Corporate Branding

Corporate branding is the practice of a company to use the company name as the product brand name.  It shouldn’t be confused with a corporate identity.  A corporate identity is one factor of corporate branding that involves only the logo and design strategy.  Corporate branding is an overall brand marketing strategy.  Also corporate branding is not product branding which is concentrating on advertising for one particular product without including the corporate name. 

Branding a company involves many things.  It simply isn’t the product itself.  These items that companies focus on are logo, customer service, quality of products and services, employees, stores, etc.  All these items can affect the perceptions of a consumer to reflect the overall brand of the company.  Strong corporate branding is a culmination of many different factors as just mentioned and also a coherence of vision among top corporate executives.

Corporate branding is important in that it provides economies of scale when introducing new products since consumers will be already familiar with the brand.  The new product will instantly get credibility and value.  It is very expensive for companies to develop their brand the cost savings from great brand marketing is vital. However, this strategy may hinder development of products that may want their own identity. 

If done well, corporate branding will eventually make its way into popular vernacular.  For instance, tissue paper for the longest time was referred to as Kleenex.  Many people ask for a Kleenex instead of a tissue paper.  Also, when people are asked to send something over night, people often say to “Fedex” it.  Also another classic example that came into the vernacular is Google.  When anybody needs to search something on the internet, people would use the term “Google it”. 

Therefore it is important for companies to develop a great strategy in coming up with their corporate brand.  It isn’t an easy task and takes a very long time to develop.