There are many different theories about what a brand is. The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as: "a name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors."

This definition falls short of the reality of the situation. A name, sign and symbol are key elements but many other elements contribute to what a brand is that this description fails to include.

Other elements that go to creating a brand can be packaging format (think coca-cola bottle), colour, sounds, attitudes (Nike's "Just do it" is an example of this).

All of these elements are used to support a product or service and their function is to create something distinctive and appealing. For the remainder of this article I will extend the term product to include services.

The most effective description is, "a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer."

The consumer can be primary (I buy myself a bottle of shampoo) or secondary (my doctor prescribes me a branded pharmaceutical product).

Many use this description to say that a brand can live independently of products - that it has it's own dynamic. I would agree to this to a degree however the aim of branding is to create a promise of satisfaction and generate sales and this is unlikely to work well if the product that it supports doesn't live up to standards.

Products, which don't deliver on their promise, can generate negative brand equity and all the work in creating and managing the brand can be undone by consistent bad reviews and consumer experiences.

With the increase in outsourcing brands run the risk of drastically reducing their own brand equity in a bid to produce ever-cheaper products. Poor quality manufacture in outsourced factories is almost impossible to monitor. A company can go to a Chinese manufacturer with the manufacturing specifications and get a signed guarantee of non-abusive working standards for employees and the use of lead-free solder but that manufacturer might in turn outsource the work to a company who in turn outsources it's production. The chain can get complicated and in an aggressive market place policing manufacture is expensive and barely possible. Amidst this confusion quality can suffer and writers like Naomi Klein (in her book "No Logo", published by Flamingo) can drastically change the way people perceive a brand.

Similarly some brands will go to outsourced manufacturers and buy products from them, which they then simply badge (print a logo on) and retail at a far higher price than the product is really worth. I have seen examples of companies badging absolute junk and throwing them on the market. If I spend top dollar on designer sunglasses and the mirroring on the lenses rubs off on my soft cleaning clothe I'm going to have a radically different idea of what that brand means to me. If I buy a washing machine and it gives me consistently clean clothes for many years with no need for repairs I'm going to tell friends and family how good I think that brand is.

It is because my experience of a branded product creates perceptions in my mind about what a particular brand is that I see it as being a part of the brand.