What is Branding?

I agree with Mr. Khan,it's not something that can be expressed in 2-3 lines. It's very time taking process to distinguish yourself from crowd. I'd recommend you to go through a book called "Kellog on Branding", you will get your answers.

in simple word ,Brand is a promise to deliver satisfaction 

Branding is a continuous effort put forward by the companies to win the faith of their customers. When a company wins the trust of a customer, it becomes a brand. A company or its products become branded when the customer believed that the company would never compromise on its product/service quality. For example, there are many companies selling laptops at a price much cheaper than Sony Vaio, still people looking for quality laptops go for VAIO even though its price is high. This is because people have the believe that SONY would sell only quality products. I think that example would have helped everyone to understand the brand concept better. 

Regards,

Anna George

if we talk in layman view its a brand or product which differentiate all the other one, here the packaging, positioning matter a lot to make a brand unique and can be easily identify by customer.

Branding is creating Reliability, Standerds in the minds of the Consumeres & this automatically positions the Product.  The examples of this are amongst Bikes :- Bullet, Honda, amongst Disinfectants :-Dettol, Toothpaste :- Still the Colgate

branding is having a lot of well-wishers of the product

good topic,Excellent presentation by most

Brand is faith on the product in the customer group. Long line of the goodness. Reliability. Perfect in standards. For example if you think of washing powder immediately you remember 'RIN', Tooth Paste....'COLGATE', sewing machines....."USHA". Not only Name and Brand It leads the highest score of Market share, Increasing day by day sales, Non troubling to customers (After sales) and non harmful in case of consumer goods whether it is health or food Products. Larger number of customers belief is BRANDING....

customer faith upon the product is brand for that product.its just simple but the most complicated part for company or product is to create FAITH AND TRUST.And thats the main reason why company spends so much on advertising,promotion,guarantee after sales services,concept of TQM in product etc just to create the embedded perception about product for customers ....

Brand is promise.. Where the customer himself know the value of brand.  A simple example is customer selecting Aquafina Water against a local brand......

nice defination.

Brand is nothing but perception about the company and its products in the mind of consumer.Brand is developed and monitored through out the life cycle of the product. 

Branding is a christening of a product/s or services that can be availed by masses across the demographics. It is a marriage of sorts with the consumer where it entices the consumer to "spend", cherish, experience and cultivate loyalty. 

Branding evolves communication of the essence of a product / service that would appeal to the masses to create a universe of utility based consumers who would then forward the same to non users and users alike.

Branding is the language of all the attributes of a product / service that communicates to the masses for mass use!!

A brand is a name or trademark connected with a product or producer. Implementing them is called Branding. It has become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal philosophies".

Brand is a second word of 'trust', if customer has faith in your product than he will buy again and again and its become a brand.

Hi Ankur,

Good question..I love conversing, debating, on this topic..i could have answered it here but i think its bit long to accommodate the content here. Just follow this link here to see it on my blog http://khansuhel.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/what-is-branding/ . You can leave a comment if you would like to add to the idea or correct me if i am wrong..

According to me Branding, Well, first of all it is easy to remember a product by branding, which is always useful! But it is also best because it works to remind us of some of the key points like:

   1. This makes it absolutely clear that a brand is very different from a product or service. A brand is intangible and exists in the mind of the consumer.

   2. This helps us understand the idea of brand loyalty and the 'loyalty ladder'. Different people have different perceptions of a product or service, which places them at different points on the loyalty ladder.

   3. This  makes it clear how to build a brand. A brand is built not only through effective communications or appealing logos. A brand is built through the total experience that it offers.