The History of Brands, Part 1

This is the first video in a series of six videos that I'm going to be putting out on the history of brands. My goal is going to be to open up a new perspective on the history of brands.

I think it’s commonly assumed is that modern corporations created branding. And while it's true that modern corporations have created brands of unprecedented global scale and reach, they didn't invent branding itself.  

Humans have used brands for thousands of years --ever since they first started trading with each other. And the way that they've used those brands has evolved over the course of that history. Each video will focus on one function, one stage of that evolution.

Think about those as a series of concentric circles. The important thing to keep in mind is that each new layer builds on what brands did before. It builds on that layer, but doesn't change it.

The important thing about that is that it means that we can use this framework not only to understand the history of brands, but to understand how brands continue to work today.

In this first video, we're looking at how brands started as marks of ownership thousands of years ago.

The ancient Egyptians were the first to use brands as marks of ownership at least 5,000 years ago. This, of course, is where we get the word "brand" from: the old Norse word brander or 'to burn' from the practice of burning livestock with a permanent, unique mark of ownership.

This was a simple but very powerful tool. It was the original public ledger. It made animals easier to manage, allowed for grazing on communal land, facilitated trade, and insured against theft.

Brands are still commonly used as public marks of ownership. Today we see examples of this 'property of' branding in the customization and personalization of products from clothing to jewelry, to boats and cars.

People love to put their name on things that matter to them. We even go so far as putting names on our bodies. Getting someone's name tattooed on you is seen by some as the ultimate expression of love.

Next time we'll look at how brands developed over time as marks of trust that could build reputations and relationships.