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Monday, February 20, 2012

Branding for All Ages on President's Day

Recently, I told my young art students about the Gilbert Stuart George Washington painting. We've talked about how contemporary artist Peter Max has used the Stuart image in a series of paintings he has done of Washington. Everyone sees the Stuart image used for the one dollar bill. I've been thinking about how that's an example of branding that's carried over through the ages. No one was concerned with branding during Washington's lifetime, but his image became a brand anyway.

Now branding is everywhere. I love the gecko for Geico and wonder who managed to come up with that. I also wonder about those old-fashioned bathtubs that are the symbol for the drug Cialis. Amazing use of the imagination!

Then we have the simple Nike brand image. Looking down at the tennis shoes I'm wearing, I see K-Swiss branding all over them. I recognize Adidas brands on many pieces of my tennis and other athletic clothing. And who will ever forget the birds on the bats of the Cardinals baseball team?

As authors, we have the issue of branding that is growing and becoming more important every year. We are branding our book series. My publisher created the Passenger to Paradise brand image for my books. I plan to make luggage tags to promote my brand at upcoming book signings and elsewhere.

I would love to hear what ideas you use for branding your books. How do you brand yourself?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

My brand is the wormhole. I make sure its the focal piunt on all my books. Its almost a character.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I guess being dubbed the Ninja Captain has branded me.

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Great to have a wormhole brand. I remember you pointing it out, Steve, on your cover!

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Ninja Captain is a really recognizable brand for you and your books, Alex! Good one.

Robin Spano said...

Genius idea. Perfect for your brand.

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Thanks, Robin!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Monti - Passenger to Paradise - what a great idea ..

You so rightly point out if we want to market things .. we need a brand that will cover our ideas ..

Stephen and Alex have great ones ..

Thanks for the salient post .. cheers Hilary

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

So good to hear from you, Hilary! I love the idea of branding and have from the moment I first recognized the potential. Thank you!

Southpaw said...

I don't have one. I'm not quite there.

I do recognize both Stephen's and Alex's brand.

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Thanks for your comment, Southpaw!

Enid Wilson said...

We try to keep the font face of the titles and my author name in most of the books the same. We've only deviate from it twice, for sci fi and geeky novels I've published. These genres call for a different font face.

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