Corporate branding

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In marketing, corporate branding refers to the practice of promoting the brand name of a corporate entity, as opposed to specific products or services. The activities and thinking that go into corporate branding are different from product and service branding because the scope of a corporate brand is typically much broader. Although corporate branding is a distinct activity from product or service branding, these different forms of branding can, and often do, take place side-by-side within a given corporation. The ways in which corporate brands and other brands interact is known as the corporate brand architecture.

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Corporate branding affects multiple stakeholders (e.g., employees, investors) and impacts many aspects of companies such as the evaluation of their product and services, corporate identity and culture, sponsorship, employment applications, and brand extensions (see study Fetscherin and Usunier, 2012). It therefore can result in significant economies of scope since one advertising campaign can be used for several products. It also facilitates new product acceptance because potential buyers are already familiar with the name. However, this strategy may hinder the creation of distinct brand images or identities for different products: an overarching corporate brand reduces the ability to position a brand with an individual identity, and may conceal different products' unique characteristics.

Corporate branding is not limited to a specific mark or name. Branding can incorporate multiple touchpoints. These touchpoints include; logo, customer service, treatment and training of employees, packaging, advertising, stationery, and quality of products and services. [1] Any means by which the general public comes into contact with a specific brand constitutes a touchpoint that can affect perceptions of the corporate brand. Corporate branding can also be viewed from several approaches, including critical perspectives. [2]

It has been argued that successful corporate branding often stems from a strong coherence between what the company's top management seek to accomplish (their strategic vision), what the company's employees know and believe (lodged in its organizational culture), and how its external stakeholders perceived the company (their image of it). Misalignments between these three factors, may indicate an underperforming corporate brand. This type of corporate brand analysis has been labeled the Vision-Culture-Image (VCI) Alignment Model. [3]

Changes in stakeholder expectations are causing an increasing number of corporations to integrate marketing, communications and corporate social responsibility into corporate branding. [4] This trend is evident in campaigns such as IBM Smarter Planet, G.E. Ecomagination, The Coca-Cola Company Live Positively, and DOW Human Element. As never before, people care about the corporation behind the product. They do not separate their opinions about the company from their opinions of that company's products or services. This blending of corporate and product/service opinions is due to increasing corporate transparency, which gives stakeholders a deeper, clearer view into a corporation's actual behavior and actual performance. Transparency is, in part, a byproduct of the digital revolution, which has enabled stakeholders—employees, retirees, customers, business partners, supply chain partners, investors, neighbors—with the ability to share opinion about corporations via social media.

Top 10 Most Valuable Brands

According to Forbes, these are the world's highest ranking brands in 2021. [5]

  1. Apple - $241.2 B
  2. Google - $207.5 B
  3. Microsoft - $162.9 B
  4. Amazon - $135.4 B
  5. Facebook - $70.3 B
  6. Coca-Cola - $64.4 B
  7. Disney - $61.3 B
  8. Samsung - $50.4 B
  9. Louis Vuitton - $47.2 B
  10. McDonald's - $46.1 B

See also

Related Research Articles

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The reputation or prestige of a social entity is an opinion about that entity – typically developed as a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria, such as behavior or performance.

In business, a competitive advantage is an attribute that allows an organization to outperform its competitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corporate social responsibility</span> Form of corporate self-regulation aimed at contributing to social or charitable goals

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social impact is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in, with, or supporting professional service volunteering through pro bono programs, community development, administering monetary grants to non-profit organizations for the public benefit, or to conduct ethically oriented business and investment practices. While once it was possible to describe CSR as an internal organizational policy or a corporate ethic strategy similar to what is now known today as Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG); that time has passed as various companies have pledged to go beyond that or have been mandated or incentivized by governments to have a better impact on the surrounding community. In addition, national and international standards, laws, and business models have been developed to facilitate and incentivize this phenomenon. Various organizations have used their authority to push it beyond individual or industry-wide initiatives. In contrast, it has been considered a form of corporate self-regulation for some time, over the last decade or so it has moved considerably from voluntary decisions at the level of individual organizations to mandatory schemes at regional, national, and international levels. Moreover, scholars and firms are using the term "creating shared value", an extension of corporate social responsibility, to explain ways of doing business in a socially responsible way while making profits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebranding</span> Marketing strategy

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In a corporation, a stakeholder is a member of "groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist", as defined in the first usage of the word in a 1963 internal memorandum at the Stanford Research Institute. The theory was later developed and championed by R. Edward Freeman in the 1980s. Since then it has gained wide acceptance in business practice and in theorizing relating to strategic management, corporate governance, business purpose and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The definition of corporate responsibilities through a classification of stakeholders to consider has been criticized as creating a false dichotomy between the "shareholder model" and the "stakeholder model", or a false analogy of the obligations towards shareholders and other interested parties.

Corporate behaviour is the actions of a company or group who are acting as a single body. It defines the company's ethical strategies and describes the image of the company. Studies on corporate behaviour show the link between corporate communication and the formation of its identity.

Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy which uses a celebrity's fame or social status to promote a product, brand or service, or to raise awareness about an issue. Marketers use celebrity endorsers in hopes that the positive image of the celebrity endorser will be passed on to the product's or brand's image. Non-profit organizations also use celebrities since a celebrity's frequent mass media coverage reaches a wider audience, thus making celebrities an effective ingredient in fundraising.

Sustainability advertising is communications geared towards promoting social, economic and environmental benefits (sustainability) of products, services or actions through paid advertising in media in order to encourage responsible behavior of consumers.

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Societal responsibility of marketing is a marketing concept that holds that a company should make marketing decisions not only by considering consumers' wants, the company's requirements, but also society's long-term interests.

A touchpoint can be defined as any way consumers can interact with a business organization, whether person-to-person, through a website, an app or any form of communication. When consumers connect with these touchpoints they can consider their perceptions of the business and form an opinion.


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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brand</span> Identification for a good or service

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Cornelis Bernardus Maria (Cees) van Riel is a Dutch organizational theorist, consultant, and Professor of Corporate Communication at Rotterdam School of Management and Director of the Corporate Communication Centre at the Erasmus University, known for his work in the area of corporate communication and reputation management.

Corporate architecture refers to the use of architectural design to construct physical spaces that can promote the corporate image of a corporation. During the 20th century corporate architecture was able to transition from designs with mainly function in mind to more creative endeavours, which are able to be an architectural expression of the firm’s institutional identity and play a role in stakeholders’ image of the organisation.

Traditionally, market orientation (MO) focuses on microenvironment and the functional management of an organisation. However, contemporary organisations have widened their focus to incorporate more roles, functions and emphasis on the macro environment. Firms have been concerned with short run success and often not taken into account the long-run ecological, social and economic effects from their activities. Despite growth in the MO concept, there is still a need to reconceptualise the concept with a greater emphasis on external factors that influence a firm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B Corporation (certification)</span> Social and environmental certification of for-profit companies

In business, a B Corporation is a for-profit corporation certified by B Lab for its social impact. B Corp certification is conferred by B Lab, a global non-profit organization. To be granted and to maintain certification, companies must receive a minimum score of 80 from an assessment of its social and environmental performance, integrate B Corp commitments to stakeholders into company governing documents, and pay an annual fee based on annual sales. Companies must re-certify every three years to retain B Corporation status.

References

  1. Schultz, Majken; Yun, Mi Antorini; Csaba, Fabian F. (2005). Corporate Branding: Purpose/people/process : Towards the Second Wave of Corporate Branding. Copenhagen Business School Press DK. ISBN   978-87-630-0140-3.
  2. Schroeder, Jonathan E. (2017-09-12). "Corporate branding in perspective: a typology". European Journal of Marketing . 51 (9/10): 1522–1529. doi:10.1108/EJM-07-2017-0450. ISSN   0309-0566.
  3. MJ Hatch & M Schultz, Taking Brand Initiative: How Companies Can Align Their Strategy, Culture and Identity Through Corporate Branding (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2008).
  4. Everett, Lesley (2016-02-03). Corporate Brand Personality: Re-focus Your Organization's Culture to Build Trust, Respect and Authenticity. Kogan Page Publishers. ISBN   978-0-7494-7138-5.
  5. Swant, Marty. "The World's Most Valuable Brands". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2012-10-07.

Further reading

  1. Balmer, John M. T. and Greyser, Stephen A. (eds.), Revealing the Corporation: Perspectives on identity, image, reputation, corporate branding, and corporate-level marketing, London: Routledge, 2003, ISBN   0-415-28421-X.
  2. Schultz, Majken; Hatch, Mary J. and Larsen, Mogens H. (eds.), The Expressive Organization: Linking Identity, Reputation and the Corporate Brand, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN   0-19-829779-3.
  3. Pratihari, Suvendu K. and Uzma, Shigufta H. (2018), "CSR and corporate branding effect on brand loyalty: a study on Indian banking sector", Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 27 Iss: 1, pp. 57–78, doi : 10.1108/JPBM-05-2016-1194
  4. Pratihari, Suvendu K. and Uzma, Shigufta H. (2018), "Corporate Social Identity: An Analysis of the Indian Banking Sector", International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol 36 Iss: 6, pp. 1248–1284, doi : 10.1108/IJBM-03-2017-0046
  5. Pratihari, Suvendu K. and Uzma, Shigufta H. (2019), "A Survey on Bankers' Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility in India", Social Responsibility Journal, doi : 10.1108/SRJ-11-2016-0198
  6. Ind, Nicholas, The Corporate Brand, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997, ISBN   0-8147-3762-5.
  7. Marc Fetscherin, Jean-Claude Usunier, (2012) "Corporate branding: an interdisciplinary literature review", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46 Iss: 5, pp. 733 – 753
  8. Gregory, James R. and Wiechmann, Jack G., Leveraging the Corporate Brand, Chicago: NTC, 1997, ISBN   0-8442-3444-3.
  9. Godin, Seth., "Purple Cow", ISBN   978-0141016405