Corporate Identity

Corporate Identity and Reputation Live the Image.

What do Wipro, Tata Group, Modi Group, Videocon, Britannia Industries, Aditya Birla Group, Dr. Reddy’s and ICICI have in common with Accenture, Citigroup, Computer Associates, Novartis, GlaxoSimthKline, “Monday” and Pepsico?

Format

This presentation is intended as an interactive session.

It will frequently posit a number of ‘truisms’ that are not necessarily true.

You are expected to be alert to these, engage with them, and challenge them whenever & however you like.

The format of engagement is:

Image

After years of denial, virtually every organisation today is keenly aware of the tremendous impact of image on its immediate and long-term success.

However, most companies regard image as frontage & not having any connection with the rest of the organisation.

This may give them short-term gains, but these are rarely sustainable in & of themselves.

Today, we know that neglecting the backend can severely jeopardize the front end, and even sets up the chance of backlash.

Hence, Image is not like make-up: it needs to be ‘true’ through and through.

To achieve a desired image (and accrue its benefits), organisations must “live” it.

Positioning

For years, companies were happy to fashion themselves after someone else, usually a leading company in their own field.

They were happy to follow. Which is fine, because there were many customers for follower goods, few companies altogether, and no pressure to grow.

Not any more.

Rising competition and picky customers are forcing them to differentiate themselves from competition in meaningful ways.

We now know that finding and building on one’s own & unique strengths is a faster and easier route to sustainable competitiveness: “Find yourself. Then be yourself.”

Analyzing Image

Image exists in the minds of an organisation’s stakeholders.

It is best understood by the “Five Blind Men and the Elephant” story, where random parts define the whole for each ‘audience’.

Image is formed from some or many out of the following:

Intended communication (“claims, propaganda”)

Unintended communication (“revealed between the lines”)

Word-of-mouth reputation (“buzz, media reports”)

Transaction and post-transaction experience (“expectation versus delivery”)

The sources of image are many and diverse—not all can be tracked down.

Many of these occur outside our sphere of control.

The only way to ensure a degree of consistency and predictability is to minimize contradictions between claims, performance and people’s perceptions or experiences.

And yet, retain a value that is unique, special and meaningful to the customer.

The starting point of this could well be to downsize intents &/or claims so as to match on-the-ground capabilities & performance.

© Arvind Lodaya, 2002 Find & build your own strengths, but don’t make claims you can’t deliver on. Let customers perceive your strengths in a memorable & meaningful manner. Perform / Deliver better than what your customers expect from you.

Corporate Identity

Corporate Identity is an enterprise-wide control process to define, attain & maintain a desired positioning & image in the minds of its internal & external stakeholders.

Historically, Corporate Identity originates from flags, ensigns, emblems, uniforms and heraldry – visual systems (Olins: “traditions”) that signified a specific group of people, their values, beliefs and purpose.

It identified “us” and, by implication, “them.”

Today, it still performs essentially the same function.

However, it has moved beyond the purely visual in its scope & influence.

It is slowly expanding into every area & aspect of an organisation, auditing and aligning it with the stated purpose and positioning.

In its early days, CI was an extension of advertising – and addressed customers, shareholders & the media – i.e. external stakeholders.

Today, CI is a strategic consulting discipline and addresses internal stakeholders as equally critical audiences for & players in the production of positioning & image.

Its contemporary end objective remains exactly the same as in medieval times: winning, retaining & propagating.

That is, “achieving the organisation’s fundamental objectives” and “persuading the world about its value.”

Identity in business

Globalization: conveying value across cultures

Market shifts: keeping up to speed with the consumer (if not actually ahead of her)

Technological transformations: challenges of new media & new work paradigms

Competition/Differentiation/Positioning shifts: retaining relevance and distinction

Organisational Restructuring & change: reflecting new values, unifying & motivating teams

Consolidation & Diversification: strengthening equity, providing flexibility for growth

Mergers & Acquisitions, Divestments: avoiding depletion of perceived value

Joint ventures & Strategic alliances: creating synergy between two strong entities

Privatization & Deregulation: redefining role & purpose in changed rules

Increasing costs of communication: getting more from less

Some top CI players*…

Worldwide:

Landor

Wolff Olins

Lippincott & Marguelies

Enterprise IG (WPP group)

Interbrand

Indian:

NID

R+K

Preeti Vyas Gianetti

Shining Strategic Design

… not a definitive list!

CI in India

In the last decade, a number of Indian organisations have undergone a change in their corporate identities.

This coincided with:

globalisation of the Indian economy; and

arrival of foreign advertising agencies via tie-ups with their Indian counterparts.

The impact of these remains unclear.

The case of Air-India

In the ’80s, the top management of Air-India decided to go in for a more international and modern identity.

They appointed Landor for the task.

Landor recommended dropping the Maharaja and adopting a ‘Sun’ emblem.

However, this was widely resented by both employees and passengers, and eventually revoked totally.

The case of BA

British Airways was facing a barrier to growth because it was perceived as being too ‘British’

It adopted a new global & multicultural CI hoping to redress this perception

This however led to severe alienation of its core customers – British businesses

They have since settled for a dual mix

Branding India initiative

Early in 2002, the Ministry of Tourism announced a competition to brand India using a logo and a descriptor of not more than 4 words

They cited ‘Malaysia: Truly Asia’ and ‘Amazing Thailand’ as examples of what they hoped to achieve

The ‘Incredible India’ campaign was launched around 2004

Identity & culture: du Guy, Hall et al. © Arvind Lodaya, 2002 identity/difference: identification production representation regulation consumption

The Identity Process

Visionary/Leadership brief

Market/Competition audit

Communications audit

Stakeholder perceptions audit

Define corporate purpose, values & positioning

Design visual structure, elements & system

Enterprise-wide CI application, systems alignment & ownership-building

Internal & external launch

Feedback, fine-tuning and SOP/manual

© Arvind Lodaya, 2002 Audit & benchmark actual performance & value delivered; identify unique competitive attributes & strengths Compile positioning, intents, strategy Is positioning within scope of delivery? Audit perceptions Does positioning exploit unique strengths? Does positioning reflect strategy? Do perceptions reflect positioning? Do perceptions reflect actual quality? Do perceptions reflect value-add? Audit communications for efficacy in conveying claims & intents to intended audiences Redefine positioning to reflect performance, unique strengths and intents in the competitive context Audit organisation for its capability and preparedness to deliver against positioning Restructure organisation & communications for maximum efficacy in delivery & conveyance of positioning in competitive context END

Identity tools: EFH’s ORD © Arvind Lodaya, 2002 External Layer: Visible to everyone “ SYMBOLS” 1 st -Level Inner Layer: Visible to everyone who interacts with it “ RITUALS” 2 nd -Level Inner Layer: Visible only to people who deal closely with it “ ROLE MODELS” “ CORE VALUES”

In 1997, Hofstede published a controversial but important cross-cultural comparative study. He later added a fifth dimension to the above four: ‘Long- versus Short-Term Orientation’

Identity categories

Product

Concept/Technology

Ambience/Experience

Communication Media

Personalities

Behaviour

Identity structures

Monolithic (fully centralized)

“ ABC” universally

Endorsed

“ ABC” holding company

“ ABC” + “KLM,” “NOP,” etc. division/SBU titles

“ ABC” + “DEF,” “GHI,” etc. product/brand lines

Branded/Autonomous (fully decentralized)

“ ABC” holding company

“ EFG,” “HIJ,” etc. division/SBU titles

“ PQR,” “STU,” etc. product/brand lines

Identity core constituents

Organisational self-definitives:

Shared (global) vision, mission, objectives & values

Strategy & Positioning (internal & external stakeholders)

Name

Descriptor

Style, tone, demeanor, structure – manifested via the “gestalt” (configuration/arrangement & inter-relationships) of Logo/Symbol, Colours, Fonts, Graphic elements

Structure

Perceptions audit

Size/ Market Share

Performance/ Quality/ Reliability

Knowledge of own domain

Technology Leadership/ Pioneership

Innovativeness/ Creativity

Flexibility

Punctuality/ Speed

Commitment to Customer Success

Prestigious/ Exclusive

Knowledge (of customer’s business)

Global Capability

Bargain/ Best Price

Value (price:performance)

The perceptions audit uses benchmarks drawn from the intents & objectives, and category & generic positioning attributes, such as these:

Linear & lateral audit:

Visual Consistency

Narrative Consistency

Credibility

Product A,B,C… Division A,B,C… Corporate Literature Promotions Advertising Direct Mail Retail/PoS Stationery Signage Vehicles …

Positioning guidelines

Representative of the organization’s strengths

Relevant to its consumers &/or essential function &/or value delivery

Conveyable & conveyed to all relevant audiences

Sustainable against competitive threats over time

Typical identity objectives

Improving external image

Improving internal communications

Raising corporate visibility

Strengthening share value

Communicating change/ new strategies

Providing flexibility for growth

Integrating two companies

Creating goodwill (during troubled times)

Resolving brand structures

Defining overall positioning

Ensuring effectiveness

Strategy is effective only if the organisation itself is managed effectively to support it.

This implies that all elements of the organisation must support and enhance the competitive advantage that the strategy seeks to achieve.

10 effectiveness tips (Ind)

Take a long-term perspective

Set clear, preferably quantified objectives

Ensure CEO & senior management are committed to the programme

Ensure that the identity strategy complements the corporate strategy

Don’t change for the sake of change – leave well enough alone

Involve employees

Pay attention to implementation & details

Put appropriate people & systems in place to ensure sustainability

Propose complementary recommendations for change

Set up evaluation norms

Cynicism

Brands have become the pre-dominant sponsors of all communication we see today, leading to fatigue

Consumers are becoming skeptical about brands, and about big business in general

This presents a challenge to big business, and an opportunity to small business

What will the future of brands be like?

On the other hand, ‘identity’ has become an ever more complex phenomenon, and turned into a fundamental crisis for many individuals

The internet has dramatically reconfigured our ideas about community

My recommendation for the future of brands is: let brands become the hubs of future communities—in the real sense of the term

Brand Communities

“ a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand.” (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001)

Thank you. Arvind Lodaya http://geocities.com/lodaia