Acquisition: When one company acquires another. The brands maybe integrated into the dominant company, remaining the same, or their trading might be ceased.

Agencies: Companies that offer brand expertise to service clients. These are often branding agencies, design agencies or public relations agencies.

Acquisition: When one company acquires another. The brands maybe integrated into the dominant company, remaining the same, or their trading might be ceased.

Agencies: Companies that offer brand expertise to service clients. These are often branding agencies, design agencies or public relations agencies.

Auditing Exercise: An "audit" in the branding context often means an early assessment into what branding collaterals exists.

Best Practice: A piece of work that is recognized by the industry as representing the best way to apply the brand.

Brand: The public face, usually carefully constructed of a marketable product, service or even a person. The image of a commodity is often supported by a brand identity.

Brand Architecture: How an organization structures and names the brands within its portfolio, either under the corporate brand name used on all products or service, through sub-brands linked to the corporate brand, or as individually branded product or service brands targeted for different markets.

Brand Mark: The "mark" or "marquee" that identifies the brand. Also known as the logo and can include a strap line.

Brand Perception: How its audience views a brand.

Brand Producer: The person who holds a brand project together; the central coordinator.

Brand Spend: The amount of money spent on marketing a brand.

Brand Values: The characteristics of a brand.

Channel: The medium or media format used in marketing the brand, e.g. television, radio, billboard, press, etc.

Co-branding: When two or more brands appear together in marketing communications.

Communication: In the context of branding, this is the work that supports the brand campaign to inform people both within the company and outside the company of the brand messages.

Concessions: A store within a store. Brands often use this tactic to enter into new markets or to be positively associated with a larger brand.

Consumer: The person that invests financially in the brand, normally by buying it.

Consumer-facing-Brands: Brands that sell products to a consumer market rather than a business market.

Corporate Branding: Refers to corporate identity projects that involve the creation, rebranding or use of the corporate name. The corporate brand represents the company and may (or may not) be used to support sub-brands.

Creative of the brand: An expression often used to refer the creative output of the branding process, including the designs and words.

Demerger: When a brand is split from another to stand-alone. This often involves a name change and new identity for the new brand.

Equity: The value of a brand and its worth, Brand equity is based on the sum of all distinguishing qualities of a brand, drawn from all relevant stakeholders (brand audiences). It is what makes the brand valued and valuable.

Flagship Store: The main store, which best represents the brand.

Franchises: Where the company controls the brand, but the storeowner is responsible for the day to day running of the retail outlet.

Global/Local: An expression used in marketing meaning that a global brand will be implemented with a local approach and flavour in individual countries.

Hits: The number of imprints on a website created by a mouse, to determine which pages people are visiting and how many visitors there are.

Human Factors: Those specialists who look at human behavior as part of the design, these people are often trained in anthropology or psychology.

Hybrid Identity: When two logos are used to create one identity

Intranet: A closed internal Internet used within a company by its employees.

Journey: The audience journey or user journey often used in relation to the website experience. This is how the audience progressively experiences the brand.

Licensees: Someone (or a company) that has bought the right to market the brand or an element of the brand, under its own name. For example, HP will produce the IPOD under the Hewlett-Packard brand.

Loss leader: A product sold at a loss to encourage spending elsewhere in store, e.g. stores sell best selling books at a loss, gambling on customers buying other, more expensive titles once their attention has been engaged.

Marketing Collateral: Marketing materials used for promotional means, such as websites, brochures and direct mail.

Marketplace: The brands sector or market in which it exists.

Mindshare: The positive emotional response from the brands targeted audience.

Narrative: A story that supports the brand.

NGOs: An acronym for Non-Governmental Organization. An organization that is not part of the government.

Parent Brand: The main brand owner or holding the company.

Proposition: The way a brand projects itself or what it says about itself.

Positioning: Where a brand sits in relation to its competitors.

Product: A tangible, marketable item that is often the basis of the brand.

Prospects: Potential new customers.

Repositions: When the brand deliberately moves its place in its market, usually to attract a new audience. Also referred to as: "shifting in the market".

Roll-out: The time it takes to launch the product, often runs pre-launch through to post launches phase.

Silos: A linear structure within a company that keeps different parts of the business in different divisions.

Spin Off: When a brand is launched on its own, after it has been developed within another company.

Stakeholders: The broad audience that the brands affects, including investors, press, customers, employees and associations.

Strategy: An overused and often misinterpreted word. Usually means the overriding thinking and marketing theory behind the brand (for example, where it should be positioned in its market to attract its desired audience).

Sub-brand: A brand within a brand, for example, The Sony Playstation is a sub-brand of Sony.

Tagline: The supporting words or phrase that accompany a brands logo, or are part of an advertising campaign.

Umbrella Branding: The overall brand, which holds a number or sub-brands within its remit. The umbrella brand may have a completely separate brand identity to the sub-brands.