your logo vs your branding

Ask people around the world to draw ketchup, and 97% of them draw Heinz.

And whoever was asking never said the word Heinz once.

That's the difference between a logo and a brand, and it's wild how often the two get mixed up.

Your logo is 1 piece of the puzzle.

Your brand is everything people remember when the logo isn't there.

Here's what I mean:

🍅 Kraft Heinz
↳ The logo is the keystone label.
↳ The branding is the red glass bottle and the 57.

Things people drew from memory without a second thought.

🎧 Apple
↳ The logo is the apple.
↳ The branding is the white earbuds.

Those iPod ads with dancing silhouettes made them so iconic you could spot an iPod user from across the street.

💎 Tiffany & Co.
↳ The logo is the wordmark.
↳ The branding is that little blue box.

People know what's inside before anyone opens it.

👠 Christian Louboutin
↳ The logo is the signature on the insole.
↳ The branding is the red sole.

None of these brands needed a fancy logo refresh to get there.

They picked a color, a shape, or an object, and used it so consistently that it started doing the work for them.

And that's where a lot of brands get it backwards.

They spend months debating the logo, then change the packaging and colors every time a new campaign comes around.

So try this:

Put your product next to 5 competitors with every logo covered up.

Would anyone still know which one is yours?

If the answer's no, that's the part of your brand worth working on.

♻️ Repost for the team that's about to start another logo refresh.
And follow me, Jacob Rokeach, for more on brand and creative systems that scale.