Recently, I attended the AMA’s “Brandsmart” conference. The program encompassed the topics of defining, building and extending business brands.One speaker of particular interest was Patrick Hanlon, CEO of Thinktopia and author of ”Primal Branding.” He explained that a brand is a belief system that requires seven factors to be believable, both internally and externally:

• Creation story – the story on how the brand was “birthed.”
• Creed – a succinct mission statement, the brand’s raison d’etre.
• Rituals – the experience/processes between the brand and its believers.
• Icons – it could be something as simple as a logo but it could also entice any of our senses, e.g., the Apple Bong sound.
• Sacred words – specialized words for believers, e.g. “skinny half-caff grande latte.”
• Pagans – as there will be believers, there needs to be non-believers of your brand; the old you-can’t-be-for-everyone mantra.
• Leader – the “innovator” who knew there was a better way of doing things, e.g. Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Patrick’s branding approach may be most applicable to consumer brands but I believe the elements are germane to b-to-b branding as well.