you need your brand identity to be differentiated. Consistency in brand identity will allow your brand to be easily identified and famously recognisable. Can you identify all the brands based on their descriptions below?

The ‘swoosh’.

The bitten apple.

The three stripes.

The bright red uniform of a stewardess.

The fat yellow man.

Not to be confused with brand logo, brand identity consists of the visual aspects that form and represent the overall brand, which includes brand names, brand logos and brand elements. Brand elements consist of the brand colours, icons and designs. Brand identity is made up of different visual items such as corporate collaterals (brochures, books, websites, corporate profiles), stationery (letterhead, business card, envelopes), signage (interior & exterior design), messages (conveyed via direct or indirect medium of communication) and anything visual that represents the brand. 

BRAND REVIEW: Four Points by Sheraton

Brand Background

Four Points by Sheraton, owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. was previously a midscale hotel brand by Sheraton Hotels and Resorts to replace Sheraton Inns. In 2000, the brand was repositioned to its current upscale four-star status as a hotel chain for business travelers and corporate meetings.

Brand Name

The name “Four Points by Sheraton” gives out a more down-to-earth vibe compared to its more upscale and exclusive counterpart Sheraton. The brand name allows the brand to communicate its four-star value to a larger group of target customers.  

Four Points by Sheraton Brand Logo

Brand Logo

The colourful pinwheel brings out a playful aura to show that this hotel isn’t a century-old, tacky building but is a contemporary hospitality service that goes all out to fulfill its guests’ modern and practical needs, suitable for its jet-setting business travelers.

Brand Elements

Coherency in the corporate colours dark blue, known as “Four Points Dark Wash” or dark brown, known as “Four Points Dark Taupe” throughout the hotel chain exterior signage gives Four Points a solid brand identity that this hotel is hospitable yet serious in giving impeccable hospitality service. The colours give a corporate feel to the hotel, suitable for the most serious business guests.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is recognised as the hospitality industry’s leading branding company and has its own design lab and brand immersion centre based in Stamford, Connecticut.

Four Points by Sheraton was upgraded from midscale in 1995 to upscale in 2000. Thus, care must be taken so that the brand does not lean too much at the higher end of luxury scale and appear too similar with the other eight Starwood brands thus losing its appeal to its current customers.

Reference

http://justcreative.com/2010/04/06/branding-identity-logo-design-explained/