What's in a name? If it's "Cornelius Whinge", the answer is almost certainly "deranged parents". Brands are a little trickier to fathom - but they're essential if a product or service is going to survive on the high street or anywhere else. That goes doubly for coffee brands. Starbucks is almost everywhere - vying with the likes of Nike and McDonald's for recognition as a truly global mega-brand.

So lie back in your office chaise longue, hold all your calls and pretend your name is "Chad" - while we guide you through the world of branding.

A cup of your finest brand, please
To get inside the heads of the big coffee brands, it's useful to think about what they're actually selling. And no, the answer's not always "coffee".

For us, the market is split roughly in three. A bit like The Lord of the Rings, but with fewer Orcs.

The 20 minutes brand
These brands sell people a comfy seat for 20 minutes. They're not so much coffee shops as places to relax, meet or pick up some emails.

It's all about atmosphere and heavy, heavy branding. To survive, these brands have got to scream "stop here" right down the high street. And they've got to be everywhere.

Starbucks have taken a softer, more caring approach with in-store literature, which emphases quality. For a brand obsessed with standardisation and control, that makes a lot of sense. Unmissable, consistent and crisp - the Starbucks branding works hard inside and outside the stores.

Pret A Manger have recently launched Pret Café, replacing the trademark modern minimalist design with leather sofas and soft lighting. It's an all-out assault on the 20 minutes market.

OK - we'll confess our bias up-front. We supply Pret with their coffee. We happen to think they're doing a pretty marvellous job.

To-go
Here, branding is all about making people buy on impulse. Shops opt for bold, fun and modern branding - selling on the pavement right up to the counter area. There isn't the time to be subtle.

If you don't know BP's café-in-a-petrol-station brand, chances are you soon will. Wild Bean Café is coffee imagery all the way. Unmissable branding screams "buy me" to a market that's going to make a decision on the spur of the moment.

It's largely self-service - from bakery goods to cappuccinos, and the quality is really pretty good. That's not meant to be sniffy - next to the sullen, non-service of anti-food in most similar venues, Wild Bean Café is the roadside equivalent of cordon bleu. No - really.

Espresso
This part of the market is all about serving great quality coffee to people who demand nothing less. So branding can start to build more of a relationship with customers - encouraging repeat visits to what is probably a solo outlet or small chain.

In line with the quality of coffee, the branding needs to be distinctive. Differentiation is the key, in a market where good quality can be hard to find.

From Insomnia in Ireland, to Chocolate Soup in Scotland - there is a definite trend towards small, independent coffee brands. These are places which rely on the quality of their coffee to get people in the door. (Rather than being on every street corner.)

These mini brands are a neat best-of-both-worlds brew - small enough to be human, big enough to build loyalty and awareness.

What next?
The simplest way to build sales is to increase coffee's presence and credibility coffee in your outlet. But that will only take you so far - it doesn't allow you to sell at a premium, or attract swathes of new customers.

For that, you need a powerful brand on your side - helping customers to choose you over the (extremely organised) competition.

You could let Matthew Algie sort out all this branding nonsense for you - letting you get on with serving great coffee.

This article originally appeared in Fresh 16