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Back in time

There is generally no agreement as to when the concept of branding emerged as a discipline... not even among professors. Dr David Shore of Harvard Business School for example, believes that branding began with cattle rearers in the West who wanted to distinguish their cattle from those of others*. But the history of branding predates America or the West as we know it.  The ancient kingdoms of Africa for example practiced body branding as a rite of religion and as an expression of identity and communal compact. They also branded their livestock. Of note are the following:

Akum Empire (500 BC)
Egyptian Empire (3900 BC)
Hausa Empire (1100 AD)
Swahili Kingdom (1200 AD)
Oyo Empire (1400 AD)

And slaves were branded as a mark of ownership.

Modern tattoos are of course an urban derivative of the ancient art of body branding. We can even trace branding to the Biblical account of the emergence of the nation of Israel. The story goes that the sign of the contract between the Patriarch of Israel, Abraham, and God, was the rite of circumcision, a type of branding.  Circumcision was practiced by many civilisations. Apostle Paul would later expand on the concept when he talks about the "circumcision of the heart", and so we can link branding to the very roots of Christianity. The Anti-Christ, it is said, will use branding to subdue the world. The popular notion of '666' is a branding proposition!

Historically therefore, branding would seem to be an expression of compact, or covenant, or social contract. A contract presupposes an exchange of promises between two parties.  The modern day concept of brand promises is not a pole vault away from this historical root.

The first notable commercial branding was the branding of Sunlight by Lever Brothers in 1884. The soap was not only different (soaps were black in those days, Sunlight was yellow), the packaging was different. The branding of Sunlight is generally hailed as a milestone in commercial branding.

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