Brand

A brand is the name, the identifying marks and everything customers remember, believe and expect about a product or a company. The first part sits on the packaging. The second part lives in the buyer’s head, and it is the second part that decides who they pick when two products cost about the same.

What is a brand in marketing?

Put two bottles of fish sauce on the same shelf, same protein content, same price. One carries a name the shopper has seen in their mother’s kitchen for 20 years; the other is a new name. If the shopper picks up the first bottle without reading the label, the gap between the two bottles, the thing that isn’t in the ingredients, is the brand.

Marketers usually split a brand into two layers. The first is designed and controlled by the company: name, logo, colors, packaging, tone of voice. Together these make up brand identity. The second forms on the customer’s side after every purchase, every use, every news story or word from a friend. That layer is brand image. A brand is healthy when the two layers match.

Brand vs trademark, product and logo

In Vietnam, “thương hiệu” (brand) is a business term, while legal documents use “nhãn hiệu” (trademark). Clause 16, Article 4 of Vietnam’s Law on Intellectual Property defines a trademark as a sign used to distinguish the goods or services of different organizations or individuals. A trademark can be registered. Customer trust can’t be protected by any certificate.

How brand value is measured in money

A brand is an intangible asset, so it can be valued. Brand Finance, a UK brand valuation firm, uses the royalty relief method under the ISO 10668 standard. The question it asks: if the company didn’t own this name and had to license it, how much would it pay in royalties each year?

• Score brand strength on a 100-point Brand Strength Index (BSI).
• Apply the BSI to the industry’s royalty rate range. Brand Finance’s own example: in an industry where royalties run from 0% to 5%, a brand with a BSI of 80/100 gets a royalty rate of 4%.

That rate is then multiplied by forecast revenue. In short: Brand value = Forecast revenue attributable to the brand × Royalty rate, discounted to present value.

Examples from Vietnam

Brand Finance’s Vietnam 100 2026 report, published on July 2, 2026, put the combined value of Vietnam’s 100 most valuable brands at $43 billion, up 11% from the previous year. Viettel ranked first for the 11th year in a row at $7.9 billion, followed by Vinamilk ($2.6 billion) and Vietcombank ($2.5 billion).

The strongest brand this year was Bao Viet, with a BSI of 96/100, even though its value was only $735 million. Value measures how much revenue a name pulls in. Strength measures how durable that name is in customers’ eyes. So a brand worth less can still rank first on strength.

Frequently asked questions

Do small businesses need to care about their brand?

Yes. A brand forms whether or not the business works on it. For a 20-seat coffee shop, it’s what customers tell each other after they leave.

Once a trademark is registered, does the business have a brand?

Not yet. The certificate only gives the right to stop others from using that sign. Trust takes time and real experience.

What’s the difference between brand and branding?

The brand is the result that sits in customers’ memory. Branding is what the company does to shape that result.

If you want to see where your brand stands before putting more money into communications, Adtek’s Brand Strategy team can review it with you. Contact Adtek here.