Branding is integral to marketing consumer goods, most visibly at the luxury 'designer' end. From clothes, handbags and watches to mobile phones, cars and airline tickets, the power of a brand lies in its ability to persuade people to buy more of the products or services more frequently - and for more money.
But branding is not limited to consumer luxuries. Today's fierce market competition also extends to shopping malls - the hubs of branding and retailing rivalry.
Malls from Mong Kok and Kwun Tong to Kowloon Bay and West Kowloon are becoming increasingly state of the art as they compete for tenants.
And like their tenants who are competing for browsing dollars, malls have become part of the branding phenomenon.
While the payoffs may be more intangible and longer term than in traditional consumer branding, which can be reflected in sales almost overnight, the branding philosophy remains the same - to somehow influence for the better how a brand is perceived and popularised in a market.
One particularly high-profile commercial property branding exercise was Hongkong Land's recent initiative to link up 13 buildings in Central.