Brand

A brand is a distinctive and identifiable symbol, name, logo, design, or other feature that distinguishes a product, service, or company from others in the marketplace. It goes beyond just the physical elements and encompasses the overall perception and reputation that consumers associate with the entity.

In ancient civilizations, craftsmen would often stamp their name or symbol on their goods to signify ownership and quality. These can be considered early forms of branding, but may not perfectly map onto the modern understanding of a brand.

The first ever packaged branded product to retail in England was Dr Robert James Fever-Powder, which was sold in a box. Patented by English physician Robert James in 1746, he claimed it cured fevers and various other maladies, from gout and scurvy to distemper in cattle.

In 1748 Yardley of London began selling one of the world’s first branded products, their famous lavender water in glass bottles.

The first officially registered trademark is believed to be Bass & Co.'s red triangle for Bass Pale Ale, registered in 1876. However, companies used branding techniques, like consistent logos and messaging, well before formal trademark registration.

Lyle's Golden Syrup has been named by the Guinness Book of Records as Britain's oldest brand, with its green and gold packaging having remained almost unchanged since 1885.

By Whitebox at the English-language Wikipedia, 

The brand name 'Linoleum' is considered the first product name to become a generic term, which happened only 14 years after it was invented in the mid 19th century.

Cow is a Japanese brand of shaving foam.

According to the latest 2023 rankings by Interbrand, a leading brand valuation firm, the three most valuable brand names on Earth are Apple, Amazon and Google, in that order.

The two "M"s in M&M's stand for the initials of its inventors: Forrest E. Mars Sr., founder of the Mars candy company and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey Chocolate's president William F. R. Murrie.

Foreign branding is the process of naming a product to sound exotic. An example is Häagen-Dazs, which was invented in the Bronx.

Fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Wimpy and Burger King use yellow, red, and orange as part of their branding because those are the colors that stimulate hunger.

By Obandoeño12345 - Own work, Wikipedia

The Australian airline QANTAS stands for Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Service.

The brand Nokia is named after a place in Southern Finland.

The same creative company, Lexicon Branding. came up with the names ‘PowerBook’, ‘BlackBerry’ and ‘Pentium.'

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow named her company Goop because some branding expert told her that all successful internet companies have double o's in their name, so she just put two o’s between her initials.

The owner of a brand name can lost their legal protection for it if people started using it as the common or generic name for a type of product or service. This is what happened to Cellophane, Escalator, Flip Phone, Frisbee, Hovercraft, Kerosene, Sellotape, Trampoline, and Videotape.