Leaving Your Mark with a Custom Brand
In the old American West, cattle ranchers used white-hot irons to brand livestock. These brand marks usually took the form of a rancher’s initials crafted into a unique, easily recognizable design. Not only could ranchers use these brands to keep track of their own herd, but they could also determine which of their neighbors owned any other herd of livestock with nothing more than a glance.
Today, branding still plays a huge role in forming an identity and helping others know your story. Companies in the Fortune 500 spend a lot of time crafting recognizable brands that share just enough personality to shape the way consumers feel about their products. But big businesses aren’t the only ones using brands to leave their mark on the world. Our Signature Coins team helps all kinds of different people tell their stories with the perfect brand designs. We don’t always use a customer’s initials like the cattle rancher brands of old, but it only takes a glance to know where these branded challenge coins belong.
Military Unit Coins That Stand Out From the Crowd
The Army, Navy and Air Force each have their own unique brand. But a quick look down the chain of command will give you a glimpse of all the different teams within each branch of service that are full of soldiers with their own unique emblems, cultures and histories.
In the Army alone, the entire corps of soldiers is split into divisions, divisions are split into brigades, and these brigades are divided into battalions. From there it goes down into smaller groups of companies, platoons, squads and then fire teams. These smaller teams like to create their own emblems that differentiate their team from the other soldiers in the Corps. In a sense, they are creating their own signature brand.
These bottle opener coins take inspiration from the nicknames and mascots used by individual companies, and each design incorporates a unique motto. For the “Rattlers” of the 204th Military Intelligence Battalion, the motto Ready to Strike — Anywhere, Anytime is perfectly captured in the coiled rattlesnake design of their unit coins. The Elephant design of the Headquarters & Headquarters company of the 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment is meant to call to mind how the team represents an unstoppable force. Their motto, Find a Way, Or Make One, is pressed into the design, just under the massive tusks of the bull elephant.
When it comes to creating a brand for their team, not all soldiers choose to make designs that are so aggressive. Some teams choose to show off a bit of their sense of humor when creating a set of unique unit coins.
These “Dirty 630” coins are just one example of the funny coins we have helped design that show off a group’s particular sense of humor. Soldiers make unit coins like this because they want to celebrate what makes them different from all the other teams of soldiers. While they will always be loyal to the corps, creating a unique brand for themselves helps a team stand out from the crowd.
Personal Brand Challenge Coins
It’s not just teams of soldiers or teams of corporate workers who spend time creating their own brand to share with others. All kinds of individuals have their own personal coins that they carry around as a calling card or gift of appreciation that they can offer the men and women they meet. The author Trent Reedy is one such person who contacted us about making a set of custom coins to help define his own personal brand.
Reedy worked with us to create the open book and crossed pens design that he now uses as his logo. The image has since been included on his personal business cards and used in the rebranding of his website. These coins are awarded to the young readers, librarians, book retailers and teachers Reedy meets during his travels as a symbol of his appreciation of their dedication to education and enlightenment.
Another customer of ours who designed a set of branded challenge coins is Todd Anderson, the owner of Ghost Horse Vineyards. The black and silver horse design pressed into his coins is used on all the bottles that come out of his winery. Anderson carries at least one of these coins around at all times so he has something to give to the people buying his wine. Each coin has his personal phone number included somewhere in the artwork so anyone carrying a Ghost Horse coin can get in contact with Anderson at any time.
What Makes a Brand, a Brand?
The definition of what constitutes a brand is different depending on who you ask, but it helps to remember where the terminology comes from — branding cattle to signify ownership. A brand should be immediately recognizable, leaving no doubt as to who is leaving their mark. It takes less than a moment to recognize brands like the red and white Coca-Cola script, the McDonald’s golden arches or the Nike swoosh.
Soldiers in the 204th MI BA chose a rattlesnake design because they wanted their brand to capture the words each soldier in the unit lives by — Strike Hard! The same goes for the bull elephant design that calls to mind the unstoppable force that is the 70th Armor Regiment and the open book and crossed pens logo that captures a sense of education and enlightenment for the author Trent Reedy. For each of these, the brand in question might not be as easily recognizable as the golden arches, but when you look at these coins, there can be no question what the owner of the coin values. The brands chosen tell the story for them.
The elements that make a good brand are the same things that make a team unique. So the question to ask yourself when getting started on your own branded challenge coins should be, what makes you, you? What emblems, mottos and mascots will help others get a feeling for your team’s mission, personality and history with nothing more than a glance? Once you boil all that down into one design, you have a brand you and your team can use to leave your mark.
