The second in a series of my guides on brand building, it focuses on corporate brands, how they differ from product brands, what they have in common with them, how they relate to each other, and more. Importantly, it focuses on the need to build corporate brands, and clarifies whether brand purpose or customer-facing businesses are essential to creating a corporate brand. Finally, it helps us understand why corporate brands are not about corporate communications or marketing alone. Why they need a composite corporate brand strategy to relate to all stakeholders of companies.

1. Building a corporate brand
The second in a series of guides on building brands
by Geeta Sundaram

2. In recent years, companies are discovering the worth of their brands, thanks to the rise of mergers and
acquisitions. While that might be the worth of their companies, the worth of their corporate brand
would be different.
And while I draw a distinction between the valuation of companies and their corporate brands, I would
also say that the corporate brand is not merely the sum of all their product brands put together.
In the following pages, we shall delve a little deeper into what corporate brands represent.

3. Companies can be brands in the sense that products and services can be brands.
They are a measure of the relationship that the company has with its customers.
- An intangible that has attributes and attitude
- Offers rational and emotional benefits
- Is enduring
- Is differentiated and unique
This too is a journey that takes time and sustained investment.
Can companies be brands?

4. That’s because companies have more audiences than customers.
Their audiences/stakeholders comprise
- Employees
- Investors
- Customers
- Distribution channel partners
- OEM suppliers
- Government
- Community at large
Building a single composite corporate brand across all these segments
requires a corporate brand strategy.
Companies are brands in another sense

5. What does the corporate brand journey look like?
Would depend on the kind of company, but typically, it should be the same as for product brands.
Perception Beliefs Experience Identification Brand Loyalty
Each audience would go through this journey, and would vary only to the extent that companies
might prioritise their audiences/ stakeholders differently.

6. A corporate brand strategy is not merely a corporate brand communications strategy, for the simple
reason that companies have to do more than merely persuade and sell their wares.
How a corporate brand differs from a product brand:
- A corporate brand defines how the company does business with each of its stakeholders
- It defines the company’s corporate culture
- Brand values define the company’s culture and the company has to live by them
- The benefits of a corporate brand are therefore closely linked with its brand values and the way
it does business
It is in the experience and identification stages of the corporate brand journey, that the corporate
brand is really built.
Corporate brand strategy

7. The brand positioning for a corporate brand would depend on the following:
- Attributes and features of the organisation, including the most distinguishing ones
- Advantages and benefits accruing from those features, of doing business with the company.
- Competitive environment across industries and leadership positions, if any
- Most successful product/service brands, some of which might be even better known and regarded
than the company
- Future direction of the company
Corporate brand positioning

8. When Seagram entered the Indian market in 1994, we at Ogilvy Delhi built a
corporate brand for them. It was based on
- The company’s values of honouring tradition and quality
- The people behind their best-known brands
- How their best-known brands reflect the company’s expertise
- Their practice of promoting responsible drinking
Today, the Company is owned by Pernod Ricard, a different company with a different set of core values.
From their website, it appears that promoting the spirit of conviviality is what they stand for.
However, I am hopeful that Pernod Ricard would still retain the sense of time-honoured tradition
and of responsible drinking.
Corporate brand positioning – an example

9. In recent years, the automobile industry in India and globally has been
downbeat somewhat. I believe that technological changes disrupting the
industry is one of the reasons, with a preference for ride-hailing.
I anticipate a shift to mobility as a service sooner than expected, with
electrification and greater connectivity as well.
Jaguar Land Rover has embarked on such a journey in the UK, as their
website suggests. Here is a luxury carmaker anticipating and possibly
leading the industry in ushering change.
I have put down my thoughts on how Jaguar Land Rover should build their corporate brand on my blog
and you can read it here.
Corporate brand positioning – a more recent example

10. Unlike product brands which have an immediate and direct relationship with customers,
companies are known through the products, people and profits they make.
Yet, there is a relationship between individual product brands and the corporate brand,
especially between the best performing brands and the company.
- Product brands speak of the company’s expertise
- Provide wide recognition for the company
- Generate new revenue streams and profits
- Company’s expertise/strength provides quality assurance for the brand
- Company’s expertise leads to future innovations/new products
There is a symbiotic relationship between product brands and the corporate brand
through a kind of process of osmosis, explained diagrammatically in the next slide.
Relationship between product and corporate brands

11. Corporate brand
Product brand
Expertise
Quality assurance
Future innovations
New and better products
Proof of expertise
Wide recognition
New revenue streams
Greater profits
Relationship between product brand and corporate brand
explained

12. As we can see, product brands do more for the corporate brand, to be merely
relegated to the marketing function.
That said, corporate brands are always called to the frontline, when anything
goes wrong on product brands.

13. Because of the symbiotic relationship between the corporate brand and product brands, companies
named after one of their products, or conglomerates where many companies share the same brand
name, have to be even more careful of how well they manage their corporate brand.
For example, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are named after their best-known products. Both corporate brands
would take an immediate hit, if the product brands are adversely affected.
On the other hand, the VW brand would have suffered most from the diesel emissions scandal, while
all other brands belonging to the Volkswagen group would have escaped relatively unscathed.
Corporate brands as distinct from their companies

14. Not necessarily. It helps every bit, but is not a necessary condition for a corporate brand to be
successful. Several successful corporations have built their brands, business-to- business:
- GE
- Boeing
- Airbus
- IBM
- Microsoft
- And many others.
However, many companies do not feel the need to invest in their corporate brand, because they are
business-to-business.
Do corporate brands need to be customer-facing?

15. Not necessarily. Companies have their own raison d‘etre and reason to be in business. That and their
responsibilities towards investors, are their brand purpose. Especially if you believe in Milton
Friedman's form of capitalism.
However, there are companies who also have a social purpose. This is either because of their history,
their commitment to a particular cause, or because it aligns with their core brand values. Seagram
or Pernod Ricard’s commitment to responsible drinking, and Nike's stand against racism, for example.
However, it is not a prerequisite to build a corporate brand. Besides, only the few companies that can
actually do justice to a social purpose should do so.
Must corporate brands have a brand purpose?

16. To conclude
Corporate brands are living emblems of a company’s values, products, people and way
of doing business.
They have a symbiotic connection with product brands
Their valuation would not be the same as company valuations, nor would it be a sum total
of product brands’ valuations, though the latter certainly contribute to it
The strategy to build corporate brands is about more than marketing or a communications strategy
It is about what the company stands for, and how it relates to its stakeholders.

17. For more on brands, visit the business and brands page
on my blog, www.peripateticperch.com