Misplaced Pages

Custard Factory

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business , marketing , and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and store value as brand equity for the object identified, to the benefit of the brand's customers, its owners and shareholders . Brand names are sometimes distinguished from generic or store brands .

#997002

87-519: The Custard Factory is a creative and digital business workspace complex, including independent shops, cafes and bars, on the site of what was the Bird's Custard factory off High Street, Deritend , in the Digbeth area of central Birmingham , England. The Custard Factory complex is set in fifteen acres (60,000m) of factory buildings, originally constructed for Sir Alfred Frederick Bird (1849–1922),

174-439: A target audience . Marketers tend to treat brands as more than the difference between the actual cost of a product and its selling price; rather brands represent the sum of all valuable qualities of a product to the consumer and are often treated as the total investment in brand building activities including marketing communications. Consumers may look on branding as an aspect of products or services, as it often serves to denote

261-469: A titulus pictus . The inscription typically specified information such as place of origin, destination, type of product and occasionally quality claims or the name of the manufacturer. Roman marks or inscriptions were applied to a very wide variety of goods, including, pots, ceramics, amphorae (storage/shipping containers) and on factory-produced oil-lamps. Carbonized loaves of bread , found at Herculaneum , indicate that some bakers stamped their bread with

348-636: A brand may recognize that advertising touchpoints are most effective during the pre-purchase experience stage therefore they may target their advertisements to new customers rather than to existing customers. Overall, a brand has the ability to strengthen brand equity by using IMC branding communications through touchpoints. Brand communication is important in ensuring brand success in the business world and refers to how businesses transmit their brand messages, characteristics and attributes to their consumers . One method of brand communication that companies can exploit involves electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). eWOM

435-400: A brand may showcase its primary attribute as environmental friendliness. However, a brand's attributes alone are not enough to persuade a customer into purchasing the product. These attributes must be communicated through benefits , which are more emotional translations. If a brand's attribute is being environmentally friendly, customers will receive the benefit of feeling that they are helping

522-403: A brand name is a "memory heuristic": a convenient way to remember preferred product choices. A brand name is not to be confused with a trademark which refers to the brand name or part of a brand that is legally protected. For example, Coca-Cola not only protects the brand name, Coca-Cola , but also protects the distinctive Spencerian script and the contoured shape of the bottle. Brand identity

609-463: A brand with consumers. For example, a jingle or background music can have a positive effect on brand recognition, purchasing behaviour and brand recall. Therefore, when looking to communicate a brand with chosen consumers, companies should investigate a channel of communication that is most suitable for their short-term and long-term aims and should choose a method of communication that is most likely to reach their target consumers. The match-up between

696-478: A brand, the more they trusted the brand. This suggests that a company could look to employ a social-media campaign to gain consumer trust and loyalty as well as in the pursuit of communicating brand messages. McKee (2014) also looked into brand communication and states that when communicating a brand, a company should look to simplify its message as this will lead to more value being portrayed as well as an increased chance of target consumers recalling and recognizing

783-518: A broad range of goods. In 1266, makers' marks on bread became compulsory in England. The Italians used brands in the form of watermarks on paper in the 13th century. Blind stamps , hallmarks , and silver-makers' marks —all types of brand—became widely used across Europe during this period. Hallmarks, although known from the 4th-century, especially in Byzantium, only came into general use during

870-500: A café and a record and clothes shop. In the foyer are art display cases with a larger gallery space at the rear. A huge iron dragon sculpture crawls up the exterior rear elevation. There are stages for musicians, DJs and rappers and a 220-seat theatre. Phase two - originally named 'The Greenhouse', but now 'Gibb Square' after the Gibb Street location - was completed in 2002. It focuses on new media and media businesses and includes

957-412: A category is differentiated from its competing brands, and thus the brand helps customers & potential customers understand which brand satisfies their needs. Thus, the brand offers the customer a short-cut to understanding the different product or service offerings that make up a particular category. Brand awareness is a key step in the customer's purchase decision process, since some kind of awareness

SECTION 10

#1732775716998

1044-417: A certain attractive quality or characteristic (see also brand promise). From the perspective of brand owners, branded products or services can command higher prices. Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no associated branding (such as a generic , store-branded product), potential purchasers may often select the more expensive branded product on the basis of the perceived quality of

1131-1021: A corporation hopes to accomplish, and to explain why customers should choose one brand over its competitors. Brand personality refers to "the set of human personality traits that are both applicable to and relevant for brands." Marketers and consumer researchers often argue that brands can be imbued with human-like characteristics which resonate with potential consumers. Such personality traits can assist marketers to create unique, brands that are differentiated from rival brands. Aaker conceptualized brand personality as consisting of five broad dimensions, namely: sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, and cheerful), excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, and up to date), competence (reliable, intelligent, and successful), sophistication (glamorous, upper class, charming), and ruggedness (outdoorsy and tough). Subsequent research studies have suggested that Aaker's dimensions of brand personality are relatively stable across different industries, market segments and over time. Much of

1218-472: A different stage in a customer's cognitive ability to address the brand in a given circumstance. Marketers typically identify two distinct types of brand awareness; namely brand recall (also known as unaided recall or occasionally spontaneous recall ) and brand recognition (also known as aided brand recall ). These types of awareness operate in entirely different ways with important implications for marketing strategy and advertising. Brand recognition

1305-462: A given category, when prompted with a brand name, a larger number of consumers are typically able to recognize it. Brand recognition is most successful when people can elicit recognition without being explicitly exposed to the company's name, but rather through visual signifiers like logos, slogans, and colors. For example, Disney successfully branded its particular script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo ), which it used in

1392-493: A high level of brand equity. Brand owners manage their brands carefully to create shareholder value . Brand valuation is a management technique that ascribes a monetary value to a brand. The word brand , originally meaning a burning piece of wood, comes from a Middle English brand , meaning "torch", from an Old English brand . It became to also mean the mark from burning with a branding iron. Branding and labeling have an ancient history. Branding probably began with

1479-454: A hundred studio/offices plus galleries, restaurants and shops set around a central pool with fountains. The pool is sometimes emptied to allow for dance music events. The Green Man , a 40 ft (12 m) high sculpture by Tawny Gray made from vegetation and stone, overlooks Gibb Street. In March 2007, the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, announced new funding of £9.6m for 100 new office and workspace units. The result

1566-507: A low-involvement purchasing decision. Brand recognition is often the mode of brand awareness that operates in retail shopping environments. When presented with a product at the point-of-sale, or after viewing its visual packaging, consumers are able to recognize the brand and may be able to associate it with attributes or meanings acquired through exposure to promotion or word-of-mouth referrals. In contrast to brand recall, where few consumers are able to spontaneously recall brand names within

1653-399: A receiver, it runs the risk of the receiver incorrectly interpreting the message. Therefore, a brand should use appropriate communication channels to positively "…affect how the psychological and physical aspects of a brand are perceived". In order for brands to effectively communicate to customers, marketers must "…consider all touch point |s, or sources of contact, that a customer has with

1740-414: A trademark from the late 1870s, with great success. Pears' soap , Campbell's soup , Coca-Cola , Juicy Fruit chewing gum and Aunt Jemima pancake mix were also among the first products to be "branded" in an effort to increase the consumer's familiarity with the product's merits. Other brands which date from that era, such as Ben's Original rice and Kellogg's breakfast cereal, furnish illustrations of

1827-407: A trademark in the form of a 'White Rabbit", which signified good luck and was particularly relevant to women, who were the primary purchasers. Details in the image show a white rabbit crushing herbs, and text includes advice to shoppers to look for the stone white rabbit in front of the maker's shop. In ancient Rome , a commercial brand or inscription applied to objects offered for sale was known as

SECTION 20

#1732775716998

1914-509: A visual or verbal cue. For example, when looking to satisfy a category need such as a toilet paper, the customer would firstly be presented with multiple brands to choose from. Once the customer is visually or verbally faced with a brand, they may remember being introduced to it before. When given a cue, consumers able to retrieve the memory node associated with the brand exhibit brand recognition. Often, this form of brand awareness assists customers in choosing one brand over another when faced with

2001-692: Is Access Creative College in Birmingham, a specialist 16-19 education provider in creative vocational qualifications. About 800 yards (730 m) away is the new "Progress Works" complex, opened in 2005 as part of the Custard Factory quarter, on Heath Mill Lane. "The Bond" complex is also a short walk away. Three-quarters of a mile north is BIAD , the largest British university art & design teaching and research centre outside London . Nearby are two music venues, The Institute (formerly The Sanctuary) and AIR , home to and owned by Godskitchen

2088-413: Is a brand's personality . Quite literally, one can easily describe a successful brand identity as if it were a person. This form of brand identity has proven to be the most advantageous in maintaining long-lasting relationships with consumers, as it gives them a sense of personal interaction with the brand Collectively, all four forms of brand identification help to deliver a powerful meaning behind what

2175-420: Is a collection of individual components, such as a name, a design, a set of images, a slogan, a vision, writing style, a particular font or a symbol etc. which sets the brand aside from others. For a company to exude a strong sense of brand identity, it must have an in-depth understanding of its target market, competitors and the surrounding business environment. Brand identity includes both the core identity and

2262-403: Is a fundamental asset to a brand's equity , the worth of a brand's identity would become obsolete without ongoing brand communication. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) relates to how a brand transmits a clear consistent message to its stakeholders . Five key components comprise IMC: The effectiveness of a brand's communication is determined by how accurately the customer perceives

2349-469: Is a precondition to purchasing. That is, customers will not consider a brand if they are not aware of it. Brand awareness is a key component in understanding the effectiveness both of a brand's identity and of its communication methods. Successful brands are those that consistently generate a high level of brand awareness, as this can be the pivotal factor in securing customer transactions. Various forms of brand awareness can be identified. Each form reflects

2436-410: Is a relatively new approach [Phelps et al., 2004] identified to communicate with consumers. One popular method of eWOM involves social networking sites (SNSs) such as Twitter . A study found that consumers classed their relationship with a brand as closer if that brand was active on a specific social media site (Twitter). Research further found that the more consumers "retweeted" and communicated with

2523-421: Is often little to differentiate between several types of products in the 21st century, hence branding is among a few remaining forms of product differentiation . Brand equity is the measurable totality of a brand's worth and is validated by observing the effectiveness of these branding components. When a customer is familiar with a brand or favors it incomparably over its competitors, a corporation has reached

2610-442: Is one of the initial phases of brand awareness and validates whether or not a customer remembers being pre-exposed to the brand. Brand recognition (also known as aided brand recall ) refers to consumers' ability to correctly differentiate a brand when they come into contact with it. This does not necessarily require consumers to identify or recall the brand name. When customers experience brand recognition, they are triggered by either

2697-406: Is stronger than brand recognition, as the brand must be firmly cemented in the consumer's memory to enable unassisted remembrance. This gives the company huge advantage over its competitors because the customer is already willing to buy or at least know the company offering available in the market. Thus, brand recall is a confirmation that previous branding touchpoints have successfully fermented in

Custard Factory - Misplaced Pages Continue

2784-474: Is the brand name for the original powdered, egg-free imitation custard powder, now owned by Premier Foods . Custard powder and instant custard powder are the generic product names for similar and competing products. The product is a powder, based on cornflour , which thickens to form a custard-like sauce when mixed with milk and heated. Bird's Custard was first formulated and cooked by Alfred Bird in 1837 at his chemist shop in Birmingham. He developed

2871-564: Is the herbal paste known as chyawanprash , consumed for its purported health benefits and attributed to a revered rishi (or seer) named Chyawan. One well-documented early example of a highly developed brand is that of White Rabbit sewing needles, dating from China's Song dynasty (960 to 1127 CE). A copper printing plate used to print posters contained a message which roughly translates as: "Jinan Liu's Fine Needle Shop: We buy high-quality steel rods and make fine-quality needles, to be ready for use at home in no time." The plate also includes

2958-784: The Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE); large numbers of seals survive from the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley (3,300–1,300 BCE) where the local community depended heavily on trade; cylinder seals came into use in Ur in Mesopotamia in around 3,000 BCE, and facilitated the labelling of goods and property; and the use of maker's marks on pottery was commonplace in both ancient Greece and Rome. Identity marks, such as stamps on ceramics, were also used in ancient Egypt. Diana Twede has argued that

3045-576: The trance superclub . The Custard Factory is close to the Old Crown pub, a half-timbered building dating from the 14th century, Birmingham Coach Station , and the Bull Ring which is Birmingham's main shopping centre, with its landmark Selfridges building. Notable past and current occupants include: 52°28′31″N 1°53′03″W  /  52.4752°N 1.8842°W  / 52.4752; -1.8842 Bird%27s Custard Bird's Custard

3132-481: The "consumer packaging functions of protection, utility and communication have been necessary whenever packages were the object of transactions". She has shown that amphorae used in Mediterranean trade between 1,500 and 500 BCE exhibited a wide variety of shapes and markings, which consumers used to glean information about the type of goods and the quality. The systematic use of stamped labels dates from around

3219-484: The "cool" factor. This began the modern practice now known as branding , where the consumers buy the brand instead of the product and rely on the brand name instead of a retailer's recommendation. The process of giving a brand "human" characteristics represented, at least in part, a response to consumer concerns about mass-produced goods. The Quaker Oats Company began using the image of the Quaker Man in place of

3306-400: The "…potential to add positive – or suppress negative – associations to the brand's equity" Thus, a brand's IMC should cohesively deliver positive messages through appropriate touch points associated with its target market. One methodology involves using sensory stimuli touch points to activate customer emotion. For example, if a brand consistently uses a pleasant smell as a primary touchpoint,

3393-518: The 1st century CE. The use of hallmarks , a type of brand, on precious metals dates to around the 4th century CE. A series of five marks occurs on Byzantine silver dating from this period. Some of the earliest use of maker's marks, dating to about 1,300 BCE, have been found in India. The oldest generic brand in continuous use, known in India since the Vedic period ( c.  1100 BCE to 500 BCE),

3480-606: The 6th century BCE. A vase manufactured around 490 BCE bears the inscription " Sophilos painted me", indicating that the object was both fabricated and painted by a single potter. Branding may have been necessary to support the extensive trade in such pots. For example, 3rd-century Gaulish pots bearing the names of well-known potters and the place of manufacture (such as Attianus of Lezoux , Tetturo of Lezoux and Cinnamus of Vichy ) have been found as far away as Essex and Hadrian's Wall in England. English potters based at Colchester and Chichester used stamps on their ceramic wares by

3567-534: The Medieval period. British silversmiths introduced hallmarks for silver in 1300. Some brands still in existence as of 2018 date from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries' period of mass-production. Bass Brewery , the British brewery founded in 1777, became a pioneer in international brand marketing. Many years before 1855, Bass applied a red triangle to casks of its pale ale. In 1876, its red-triangle brand became

Custard Factory - Misplaced Pages Continue

3654-517: The United Kingdom, the popularity of this type of dessert is such that it is simply known as "custard". In such cases, general usage of the word may be more likely to refer to the "Bird's" custard rather than to the traditional egg-based variety. "Instant" versions (containing powdered milk and sugar and requiring only hot water) and ready-made custard in tins, plastic pots and cartons have also become popular. After he discovered his custard

3741-476: The atrium, and bearing labels as follows: Scaurus' fish sauce was known by people across the Mediterranean to be of very high quality, and its reputation traveled as far away as modern France. In both Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum, archaeological evidence also points to evidence of branding and labeling in relatively common use across a broad range of goods. Wine jars, for example, were stamped with names, such as "Lassius" and "L. Eumachius"; probably references to

3828-524: The barrels used, effectively using a corporate trademark as a quasi-brand. Factories established following the Industrial Revolution introduced mass-produced goods and needed to sell their products to a wider market—that is, to customers previously familiar only with locally produced goods. It became apparent that a generic package of soap had difficulty competing with familiar, local products. Packaged-goods manufacturers needed to convince

3915-427: The beginnings of brand management. This trend continued to the 1980s, and as of 2018 is quantified by marketers in concepts such as brand value and brand equity . Naomi Klein has described this development as "brand equity mania". In 1988, for example, Philip Morris Companies purchased Kraft Foods Inc. for six times what the company was worth on paper. Business analysts reported that what they really purchased

4002-401: The brand and is termed the consumer's brand experience . The brand is often intended to create an emotional response and recognition, leading to potential loyalty and repeat purchases. The brand experience is a brand's action perceived by a person. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the brand image , is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people, consisting of all

4089-412: The brand has a much higher chance of creating a positive lasting effect on its customers' senses as well as memory. Another way a brand can ensure that it is utilizing the best communication channel is by focusing on touchpoints that suit particular areas associated with customer experience . As suggested Figure 2, certain touch points link with a specific stage in customer-brand-involvement. For example,

4176-413: The brand or on the basis of the reputation of the brand owner. Brand awareness involves a customer's ability to recall and/or recognize brands, logos, and branded advertising. Brands help customers to understand which brands or products belong to which product or service category. Brands assist customers to understand the constellation of benefits offered by individual brands, and how a given brand within

4263-425: The brand". Touch points represent the channel stage in the traditional communication model, where a message travels from the sender to the receiver. Any point where a customer has an interaction with the brand - whether watching a television advertisement, hearing about a brand through word of mouth or even noticing a branded license plate – defines a touchpoint. According to Dahlen et al. (2010), every touchpoint has

4350-400: The brand's intended message through its IMC. Although IMC is a broad strategic concept, the most crucial brand communication elements are pinpointed to how the brand sends a message and what touch points the brand uses to connect with its customers [Chitty 2005]. One can analyze the traditional communication model into several consecutive steps: When a brand communicates a brand identity to

4437-509: The brand, he or she is more likely to try other products offered by the company – such as chocolate-chip cookies, for example. Brand development, often performed by a design team , takes time to produce. A brand name is the part of a brand that can be spoken or written and identifies a product, service or company and sets it apart from other comparable products within a category. A brand name may include words, phrases, signs, symbols, designs, or any combination of these elements. For consumers,

SECTION 50

#1732775716998

4524-455: The brand. In 2012 Riefler stated that if the company communicating a brand is a global organization or has future global aims, that company should look to employ a method of communication that is globally appealing to their consumers, and subsequently choose a method of communication with will be internationally understood. One way a company can do this involves choosing a product or service's brand name, as this name will need to be suitable for

4611-537: The company acquired Monk and Glass, a rival custard powder manufacturer based in London. The original custard factory has long ceased to exist, but the larger factory Bird's opened in Gibb Street remains (production was relocated to Banbury in 1964, along with the factory gates, featuring the company logo), and has been adapted as the Custard Factory arts centre. Until 2009, many Bird's products, including

4698-442: The completion of the Custard Factory project, an anticipated 1,000 jobs will have been created. Phase one consisted of the refurbishment of Scott House which is now home to a community of media companies, artists and small creative enterprises. The loading bay was turned into a lake around which are set 200 studio workshops above ground floor level. On the ground floor itself are meeting rooms, dance studios, holistic therapy rooms,

4785-501: The consumer through branding. Producers began by attaching simple stone seals to products which, over time, gave way to clay seals bearing impressed images, often associated with the producer's personal identity thus giving the product a personality. Not all historians agree that these markings are comparable with modern brands or labels, with some suggesting that the early pictorial brands or simple thumbprints used in pottery should be termed proto-brands while other historians argue that

4872-516: The environment by associating with the brand. Aside from attributes and benefits, a brand's identity may also involve branding to focus on representing its core set of values . If a company is seen to symbolize specific values, it will, in turn, attract customers who also believe in these values. For example, Nike's brand represents the value of a " just do it " attitude. Thus, this form of brand identification attracts customers who also share this same value. Even more extensive than its perceived values

4959-414: The extended identity. The core identity reflects consistent long-term associations with the brand; whereas the extended identity involves the intricate details of the brand that help generate a constant motif. According to Kotler et al. (2009), a brand's identity may deliver four levels of meaning: A brand's attributes are a set of labels with which the corporation wishes to be associated. For example,

5046-426: The first registered trademark issued by the British government. Guinness World Records recognizes Tate & Lyle (of Lyle's Golden Syrup ) as Britain's, and the world's, oldest branding and packaging, with its green-and-gold packaging having remained almost unchanged since 1885. Twinings tea has used the same logo – capitalized font beneath a lion crest – since 1787, making it

5133-642: The fourth century BCE. In largely pre-literate society, the shape of the amphora and its pictorial markings conveyed information about the contents, region of origin and even the identity of the producer, which were understood to convey information about product quality. David Wengrow has argued that branding became necessary following the urban revolution in ancient Mesopotamia in the 4th century BCE, when large-scale economies started mass-producing commodities such as alcoholic drinks, cosmetics and textiles. These ancient societies imposed strict forms of quality-control over commodities, and also needed to convey value to

5220-436: The information and expectations associated with a product, with a service, or with the companies providing them. Marketers or product managers that responsible for branding, seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics, which make it special or unique. A brand can, therefore, become one of

5307-402: The instant custard powder, contained partially hydrogenated vegetable oil , a product now banned in some countries due to health concerns relating to heart disease. Since then, all Bird's custards have moved to unhydrogenated vegetable oil. Cooked custard is a weak gel , viscous and thixotropic . A suspension of uncooked custard powder ( starch ) in water, with the proper proportions, has

SECTION 60

#1732775716998

5394-430: The literature on branding suggests that consumers prefer brands with personalities that are congruent with their own. Consumers may distinguish the psychological aspect (brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand) of a brand from the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with

5481-419: The logo for go.com . Unlike brand recognition, brand recall (also known as unaided brand recall or spontaneous brand recall ) is the ability of the customer retrieving the brand correctly from memory. Rather than being given a choice of multiple brands to satisfy a need, consumers are faced with a need first, and then must recall a brand from their memory to satisfy that need. This level of brand awareness

5568-473: The market that the public could place just as much trust in the non-local product. Gradually, manufacturers began using personal identifiers to differentiate their goods from generic products on the market. Marketers generally began to realize that brands, to which personalities were attached, outsold rival brands. By the 1880s, large manufacturers had learned to imbue their brands' identity with personality traits such as youthfulness, fun, sex appeal, luxury or

5655-540: The marketplace that it aims to enter. It is important that if a company wishes to develop a global market, the company name will also need to be suitable in different cultures and not cause offense or be misunderstood. When communicating a brand, a company needs to be aware that they must not just visually communicate their brand message and should take advantage of portraying their message through multi-sensory information. One article suggests that other senses, apart from vision, need to be targeted when trying to communicate

5742-400: The minds of its consumers. Marketing-mix modeling can help marketing leaders optimize how they spend marketing budgets to maximize the impact on brand awareness or on sales. Managing brands for value creation will often involve applying marketing-mix modeling techniques in conjunction with brand valuation . Brands typically comprise various elements, such as: Although brand identity

5829-569: The modern era, the concept of branding has expanded to include deployment by a manager of the marketing and communication techniques and tools that help to distinguish a company or products from competitors, aiming to create a lasting impression in the minds of customers . The key components that form a brand's toolbox include a brand's identity, personality, product design , brand communication (such as by logos and trademarks ), brand awareness , brand loyalty , and various branding ( brand management ) strategies. Many companies believe that there

5916-433: The most enduring campaigns of the 20th-century. Brand advertisers began to imbue goods and services with a personality, based on the insight that consumers searched for brands with personalities that matched their own. Effective branding, attached to strong brand values, can result in higher sales of not only one product, but of other products associated with that brand. If a customer loves Pillsbury biscuits and trusts

6003-579: The most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace . This means that building a strong brand helps to distinguish a product from similar ones and differentiate it from competitors. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management . The orientation of an entire organization towards its brand is called brand orientation . Brand orientation develops in response to market intelligence . Careful brand management seeks to make products or services relevant and meaningful to

6090-564: The name of the producer. The use of identity marks on products declined following the fall of the Roman Empire . In the European Middle Ages , heraldry developed a language of visual symbolism which would feed into the evolution of branding, and with the rise of the merchant guilds the use of marks resurfaced and was applied to specific types of goods. By the 13th century, the use of maker's marks had become evident on

6177-501: The opposite rheological property: it is negative thixotropic, or dilatant , which is to say that it becomes more viscous when under pressure. This suspension is sometimes termed oobleck and often used in science demonstrations of non-Newtonian fluids . The popular-science programme Brainiac: Science Abuse demonstrated dilatancy dramatically by filling a swimming pool with this mixture and having presenter Jon Tickle walk across it. Brand name The practice of branding—in

6264-421: The original literal sense of marking by burning—is thought to have begun with the ancient Egyptians , who are known to have engaged in livestock branding and branded slaves as early as 2,700 BCE. Branding was used to differentiate one person's cattle from another's by means of a distinctive symbol burned into the animal's skin with a hot branding iron . If a person stole any of the cattle, anyone else who saw

6351-657: The practice of branding livestock to deter theft. Images of the branding of cattle occur in ancient Egyptian tombs dating to around 2,700 BCE. Over time, purchasers realized that the brand provided information about origin as well as about ownership, and could serve as a guide to quality. Branding was adapted by farmers, potters, and traders for use on other types of goods such as pottery and ceramics. Forms of branding or proto-branding emerged spontaneously and independently throughout Africa, Asia and Europe at different times, depending on local conditions. Seals , which acted as quasi-brands, have been found on early Chinese products of

6438-473: The presence of these simple markings does not imply that mature brand management practices operated. Scholarly studies have found evidence of branding, packaging, and labeling in antiquity. Archaeological evidence of potters' stamps has been found across the breadth of the Roman Empire and in ancient Greece . Stamps were used on bricks, pottery, and storage containers as well as on fine ceramics. Pottery marking had become commonplace in ancient Greece by

6525-518: The producer's name. Roman glassmakers branded their works, with the name of Ennion appearing most prominently. One merchant that made good use of the titulus pictus was Umbricius Scaurus, a manufacturer of fish sauce (also known as garum ) in Pompeii, c.  35 CE . Mosaic patterns in the atrium of his house feature images of amphorae bearing his personal brand and quality claims. The mosaic depicts four different amphora, one at each corner of

6612-407: The recipe because his wife was allergic to eggs , the key ingredient used to thicken traditional custard. The Birds continued to serve egg-based custard to dinner guests, until one evening when the egg-free custard was served instead, either by accident or design. The dessert was so well received by the other diners that Alfred Bird put the recipe into wider production. John Monkhouse (1862–1938)

6699-430: The son of Alfred Bird (1811–1878), the inventor of egg-free custard . The architectural firm commissioned to design the building was Hamblins. At one time, a thousand people worked at the factory. The Bird company moved to Banbury in 1964. The Custard Factory project was started by Bennie Gray and substantially expanded by his son Lucan Gray, who owned and ran the project until June 2017. A City Grant Award of £800,000

6786-550: The symbol could deduce the actual owner. The term has been extended to mean a strategic personality for a product or company, so that "brand" now suggests the values and promises that a consumer may perceive and buy into. Over time, the practice of branding objects extended to a broader range of packaging and goods offered for sale including oil , wine , cosmetics , and fish sauce and, in the 21st century, extends even further into services (such as legal , financial and medical ), political parties and people 's stage names. In

6873-476: The trend. By the early 1900s, trade press publications, advertising agencies , and advertising experts began producing books and pamphlets exhorting manufacturers to bypass retailers and to advertise directly to consumers with strongly branded messages. Around 1900, advertising guru James Walter Thompson published a housing advertisement explaining trademark advertising. This was an early commercial explanation of what scholars now recognize as modern branding and

6960-400: The way in which consumers had started to develop relationships with their brands in a social/psychological/anthropological sense. Advertisers began to use motivational research and consumer research to gather insights into consumer purchasing. Strong branded campaigns for Chrysler and Exxon /Esso, using insights drawn from research into psychology and cultural anthropology , led to some of

7047-417: The world's oldest in continuous use. A characteristic feature of 19th-century mass-marketing was the widespread use of branding, originating with the advent of packaged goods . Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap , from local communities to centralized factories . When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or company insignia on

7134-705: Was Zellig (former Devonshire House), a restored grade II listed building, which opened in May 2010 and features a new sculpture, the Deluge, by Toin Adams. The presence of the Custard Factory has drawn two media training agencies to locate nearby. The old Trades Union Studies Centre is now a media and arts annexe of South Birmingham College and in 2005, the VIVID media centre moved from the Jewellery Quarter . Also nearby

7221-555: Was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly. Glass represented his business partner Frederick Thomas Glasscock. Monk and Glass custard was made in Clerkenwell and sold in the home market, and exported to the Empire and to America. Glasscock retired when the business was acquired by its rival Bird's Custard in the early 20th century. In some regions, such as Australia and

7308-503: Was introduced 1929. World War II saw rationing and serious production limits. Shortly after the war, Bird's was purchased by the General Foods Corporation , which was itself taken over by Philip Morris in the 1980s and merged into Kraft Foods . The Bird's Custard product remains as a brand. In late 2004, Kraft sold Bird's Custard and some other Kraft brands to Premier Foods , the owners as of 2021 . In 1958,

7395-537: Was popular, Bird formed Alfred Bird and Sons Ltd. in Birmingham . By 1843, the company was also making the newly invented baking powder and, by 1844, was promoting custard powder nationally. By 1895, the company was producing blancmange powder, jelly powder and egg substitute. In World War I , Bird's Custard was supplied to the British armed forces. The company was one of the early users of promotional items and colourful advertising campaigns. The 'three bird' logo

7482-435: Was the brand name. With the rise of mass media in the early 20th century, companies adopted techniques that allowed their messages to stand out. Slogans , mascots , and jingles began to appear on radio in the 1920s and in early television in the 1930s . Soap manufacturers sponsored many of the earliest radio drama series, and the genre became known as soap opera . By the 1940s, manufacturers began to recognize

7569-528: Was used to start the redevelopment in January 1992. This public sector funding levered in £1.6 million of private sector investment for the refurbishment of 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m) of redundant buildings, providing 145 units for use by artists, designers and communicators. The architect was the Birmingham-based firm, Glenn Howells Architects . The first phase created around 300 jobs. On

#997002