Corporate Communication

Corporate Branding

Corporate Branding

What is a brand

Branding Consuming a brand

To 'Fit in' and stand out'

Corporate Branding

Product branding
About distinguishing products Imbues mass produced goods with meaning and identity

The brand is a promise to the consumer

brands provide consumers with a pool of symbols to use when constructing their personal identities Christensen et al 2008

Corporate Branding

Corporate branding
Christensen et al 2008

Corporate branding can be defined as the attempt to brand the organization as one coherent entity, one integrated body.

The aim is to create an aura or umbrella that will cast its glow over the corporation and the product brands. An increased interest in the corporation behind the product brands, ie. Their values and demeanor. Gaining legitimacy: - Being different but still the same as everyone else

Corporate Branding

What is a brand
In a product-sense: What makes your product valuable to the consumers, besides its mere functional attributes. a product is something that is made, in a factory; a brand is something that is bought, by a customer Stephen King in Ind 1997

A corporate brand is:

Not just marketing of the corporation three key differences between brands and corporate brands:

- Intangibility - complexity - responsibility

Corporate Branding Intangibility

Consumers can not feel the corporation, thus the brand is based on information Brands are based on bits and pieces of information - consumers themselves fill in the blanks The information the public receives (and the way they receive it), is what builds their notion of the corporate brand A myriad different views of what a corporations stands for what the majority thinks is what one could call the corporate brand. To manage (and create) a corporate brand consistency of communication to, and building relationships with, all stakeholders

Corporate Branding Intangibility

Building relationships with stakeholders

People want to receive an individual treatment the want products tailored to their exact needs. But post-fordism marketing have been focused on mass marketing and quantity instead of quality. Technological development have made it possible to achieve large scale individualization of products.

Corporate Branding Complexity

A corporation is a complex entity - Complexity creates confusion

To reduce the complexity: - Deliver one core message integration of communication efforts

Corporate Branding Responsibility

A corporate brand is burdened/blessed with a social responsibility. A product brand can not be responsible a corporation can. The soul of the corporation is linked to its ability to be responsible

Corporate Branding
A strong corporate brand is made up of three brand stars
* Vision * Culture * Image Star gaps: - Vision-culture gap

- Image-culture gap
- Image-vision gap

Corporate Branding

Corporate Branding
Enacting the corporate brand

Goal: to deliver the brand promise to all stakeholders - Involving employees - Involving other stakeholders Successful corporate brands are characterized by participative approaches whereby senior management provide guidance about their brand's values, but find mechanisms to engage staff in debates about their values to encourage a mediated, consensus view. de Chernatony 2002

Corporate Branding

The move to corporate branding a move towards aligning culture and brand

A move towards focusing on all stakeholders not just consumers

The employee as an embodiment of the brand

Corporate Branding

To sum up..
A corporate brand is more than just the outward manifestation of an organization its name, logo, visual presentation. Rather it is the core of values that define it. The communication of those values is of course and important part of what an organization is... The company that can communicate effectively helps to ensure that its various audiences knows what it does and what it stands for. Ind
1997

Communications must be based on substance. If they are not, inconsistency creeps in and confusion follows shortly thereafter
Ind 1997

Corporate Branding
What are values
A value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or endstate of existence is personally or professionally preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. de
Chernatony 2002

Values thus drives behavior Aligning individual values with corporate values Corporate values in the vision: - Category vs. unique values

Corporate Branding

What are values

How the organizational culture adhere to the corporate values:

Three subcultures: - Enhancing subcultures - Orthogonal subcultures - Countercultures

Corporate Branding

Cases where you shouldn't use a corporate brand:

- Product incubators - Mergers and acquisitions - If expecting fallout from a high risk venture