heartharmony.com.au

Branding of your product or service is an important part of doing business. Through your logo you want people to:

• recognise who you are
• associate the image/logo with your company
• think positive thoughts when the see your image.

Product branding is something that started over 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia. David Wengrow an archeologist at University College in London found that ancient Mesopotamian merchants created unique stone seals which were then pressed into caps and stoppers used to seal food and drink.

He suggests these stoppers were used to tell traders and buyers the quality and origins of the products. By looking at the symbol or stopper, consumers knew whether or not to trust the bottle or food.

Stoppers didn’t just carry simple symbols – they showed heroic warriors, gods, animals and even monsters drinking through a straw. There were also lots of violent images of people fighting and gentle images of women.

Not all that much has changed over the centuries. People still select brands that reflect the image of how they would like to be perceived. Do they want their product to appeal to blokes or women? Do they want to be seen as heroic or simply good value? Do they want to add a bit of humour or be seen as just niche people?

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up with our modern world and think we have created marketing and branding – when really it all started over 5000 years ago.  Traders just like us wanted to differentiate themselves on the market through the logos they chose. What does your logo say about you?

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance copywriter