Corporate branding
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Corporate branding is the practice of using a company's name as a product brand name. It is an attempt to leverage corporate brand equity to create product brand recognition. It is a type of family branding or umbrella brand. Disney, for example, includes the word "Disney" in the name of many of its products; other examples include IBM and Heinz. This strategy contrasts with individual product branding, where each product has a unique brand name and the corporate name is not promoted to the consumer.
Corporate branding 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. 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.
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, in turn, may indicate an underperforming corporate brand. This type of corporate brand analysis has been labeled the Vision-Culture-Image (VCI) Alignment Model.[1]
[edit] See also
- Umbrella brand
- Family branding
- Individual branding
- Brand architecture
- Brand
- Brand management
- Brand orientation
- Marketing
- Trademark
[edit] References
- ^ MJ Hatch & M Schultz, Taking Brand Initiative: How Companies Can Align Their Strategy, Culture and Identity Through Corporate Branding (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2008).
