Branding is rapidly evolving into a consumer's comprehensive experience, involving all the brand touchpoints she/he comes into contact with. This means that design, more than advertising, is emerging as the definitive creative skillset in creating successful branding. This article deconstructs the various elements of design and illustrates how these have actually contributed to some of the most vibrant and appealing contemporary Indian brands. The article also attempts to raise certain questions about the limitations of design-driven branding and encourages a greater critical discourse of this fast-growing field in India.

There are many definitions of `brand' but most of them differ only in detail. However, here is the one I like most.

Brand is a system of labeling commodities in order to emphasize their distinctiveness, often presented as a multi-modal experience, intended to inspire identification from, and/or confidence in, targeted consumers and assuring their patronage and loyalty.

I like this definition because while it is workable as a definition, it is far more valuable as a checklist to assess any brand's failure: Was it conceived as a system? Did it successfully label the product/service/organization/whatever? Did it emphasize what was unique and different about it? Was it translated into a multi-modal experience (better still, a system of experiences)? Did it manage to inspire identification and/or confidence? Did it clearly target its market/audience? Did it manage to attract their patronage? Did it inspire their loyalty?