It's winter time, the horse breed inspection season has come and
gone in North America, and along with it branding season.
Branding season for horses--NOT for horse BUSINESSES.
If you have any business or marketing background, or have done
any reading on the subject, you have heard of branding in the
business context. Let's take a look at what that actually is.
Brands on horses and other livestock in the Old West showed
ownership. There was some level of claiming recognition for
owning a quality animal, but primarily the point was to keep
livestock from being stolen. Branding helped to legally retrieve
stolen livestock.
In Europe, brands on horses were not an indication of personal
ownership, but rather indicated the horses' affiliations with
one of the regional registries.
That idea, which is behind modern-day branding of horses in
European-affiliated breeds and some of the other breeds in North
America is closer to the concept of business branding. In fact,
it IS business branding for the individual horse breed.
So What is Branding Exactly?
It isn't a string of freeze-branded symbols or a set of moose
antlers or other breed symbol. Those are likened to a business
logo or trademark, but those things aren't brands in the
business sense, either.
A brand on a horse signifies everything the breed represents:
the quality, history, performance record, origin, and so on. A
horse that carries a breed's brand mark ostensibly possesses all
of the attributes of the breed, and is theoretically capable of
performing to the standard established by that breed
association. For example, when you see a horse with a Holsteiner
brand (assuming you have familiarity with the mark), you
recognize the horse as a Holsteiner. You immediately know a
little bit about the horse's lineage, background, and the kinds
of activities it might be good at.
That is why some registries require a physical inspection and
approval of the individual horse before giving it a brand--the
branded horse is a representative of the breed's identity, a
walking advertisement. It makes sense for the breed organization
to want to control the quality of those advertisements.
Likewise, a brand is the embodiment of all the information
connected with a product or service. A brand typically includes
a name, logo, and other visual elements and encompasses the set
of expectations associated with a product or service which
typicaly arise in the minds of people. (reference:
wikipedia.org).
Logos and such--like brand marks--are a shorthand symbol for the
brand. Those marks are meaningless until the brand is built.
Build Your Brand from the Ground Up:
As Chevy Chase's character, Ty Webb, says in Caddyshack, "Be the
ball." Live the brand. Branding is everything you and your
business represents. You establish a brand through the quality
of your horses, your competitive record, the standard of service
you provide to your clients, the manner of your business
dealings, trust, your reputation. A brand is a business'
identity. Consistency in all of these elements builds a brand.
Paradoxically, I am on the fence about whether to brand horses
or not. Maybe just the bunny-hugger in my personality coming
out, but I think branding hurts the animal.
For your horse business, definitely, branding shouldn't hurt. It
might take a little mental stretching to grasp the concept, but
the actual establishment and building of your brand need not be
painful.
But one thing is certain: There is no end to the branding season
for businesses!
About the author:
Copyright 2005 by I.M. Andrews/Equinnovation Equine
Marketing/www.Equinnovation.com. For more articles, information,
and tips on horse business topics and equine marketing,
subscribe to the Equine Business Edge, the free newsletter for
horse-related business owners and the equine industry, at
http://www.equinnovation.com/newsletter.
I. M. Andrews
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