I'm pretty sure if you actually look at cattle branding and advertising branding, the thing being branded is the product. Branding is as simple as the BIC logo

I'm pretty sure if you actually look at cattle branding and advertising branding, the thing being branded is the product. Branding is as simple as the BIC logo on cheap pens, and hoping you'll remember the name when you need one or talk about one. I'm not sure how you're torturing the metaphor to get to the brand being applied to your brain.