Fleur Serlie March, 2024 1
Article summary
Branding & Design 2024
Session 1: What is corporate branding?
Hatch & Schultz (2008) chapter 1: Corporate branding
• Product brands = operate independently or in family groups -> one product/service
- Focus on customers/consumers
- Gains market share through advertising campaigns designed by marketers
• Corporate brands = an entire enterprise and brands all of the products using one
name (McDonald’s)
- Address all stakeholders (so also suppliers, partners, etc.)
- Gains market share through sharing ambitions, values and beliefs of the enterprise
- It must connect to the past and history of the brand, when rebranding
When corporate brands work
• Coherence between what the top managers want to accomplish in the future (vision),
what has always been known/believed by employees (culture), and what external
stakeholders expect/desire from the company (image) is necessary for a corporate
brand! ->
VCI Alignment Model
,Fleur Serlie March, 2024 2
• Corporate brands need to be managed not only during brand launch, but throughout
the life of the company
Hatch & Schultz (2008) chapter 2: The value of brands
Good corporate branding and its benefits of belonging are the base for brand value
Differentiation and belonging
= “to attract customers and appeal to other stakeholders, reminding people why they belong to
or should join the community of interests that swirls around the brand”
• Brand symbolism helps people to identify others with similar values/interests, while
also differentiating them from people with dissimilar interests
• Belonging can be achieved by inviting customers into the inner circle or hosting
events (ultimately drawing out non-members) -> inclusion/exclusion
• “Brand meanings are produced by and distributed among the people they touch”
Brands are symbols
• A corporate brand is represented by a constellation of symbols
• People weave the brand’s symbols into their life and give them their own meanings
• It makes it harder for competitors to copy this, as it consists of:
- the relationships among your house style
- product designs
- service delivery systems
- employee characteristics
- leadership style
- management practices or the quality of the many relationships (touch-points) with
stakeholders
• Corporate brands combine:
- Names, symbols and experiences
- A central idea or sets of ideas
- Qualities, emotions, attitudes and style
, Fleur Serlie March, 2024 3
Key idea -> stakeholders uniquely associate brand names and other brand symbols and
experiences with the enterprise and these associations facilitate the sense of belonging and
differentiation that defines the brand
• Stakeholders might feel their identities are intertwined with the brand and brand
symbolism represents and maintains these bonds
Aaker’s Brand equity model
1. Market behaviour = brand’s standing with customers using market share, price
2. Awareness = extent to which a population of consumers claims to know the brand
exists
3. Association and differentiation = perceived brand value, brand personality, trust,
admiration for the organization
4. Quality = brand performance supplemented by emotional responses to the brand’s
innovativeness
5. Loyalty = willingness to pay a premium price, moderated by rational perceptions of
product/service performance
Millward Brown’s Brand Pyramid
Article summary
Branding & Design 2024
Session 1: What is corporate branding?
Hatch & Schultz (2008) chapter 1: Corporate branding
• Product brands = operate independently or in family groups -> one product/service
- Focus on customers/consumers
- Gains market share through advertising campaigns designed by marketers
• Corporate brands = an entire enterprise and brands all of the products using one
name (McDonald’s)
- Address all stakeholders (so also suppliers, partners, etc.)
- Gains market share through sharing ambitions, values and beliefs of the enterprise
- It must connect to the past and history of the brand, when rebranding
When corporate brands work
• Coherence between what the top managers want to accomplish in the future (vision),
what has always been known/believed by employees (culture), and what external
stakeholders expect/desire from the company (image) is necessary for a corporate
brand! ->
VCI Alignment Model
,Fleur Serlie March, 2024 2
• Corporate brands need to be managed not only during brand launch, but throughout
the life of the company
Hatch & Schultz (2008) chapter 2: The value of brands
Good corporate branding and its benefits of belonging are the base for brand value
Differentiation and belonging
= “to attract customers and appeal to other stakeholders, reminding people why they belong to
or should join the community of interests that swirls around the brand”
• Brand symbolism helps people to identify others with similar values/interests, while
also differentiating them from people with dissimilar interests
• Belonging can be achieved by inviting customers into the inner circle or hosting
events (ultimately drawing out non-members) -> inclusion/exclusion
• “Brand meanings are produced by and distributed among the people they touch”
Brands are symbols
• A corporate brand is represented by a constellation of symbols
• People weave the brand’s symbols into their life and give them their own meanings
• It makes it harder for competitors to copy this, as it consists of:
- the relationships among your house style
- product designs
- service delivery systems
- employee characteristics
- leadership style
- management practices or the quality of the many relationships (touch-points) with
stakeholders
• Corporate brands combine:
- Names, symbols and experiences
- A central idea or sets of ideas
- Qualities, emotions, attitudes and style
, Fleur Serlie March, 2024 3
Key idea -> stakeholders uniquely associate brand names and other brand symbols and
experiences with the enterprise and these associations facilitate the sense of belonging and
differentiation that defines the brand
• Stakeholders might feel their identities are intertwined with the brand and brand
symbolism represents and maintains these bonds
Aaker’s Brand equity model
1. Market behaviour = brand’s standing with customers using market share, price
2. Awareness = extent to which a population of consumers claims to know the brand
exists
3. Association and differentiation = perceived brand value, brand personality, trust,
admiration for the organization
4. Quality = brand performance supplemented by emotional responses to the brand’s
innovativeness
5. Loyalty = willingness to pay a premium price, moderated by rational perceptions of
product/service performance
Millward Brown’s Brand Pyramid
