This article examines the nature, importance, typology, and management of corporate brands.

Argues
that in making a distinction between corporate brands, corporate identities, and product brands, the
underlying characteristics of corporate brands can be uncovered. A key thesis of the article is that a
corporate brand is a valuable resource: one that provides an entity with a sustainable, competitive
advantage if specific criteria are met. These criteria are defined in terms of an economic theory known as
“the resource-based view of the firm”. An affirmation of this economic doctrine requires corporate brands
to be rare, durable, inappropriable, imperfectly imitable, and imperfectly substitutable. Also contends that
the traditional tripartite, branding typology be expanded to reflect the new modes in which corporate
brands are being utilised. These new corporate branding categories are: familial, shared, surrogate,
supra, multiplex, and federal. Finally, reasons that the management of a corporate brand requires the
orchestration of six “identity types”. The critical identity type is the “covenanted identity” because it
underpins the corporate brand. The covenanted identity comprises a set of expectations relating to an
organisation's products/services and activities. Internally, it acts as a standard against which an
employee/employer's actions can be evaluated. Argues that employees are crucial to the success, and
maintenance, of corporate brands. Speculates that the current interest in corporate brands is redolent of a
new dynamic in marketing. As such, corporate brands are symptomatic of the increased importance
accorded to corporate-level concerns and concepts. This interest in corporate-level concerns should form
the basis of a new branch of marketing: one that weft and weaves the concepts of corporate identity,
image, reputation, communications along with corporate branding. The article concurs with Balmer and
Greyser who argue that this area should be known as corporate-level-marketing.

Purpose – This paper aims to review the development of branding theory, particularly from the
organizational context of building an effective corporate brand.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the literature on “strong brands” and the
experience of several established brands.

Findings – The study finds that no coherent theory defines brand management tasks. Instead,
paradigmatic cases of successful brands have come to define branding processes – the logic of the
“strong brand” has shaped management branding practices. “Difference” and “consistency” are identified
as the primary means of bringing about strong brands, yet these can be difficult to apply, particularly to
corporate brands.

Originality/value – A new perspective of the social co-production of brands as meaningful representations,

each with its own logic, is proposed as a managerially useful framework to research and frame brand
development tasks. Given the development of anti-branding attacks, managers need to pay close
attention to the new risks of managing corporate brands, and how they tie brands to their corporate social
responsibility practices
How to differentiate yourself from peers and competitors is the question, and personal
branding is the answer. Here are five key insights into why individual executives need to
discover and market their own personal brands - just as large organizations must market
their corporate brands.

#1 Success Today Demands a Magnetic Brand

The global economy has drastically altered our employment landscape and new rules apply.
Even top professional jobs are unstable, so high achievers have to stay on the innovative
edge of career opportunities. Today it is common for executives to change jobs every
several years - not every few decades - because of lay-offs, downsizing, or the desire to
work in a different and more exciting and rewarding environment.

Highly successful leaders and high achievers are now managing their own careers by
discovering and leveraging a personal brand to attract greater business opportunities and
career progress. Those who understand how to use this innovative business tool become the
hunted - not the hunter - as they are actively sought out and courted for prized positions
and leadership roles.

#2 Why Personal Branding Works

Large corporations like Starbucks spend millions of dollars to instill and nurture strong
brand loyalty by communicating clear, concise, consistent advertising messages about their
unique promise of value. Otherwise why do we spend top dollar on a cup of coffee at
Starbucks when we could stop by McDonalds and pick up a caffeine boost at a bargain
price?

It's because we will pay a premium to identify with their brand - which encompasses a great
store ambiance, specialty coffees, and that inviting and innovative cultural and social place
where we can meet and mingle. We spend more in order to get more - which means we
expect to be served not just a cup of java but also the emotional feeling and experience
conveyed through their carefully crafted brand.

Personal branding utilizes the same principles of brand marketing to help professionals
discover their authenticity and unique promise of value. As a personal branding strategist I
tell my clients it's like discovering your true self and then communicating it to a selective
group of people so that you become the highly sought after celebrity within your area of
expertise. Professionals typically only need to market their unique brand to a very selective
and influential group of superiors, human resource professionals, or competitors in order to
get "A-listed" on the "fast-track" to greater success. The rest happens automatically as
people beat a path to your door.

#3 The Mirror Principle: Discover and Know Thyself

One of the most innovative business tools I utilize with my clients to help them discover
their personal brand is the 360 Reach Assessment tool. Unlike other corporate 360
assessments, this particular branding tool allows you to receive anonymous feedback from
your friends, family, colleagues, and peers - and get a true picture of how they perceive
your brand attributes.

This allows you to discover and get to know not only yourself, but how others around you
perceive you. Every successful professional understands that knowledge is power. This is
also a great tool to enhance self confidence, because it really helps you to focus on where
you can honestly claim your strengths - understanding that they are in your true essence. I
coach my clients to focus on those personal strengths - unlike the approach taken by typical
corporate assessments that place more emphasis on areas of weakness that may need
improvement.

It's important to discover your true self, but it is also powerful to understand and know how
you are held in the hearts and minds of others. Your brand and reputation is identical. Are
you communicating your brand message in a clear and concise way so that others perceive
you the same way you perceive yourself? Participate in a 360 Reach Assessment process
with a qualified brand and image strategist and you'll discover new ways to market yourself
in this new decade.

#4 Strong Brands are Never Stagnant

Once you have discovered your personal brand it may evolve and change as you mature in
your position or change career directions. The best brands take on a life of their own over
time.

Perhaps the three to five brand attributes that you marketed for a certain position in one
firm may need to be slightly adapted to attract a new position in a different industry. You
always want to stay true to your authentic self and your values, but you will find that your
360 Reach Assessment will give you numerous strengths that you can pull from in a flexible,
adaptable way.

So always tailor your personal brand to the "targeted" messages that your new audience
may need to hear. If you currently work in a creative field, for example, then being "avant-
garde, creative, and quirky" may be a great brand persona. But if you find yourself later
seeking employment in a more conservative industry, you may want to choose descriptors
that resonate more with a traditional audience - such as "innovative, creative, self-starter."
A certified brand strategist can coach you to select the right brand attributes to create the
desired brand message.

#5 The Exponential Benefits of Personal Branding

When high achievers and executives discover and understand their unique brand promise of
value - and start to exude it - they begin to stand out from their peers and competitors.
Since they understand and appreciate what makes them different, they also know what they
can uniquely offer to an organization to leverage their employment status.

Here are a few benefits that accrue from using personal branding in a corporate
environment:
 • Be memorable and command higher salaries as a valued asset to the organization.
• Extend your brand by accepting new developmental experiences to provide personal
growth and stretch your brand attributes - giving you a leading edge over your peers
as you become more conceptual in your decision making and skill-gathering.
• Survive economic downsizing by marketing your brand attributes to key people to
strategically ensure you are on the new "must-have" list
• Attract top talent to join your team as people begin to really understand your
strengths, values and leadership vision.
• Leverage your strengths to become flexible and embrace changes that allow you to
survive a tumultuous employment situation.
• Become better focused on understanding your ultimate goals and vision so that you
start to make much better long-term career decisions.

This personal branding process is a must-have business tool for today's professionals.
Employers and companies expect it of those who are high achievers desirous of career
advancement, so learn to understand your own brand essence and you can control your
own destiny.
Sarah Hathorn is a professional image consultant, certified personal brand strategist,
speaker, and author. Her company, Illustra Image Consulting, works with high-achieving
future leaders and large businesses by enhancing their corporate and personal brand image
to take their businesses and careers to the next level.
Synopsis
After two and a half decades of researching and advocating the power of the corporate brand as a marketing
tool, James R. Gregory tackles head-on the age-old question that has baffled CEOs and corporate
communicators alike: What is the power of a corporate brand and can it be measured? Gregory begins by
noting that years of acquisitions, mergers, and restructuring have made many executives realize the need to
rebuild the reputations and identities of their corporate brands with critical audiences. The key to meeting
that need, as this book makes clear, begins with the understanding that the value of corporate brand
communications is real and can be measured. In leading the reader through the logic of his research,
Gregory identifies:
• How to use objective, quantitative methods to measure and leverage the value of a company's
name
• How to use corporate branding programs to maximize the bottom-line financial impact of a
company's advertising and corporate communications
• How to achieve a powerful corporate brand by developing integrated corporate communications
programs
• How companies of all sizes can implement corporate branding programs through spinoffs, advocacy
marketing, and the new interactive media
• The essential role of the CEO in the corporate branding process
Leveraging the Corporate Brand provides long-awaited insights—with practical applications—into measuring
and valuing the impact of your corporate brand on your bottom line.