A senior executive sits at a leather-bound journal on a dark wood desk, examining a freshly written coined term under the warm glow of a brass lamp in a premium office at late afternoon. The image illustrates the article's argument that brandifying, the act of naming a category into existence, is a different move from branding what already exists.

Why I Brandify Categories Instead of Branding Products

Most people use ‘branding’ and ‘brandifying’ as if they were the same word. They are not. Branding decorates what already exists. Brandifying names the thing into existence first, so it can be owned. I have been doing the second one for 35 years without a word for it. Here is the line, the move, and why expert-led firms that want to claim a category have to learn to brandify rather than brand.

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