Brand as economic, social, psychological and phylosofical category

In this paper we will compare four scientific approaches in order to explain, define and characterize the phenomenology of brand that has been insufficiently studied, especially in this way so far. What is relevant about brand refers to the interaction that creates a range of emotional, rational, cultural and sociological images that associate with the producer. Periodization component of a brand is different in marketing literature mostly because of specific interlinguistic variations, i.e. American literature, as opposed to the European or Australian, names the concepts in a different way, i.e. trade mark, register mark, service mark. We should be especially careful, because in certain cases it is not about synonym pairs, as the expression “marka” cannot be the substitute for “brand” in Croatian language because of significant and semantic reasons. Brand is observed through the concept of optional brands, as well, i.e. as product, private and generic brand. Dealing with brand does not comprise only the issue of product domination, i.e. market competition, but also offering different variations and meeting customer needs. Today the brand phenomenon is very close to the status of groups and individuals, and is more and more identified through emotional connotations of the consumer. In this paper the brand phenomenon is observed through all four categories, and the rich, contemporary, English and Croatian literature confirms that.