3 ms·

No time right now to write more...but I have wondered what brands existed in say Roman era...Greek era...Persian era...etc...surely they did!

sandworm101 7y ago
"Silver hallmarks in the UK date back to the medieval period and the practice of applying them as a guarantee of the purity of the precious metal represents Britain’s oldest form of consumer protection." https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/guides/information-guides/hallmarks/ https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/guides/information-guid... The romans would have had guild marks on things like pottery, I just don't know of any online guides for them.
elSidCampeador 7y ago
In all probability, people's names were their own brands, like they still are in small towns today. I can imagine two Romans walking down the street, and one saying to the other "Oh our family has been buying meat from Spartacus' family for generations now, they're the best when it comes to that sort of stuff."
- DonHopkins 7y ago
  Or place's names, like Champagne.
toomanybeersies 7y ago
Falernian wine would probably count as a "brand" of wine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falernian_wine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falernian_wine
jhanschoo 7y ago
You didn't have mass distribution on the scale you have today without middlemen, and so word-of-mouth and personal recommendations should have probably sufficed for most markets, as they do in some markets today (e.g. job and employment)
AllegedAlec 7y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTxcTzCJZiE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTxcTzCJZiE
dahfizz 7y ago
The baker down the street was the only "brand" of bread available, I suspect. Although personally knowing who is making the product fulfills a similar function to branding.
ryanmercer 7y ago
I don't know about commercial brands but some gladiators were paid quite handsomely by sponsors[1], not unlike top-tier athletes today (actually, some arguably earned more than modern athletes[2]) [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2016/08/10/how-athletes-have-made-money-off-the-olympics-from-ancient-athens-to-rio/#7cc22c668e1e https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2016/08/10/how-athl... [2] https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/01/18/the-highest-paid-athlete-of-all-time-was-a-roman-charioteer-if-he-had-lived-today-he-would-have-been-worth-15-billion/ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/01/18/the-highest-paid-a...

sandworm101 7y ago

"Silver hallmarks in the UK date back to the medieval period and the practice of applying them as a guarantee of the purity of the precious metal represents Britain’s oldest form of consumer protection." https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/guides/information-guides/hallmarks/ https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/guides/information-guid... The romans would have had guild marks on things like pottery, I just don't know of any online guides for them.

elSidCampeador 7y ago

In all probability, people's names were their own brands, like they still are in small towns today. I can imagine two Romans walking down the street, and one saying to the other "Oh our family has been buying meat from Spartacus' family for generations now, they're the best when it comes to that sort of stuff."

DonHopkins 7y ago
Or place's names, like Champagne.

toomanybeersies 7y ago

Falernian wine would probably count as a "brand" of wine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falernian_wine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falernian_wine

jhanschoo 7y ago

You didn't have mass distribution on the scale you have today without middlemen, and so word-of-mouth and personal recommendations should have probably sufficed for most markets, as they do in some markets today (e.g. job and employment)

AllegedAlec 7y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTxcTzCJZiE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTxcTzCJZiE

dahfizz 7y ago

The baker down the street was the only "brand" of bread available, I suspect. Although personally knowing who is making the product fulfills a similar function to branding.

ryanmercer 7y ago

I don't know about commercial brands but some gladiators were paid quite handsomely by sponsors[1], not unlike top-tier athletes today (actually, some arguably earned more than modern athletes[2]) [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2016/08/10/how-athletes-have-made-money-off-the-olympics-from-ancient-athens-to-rio/#7cc22c668e1e https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2016/08/10/how-athl... [2] https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/01/18/the-highest-paid-athlete-of-all-time-was-a-roman-charioteer-if-he-had-lived-today-he-would-have-been-worth-15-billion/ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/01/18/the-highest-paid-a...