Corporate identity, image
and brands
Lecture
LAMC318
Corporate identity, image
and brands
Lecture
LAMC318
Learning outcomes
•
understand the concepts of corporate identity and
corporate image
•
understand the difference of visual identity and
corporate identity
•
recognise the process involved in developing a
corporate identity programme
•
identify the importance of corporate identity and
image for an organisation’s overall communication
plan
•
understand the concepts of brand and branding
Key Reading
Chapter: Corporate Image, Identity &
Reputation in Tench &Yeomans, Chapter
13, pp250-264
Additional, if interested:
Klein, Naomi (2000), No Logo, London:
Flamingo, pp. 3-61
History of CI
Emerged around the middle of 20th
century
Originally understood as symbolism
Important names: Walter Margulies
and Wolff Olins
Definition: CI
…what makes a company unique and
special. It’s the company's approach to
business, its values and business culture.
This will be reflected in the way the
company works, the quality of its
products, its communication and
marketing strategies, its management
and leadership style and its visual
appearance.
Definition: Corporate
identity
Van Riel (1995: 27) : Corporate
identity can be seen as ‘the self-
portrayal of an organisation, i.e. the
cues or signals it offers via its
behaviour, communication and
symbolism’.
Corporate identity
…can be defined as ”the sum of all
methods an organisation uses,
willingly and unwillingly, to identify
itself to its publics. This is based on
an organisation’s philosophy (goals,
vision, mission), history, people and
its aesthetic expression. “
Corporate culture
One of the most important parts of CI is
corporate culture
Corporate culture focuses on the human
part of the organisation, the ‘language,
norms, folklore, ceremonies, and other
social practices that communicate the key
ideologies, values and beliefs guiding
action'. (Morgan, 1986: 135)
Aim of a corporate identity
Internal goals:
Raising motivation and morale
Rationalisation and cost reduction
Inspiring confidence among the external
target publics
Acknowledging the vital role of the
customer
Acknowledging the vital role of financial
target groups
The components of CI
strategy
Corporate behaviour
Visual identity
Corporate communications
Corporate behaviour
How an organisations interacts with its
employees
customers
financial stakeholders
government and society
Happy??
Corporate behaviour
Corporate behaviour follows the
parameters of the lived corporate
culture
This requires careful design and
implementation of a corporate vision
or mission
Vision/mission
A vision or mission contributes to the
organisation’s goals in a variety of
ways:
•
It informs staff about the desired values and
norms of the organisation.
•
It contributes to the development of specific
guidelines for employees and their work
Vision / mission cntd
•
It supports management in providing
appropriate and systematic leadership for the
organisation.
•
It can show the individual employee how he or
she can contribute through their own behaviour
to the achievement of the organisation's goals.
•
A vision or mission is also of external value as it
defines how an organisation perceives itself.
Example: Boots’ vision
Our goal is to make Boots a more modern,
competitive and efficient retail business, in
order to deliver value to our shareholders.
We will continue 'Building a better Boots' by
focusing on our core healthcare market,
with all the potential for growth it contains.
We will continue to develop products that
customers know they can only get from us.
We will continue to ensure that we offer
value. We will do more to ensure that our
stores are where our customers want them
and are easy to shop. We will continue to
focus on the expertise of
our people and
the customer care they offer.
Visual identity or corporate
design
It’s the visual representation of an
organisation’s identity
'The visual style of a company
influences its place in the market,
and how the company's goals are
made visible in its design and
behaviour.' (Olins, 1989).
Corporate design
includes various elements
Logo
Colours
Typefaces for stationary and slogans
Logo
Its aim is to
'encapsulate in a simple memorable
form the central attribute or
attributes of an organisation [and to]
trigger appropriate associations and
responses' (Bromley, 1993: 158)
Characteristics of a logo
•
It attracts attention and works as a
signpost.
•
It is informative and memorable.
•
It is of aesthetic value that doesn't
date easily.
•
It can easily be adapted to a variety
of contexts and frameworks
Colour
Another design element that can be used for
quick identification purposes
Red
colour of Coca-Cola
Blue
Boots
Green:
Marks & Spencer
Orange - clever example of combining colour &
slogan
Logos, Colours & Typefaces
1880s
200
5
Typefaces
The use of a particular typeface can also
express identity through the use of
conservative typefaces such as Courier
or Times or more innovative designs such
as Avant Garde.
However, it is crucial to consider the
lifecycle of style elements and the costs
involved should they date quickly.
The British Airways logo was designed in 1997
by Newell & Sorrell.
The colours are blue (Pantone 281) and red
(Pantone 485). The additional colour is grey
(Pantone 877).
British Airways uses its proprietary typefaces
Mylius Sans and Mylius Serif, both designed by
Rodney Mylius at Newell & Sorrell.
The T-Mobile logo was designed in 2001 by
Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux . The colours are
magenta (Pantone Rhodamine Red) and grey
(Pantone Cool Gray 7).
T-Mobile uses its proprietary typefaces
TeleAntiqua and TeleGrotesk, which are based
on ITC Century and Neue Helvetica
respectively.
Design process - summary
All style elements need to be carefully
considered, tested and evaluated on an
on-going basis.
Once the house-style is decided, a house-
style manual will be developed that
covers all possible uses of style elements
and acts as a reference-guide for
employees.
Corporate communication
…refers to all communication strategies,
tactics and techniques an organisation
uses to represent itself, its products and
services to the target audiences.
…helps to transmit the corporate identity
internally and externally through
strategically planned and coordinated
efforts.
Design process - ctnd
As Bromley points out: 'The design process
can be sophisticated, comprehensive and
expensive. Complex organisations need to
co-ordinate design proposals with corporate
policies and practices. This maximises the
benefits of their visual identity because the
visual identity has to work effectively across
divisions within the company, across
products, across communications (stationery
and packaging), across cultures and over a
considerable period.' (Bromley, 1993: 159)
Corporate image
Corporate identity refers to the self-presentation of
an organisation.
The identity is relayed in various ways to the
publics who interpret the organisation’s behaviour,
directed communication and symbolisms.
The individual members of those publics then form
an image of the organisation which is based on
their interpretation of the identity.
This might also be influenced by direct experiences
they had with the organisation or by accounts of
opinion leaders such as family, friends, the media,
etc.
Corporate
Identity
Corporate image
Public A
Public B
Public C
Experiences
Symbolism
Behaviour
Directed Communication
Relationship between Corporate
Identity and Image
The importance of a
favourable image
“A positive corporate image is a
condition for a continuity and
strategic success. It is no longer
solely the field of attention of
marketing, but a strategic
instrument of top management”
CEO Dutch KLM, De Soet
Benefits of a favourable
image
A sound CI is a incentive for the sales of
products & services
It helps the company recruit the right
employees
It is important to the financial world &
investors
A sound corporate image creates
emotional added value for a company
which ensures that a company is always
one step ahead of its competitors.
Benefits of a favourable
image
Research has shown that 9 out of 10
consumers report that when
choosing between products that are
similar in quality and price, the
reputation of the company
determines which product they buy!
Example: Lager
Favourable image: example
CORPORATE REPUTATION
EXPLAINED
The principle difference between
corporate image and corporate
reputation is that reputations are
formed over a long time.
However, as with corporate image,
reputations can be good, bad,
unwanted, out of date etc
The benefits of a positive
corporate reputation
Can give distinctiveness and a
competitive advantage
can contribute to profits
can act as a safeguard in times of
adversity
Reputation as a control
mechanism?
Balmer argued that the organization’s
reputation can act as a standard governing
behavior i.e. “Would my actions be in line with
the company’s good/bad etc reputation”
Can be used by employees, those in
recruitment etc
He developed the DEAR principle to explain
the above………………………...
THE DEAR PRINCIPLE
D= DECISIONS
E= EVALUATED
A= AGAINST the
R= REPUTATION
REPUTIONS ALSO APPLY TO..
The corporate brand
part of an organization (business
unit/subsidiary)
what an organisation makes as well as how it
behaves
“I would buy their cars but I would
not wish to work for them!”
Finally……….a word of
caution
Although a valuable resource (in many
instances) a corporate reputation is NO
GUARANTEE of business survival or of success.
Consider Olivetti which had an enviable
reputation as a leading manufacturer of
typewriters but took insufficient account of
technological developments in the field..Olivetti
computers ?
SUMMARY: CI &
Reputation
The concepts of image and reputation are laden with
different meanings.
Perception is important because it effects our behavior
Unlike images a reputation is formed over a long time
In considering perceptions held of an organisation
consideration should also be given to the
image/reputation of the industry, country of origin,
corporate and product brands, as well as those of its
subsidiaries.
Brands and branding
The particular concern here is with the ways
in which an increasing number or products or
services have come to be regarded as brands.
It was not always so, and in many poorer
parts of the world today brands still do not
occupy the position they do in the so-called
developed countries. Staple foodstuffs, for
example, are bought and sold on markets in
developing countries without being branded.
Brands and branding -
Reading
Shimp, Terence (2000) Advertising.
Promotion. Supplemental Aspects of
Integrated Marketing
Communications, 5th ed., Fort
Worth: Dryden Press, pp. 216-32
History of brands
In the 19th century the link between
consumer and producer was broken
Intermediaries such as wholesalers and
brokers tried to exert influence on
consumers
Manufacturers hit back by branding
their products with distinctive name and
appropriate marketing communications
History of brands
Some of the most familiar brands
date back to 19th century
Heinz - since 1869
However, the
pendulum has
recently swung
back in favour of
retailers, especially
supermarkets,
which now
vigorously brand
themselves and
their products.
What is the appeal of
brands?
Two dimensions:
1)
Brand appeal for the consumer
2)
Brand appeal for the producer
Brand appeal - consumer
Authenticity
Consistency
‘At its simplest, a brand is a recognisable
and trustworthy badge of origin, and also
a promise of performance.’ (Cowley 1996:
21)
E.g.:
Brand appeal - consumer
Rational or functional appeal
Helps them to make a choice
saves time and effort through a
reduction of perceived risk
Based on trust
In semiotic terms - brands have a
denotative meaning
Brand appeal - consumer
Connotative dimension:
I.e. Those less easily defined
associations which are triggered in
people’s hearts and minds
Culturally and individual personal
experience determined
Emotional and symbolic
Brand appeal - consumer
E.g. many adults continue to use a
brand such as Johnson’s because it
evokes childhood memories
Or many Scots reaffirm their cultural
identity by drinking Irn-Bru instead
of Coca-cola
Brand appeal - consumer
This aspect is well captured by
Roderick White, who writes that ‘a
brand has a place in people's minds,
as a brand, whereas a mere product
is simply a way of fulfilling a physical
need’ (White, 1993: 5).
Elements are a distinctive &
evocative name & logo together with
the corporate image
Perceptual map of brands -
example Channel
Niche
Mainstream
Modern
Oldfashioned
C4
BBC2
ITV
BBC1
Brand appeal - consumer
In addition to the rational and emotional
aspects of consumers’ relationships with
brands Shimp identifies a third factor,
which he calls the ‘experiential’. Thus the
impact of a brand on the senses (its look
or taste, for instance) is considered a
separate aspects from the other two.
Brands have to live up to expectations -
80% of the demise of brands is down to
disappointing customers’ expectations.
Brand appeal - producer
Branding provides one of the main ways to
differentiate a product or service from those
of competitors (positioning).
Another potential advantage to producers
concerns the addition of new products. The
so-called stretching or extending of brand
names can be successfully made to apply to
these, rather than the riskier option of
launching them as brands on their own
account.
Brand appeal - producer
The calculation is that something of
the original brand values will be
transferred to the new item, whether
it be Mars ice cream (stretching) or
Camel clothing (extension).
Consumers also derive reassurance
for new goods and services
associated with the “ur-brand”
Brand appeal - producer
The brand concept has extended
beyond the world of goods &services
Individuals (e.g. Schumacher,
Beckham)
Countries (e.g. Cool brittania)
Corporate brands (e.g.Sony,
Granada)
Cool Britannia? What’s that
(just in case anyone asks…)
NB: Cool Britannia “Who was to blame? David Beckham,
Ginger Spice and her Union Jack dress, Princess Diana,
Oasis, Tony Blair? Surely all of them, and more. The phrase
Cool Britannia began to appear in the British press near the
end of 1996, shortly after Newsweek declared London to be
the coolest capital city on the planet. Anything with a red,
white and blue flag was trendy, Americans started talking
in mockney accents, Ben & Jerry ice-creams named their
vanilla, strawberry and chocolate shortbread tubs 'Cool
Britannia'. For a brief moment the empire was reborn -
until, in mid-1997, the rest of the world saw through the
facade. “
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1996/fashion2.shtml
, 20/11/05
Even people can
be brands
E.g. David Beckham
Paid himself £19.7
last year out of
endorsements
according to his
company
Named as the
biggest “personal”
brand ever
Brand appeal - producer
The role of of brands today is so big
that brand equity (formerly goodwill)
can be a company’s most important
asset.
E.g. When Nestle bought Rowntree
Or value of dot.com companies
Trends in brands
Growth of own label or private
brands
A decline in brand loyalty due to
products becoming virtually
indistinguishable and customers’
price awareness and growth of sales
promotions
Brands conclusions
As Klein says, brands have come to
dominate the world of commerce and much
more besides, to the extent that we now
live in a ‘branded world’.
Brands matter to organisations because
they are major assets.
They consequently need to be managed
carefully, with occasional adjustments being
made in response to marketing research,
but without compromising core values.
Brands - conclusion cntd.
At the end, they matter because they
embody meanings for consumers. It is
clear that in the information age this is
now truer than ever.
As products and services quickly become
essentially indistinguishable from the
competition, they rely increasingly on
branding to differentiate themselves and
their users.
Bibliography
Cowley, Don (ed) (1996), Understanding
Brands, London: Kogan Page
Klein, Naomi (2000), No Logo, London:
Flamingo
Randall, Geoffrey (1997), Branding,
London: Kogan Page
White, Roderick (1993), Advertising. What
it is and how to do it, 3rd ed.,
London:McGraw-Hill.
Thank you and have a nice day!