{"id":6908,"date":"2026-10-20T21:37:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/glossary\/brand-identity\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T21:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:37:53","slug":"brand-identity","status":"publish","type":"mona_glossary","link":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/brand-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brand identity is the set of elements a business designs so people can recognize it: name, logo, colors, typefaces, imagery, tone of voice, packaging and sometimes sound. It is the part of a brand the business fully controls, unlike <a href=\"\/en\/glossary\/brand-image\/\">brand image<\/a>, which is the conclusion customers reach on their own.<\/p>\n<h2>What elements make up a brand identity?<\/h2>\n<p>The part you can see is called visual identity. The parts people read and hear usually get less investment, even though customers run into them every day on the brand&#8217;s Facebook page, in emails and on the hotline.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Visual: logo, color palette, fonts, photo and illustration style, packaging layout.<\/li>\n<li>Verbal: brand name, <a href=\"\/en\/glossary\/tagline\/\">tagline<\/a>, tone of voice on the website and social media, the way staff greet customers. This part decides whether the brand has a voice of its own.<\/li>\n<li>Other senses: jingle, in-store scent, packaging materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of this goes into one document called a brand guideline, so that an agency, a print shop or a new hire still turns out materials that look the same.<\/p>\n<h2>Kapferer&#8217;s brand identity prism<\/h2>\n<p>Jean-No\u00ebl Kapferer, professor emeritus at HEC Paris, argues that identity is wider than visuals. In <a href=\"https:\/\/search.worldcat.org\/search?q=bn:9780749465155\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Strategic Brand Management<\/a> (Kogan Page, 5th edition, 2012), he describes identity through six facets, which he calls the brand identity prism:<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Facet<\/th>\n<th>The question it answers<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Physique<\/td>\n<td>What do you notice when you see, hold or use the brand?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Personality<\/td>\n<td>If the brand were a person, how would it talk?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Culture<\/td>\n<td>What does the brand believe in?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Relationship<\/td>\n<td>How does the brand treat its customers?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Reflection<\/td>\n<td>How does the brand portray its typical user?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Self-image<\/td>\n<td>Who do users feel they are when they use the brand?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The model is useful when you review a new identity. If the logo looks premium but the copy is casual, viewers feel the mismatch even when they can&#8217;t say where it is.<\/p>\n<h2>What makes a good identity element?<\/h2>\n<p>Jenni Romaniuk of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute at the University of South Australia calls identity elements distinctive brand assets. In her book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oup.com.au\/books\/higher-education\/management-and-marketing\/9780190311506-building-distinctive-brand-assets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Building Distinctive Brand Assets<\/a> (Oxford University Press, March 2018), she measures each asset on two metrics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fame: the share of category buyers who think of the right brand when they see the element.<\/li>\n<li>Uniqueness: whether the element is also linked to other brands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A shade of green that is already common in the dairy category is hard for anyone to own. A cartoon character used consistently for 10 years can become one brand&#8217;s asset.<\/p>\n<h2>Example (hypothetical)<\/h2>\n<p>A hypothetical bubble tea chain in Ho Chi Minh City has an orange logo, but each franchise prints its menu in a different font, and every branch&#8217;s Facebook page uses its own photos with its own filters. Two years in, customers remember the shop&#8217;s name but don&#8217;t recognize its ads when they scroll past them. Redesigning the logo is not the job at this point. The chain needs a brand guideline with enough detail, a set of templates for branches and one person who approves materials before they are posted.<\/p>\n<h2>How is brand identity different from brand image?<\/h2>\n<p>Identity is the message the business sends out; image is what customers take away. A business can change its identity overnight with a new logo, while image only shifts after many experiences. Pair a premium identity with slow service and customers will believe the service. Identity doesn&#8217;t come from nowhere either: it is designed on the positioning settled in an earlier stage of the <a href=\"\/en\/glossary\/branding\/\">branding process<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n<h3>Is a logo the same as brand identity?<\/h3>\n<p>A logo is only one part of it, usually the most recognizable part.<\/p>\n<h3>How often should you refresh your brand identity?<\/h3>\n<p>There is no fixed cycle. Change it when your positioning changes or when an old element gets confused with a competitor&#8217;s, and when you do change it, keep what customers already remember.<\/p>\n<h3>How long does a small business&#8217;s brand guideline need to be?<\/h3>\n<p>A few pages is enough: the logo and its clear space, color codes, fonts and a few examples of correct and incorrect use.<\/p>\n<p>If your brand identity is being applied differently in every place, Adtek&#8217;s Brand Strategy team can review it with you and suggest how to standardize it. <a href=\"\/en\/contact\/\">Contact Adtek<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brand identity is the set of elements a business designs so people can recognize it: name, logo, colors, typefaces, imagery, tone of voice, packaging and sometimes sound. It is the part of a brand the business fully controls, unlike brand image, which is the conclusion customers reach on their own. What elements make up a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Brand Identity: What It Is, Elements and Examples","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"What is brand identity? 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