The marketing practice of creating an image, perception and public persona around a product, service or organisation, with the aim of giving it a competitive advantage in the eyes of its target audience. A name, logo, payoff line, symbol and advertising are all part of branding. However, true branding goes deeper than that and is considered by marketing experts to be the ‘promise’ that the branded item makes to its customer. Successful brands like Coca-Cola or Apple can take decades to build.

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