Branding.

When creating a brand it is important to have an effective strategy which gives you a major edge in the increasingly competitive markets today. Your brand is your promise to a customer. It entails 
what they(your customers) can expect from your products and services and what differentiates your offerings from your competitors.
A brand is derived from who your are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.

Equity means how ,what, where,  when and whom you plan on communicating and delivering your brand message. 

Strategic branding is where brands can add value more to their projects then unbranded products.
For example Coca-cola can charge more for their products because it has built a powerful brand equity, and people will pay more for Coco-cola than they would for a generic fizzy drink.

Emotional attachment:

 

Nike associates it's products with star athletes therefore customers will transfer their emotional attachment from the athlete to the product, for Nike its not just the shoe's features tha sell the shoe, it's the person endorsing it. 

 In my case, my product is part of the   beauty industry , so getting the 'It girl" or a person that's admired by my target audience( female teens to adults) to endorse the product would boose the sales as my customers will but the products as they want to be more like the role model endorsing the products , 

Some real life examples of this

 Cara Delevingne is the face of YSL beauty and Burberry.

Gigi Harid is the face of Topshop.

Taylor swift was the face of Cover Girl.

Branding is a ' promise delivered" and marketing is ' The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably" 

Quoted from The Chartered Institute of marketing.

So whilst branding helps to communicate the promise.Marketing is what you do to get your promise or message to your customers while your brand is how you keep the promise made though delivery to customers and colleagues.

Aesthetics:

 

The science side of this links to Neuroaesthetics
Research shows that humans are constantly in a state of aesthetic appraisal, with beauty at its center. 
When processing attractive visual information the rewards systems are activated giving us a feeling of gratification and euphoria. Simultaneously, other neurone responsible for memory and specific experiences are being engaged , creating subjectivity.

Our perception of aesthetics is both scientific and personal. 

 Symmetry and the golden ratio more appealing.