History of Branding

Buildings age and become dilapidatedwas ‘meat on the hoof’ a commodity, it
Machines wear outwas ‘branded’ and the better quality was
People dierecognizable.  
But what live on are BrandsIn the earliest form, a brand mark defined quality, a
 mark which differentiated a quality product from
 HISTORY OF BRANDING other similar products.  
Branding has come a long way in India and alsoMany years ago, in the Soviet Union, when products
around the world. The word brand comes from thewere sold under a generic name, the factory
word "brandr”, a word used by early Norsemanufacturing the product had to mark its identity on
tribesmen meaning ‘to burn’, as in brandingthe packaging. Customers soon realized that a
livestock to declare ownership. No doubt, anyonedetergent powder produced in one factory was
who has read cowboy stories is familiar with thesuperior to another in quality. Eventually, housewives
concept of branding cattle.would turn the packaging around while purchasing to
Over time branding of cattle became not just markidentify the origin of the product and make their
of ownership but also of quality. In the Chicago meatchoices on the basis of its manufacturing location.
market, buyers recognized quality beef through theThe serial number of the factory had become a
brand mark on the cattle. This was because thebrand as it is differentiated from other similar
ranches which produced better quality of meat did sodetergents, which, according to the state, were
as it implied –better grass or more adequatesupposed to be identical in formulation and in every
supply of water, better living conditions for the cattleother way.
or a shorter journey to the meat market. No longer