Corporate identity

This article discusses corporate identity both in the business sense and the sociological sense.

Business

In marketing, a corporate identity or "CI" is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives, and is usually visibly manifested by way of branding and the use of trademarks.

Corporate identity comes into being when there is a common ownership of an organisational philosophy which is manifest in a distinct corporate culture - the corporate personality. At its most profound, the public feel that they have ownership of the philosophy. (Balmer, 1995).

In general, this amounts to a logo (logotype and/or logogram) and supporting devices commonly assembled within a set of guidelines. These guidelines govern how the identity is applied and confirm approved colour palettes, typefaces, page layouts and other such methods of maintaining visual continuity and brand recognition across all physical manifestations of the brand.

Many companies, such as McDonald's and Electronic Arts have their own identity that runs through all of their products and merchandise. The trademark "M" logo and the yellow and red appears consistently throughout the McDonald's packaging and advertisements. Many companies pay large amounts of money for an identity that is extremely distinguishable, so it can appeal more to its targeted audience.

Corporate Identity is often viewed as being composed of three parts;

Corporate Design (logos, uniforms, etc.)
Corporate Communication (commercials, public relations, informations, etc.)
Corporate Behavior (Internal values, norms, etc.)

Corporate Identity has become a universal technique for promoting companies and improving corporate culture. Most notably is the company PAOS, founded by Motoo Nakanishi in Tokyo Japan in 1968. Nakanishi fused design, management consulting and corporate culture to revolutionize CI in Japan.

Sociological sense

Corporate identity can also have a sociological sense. In any large society members of a minority tend to develop a "corporate identity" where they feel a special bond to any other member of that minority even if they have never met the person before. This bond develops because they generally have similar experiences, face similar discrimination, have similar cultural values, economic limitations, etc.

In the United States, for instance, persons of Arab or Jewish ancestry, blacks, hispanics, gays, and persons who follow non-Christian religions, among many other minorities, each have a sense of corporate identity. Within a particular group there are feelings of "we have to watch out for each other" and "I have an obligation not just to succeed, but to help others of my group."

A common corrolary to this sense of corporate identity is a concern about assimilating into the majority culture to the extent where the minority group ceases to exist for all practical purposes. Corporate identity is promoted, strengthened and encouraged by activities such as teaching the ancestral language, practice of rituals and social customs, observance of holidays, etc., from the minority culture and discouraging marriage outside the particular group or moving to a geographic area where the minority group does not have a signficant presence.

Organizational point of view

In a recent monograph on Chinese Corporate Identity (Routledge, 2006), Peter Peverelli, proposes a new definition of coporate identiy, based on the general organization theory proposed in his earlier work, in particular Peverelli(2000). This definition regards identity as a result of social interaction: - Corporate identity is the way corporate actors (actors who perceive themselves as acting on behalf of the company) make sense of their company in ongoing social interaction with other actors in a specific context. It includes shared perceptions of reality, ways-to-do-things, etc., and interlocked behaviour. - In this process the corporate actors are of equal importance as those others; corporate identity pertains to the company (the group of corporate actors) as well as to the relevant others; - Corporate actors construct different identities in different contexts.

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Branding | Marketing | Product management | Promotion and marketing communications

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Sociological sense

Organizational point of view

See also

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