Corporate Identity (CI)

Definition
Corporate identity describes the idea that a company is perceived as a personality. Furthermore corporate identity represents all internal and external characteristics of a company through communication, behaviour and appearance. (1)

Corporate identity is primarily concerned with the following questions:

• Who are we?

• What businesses are we in?

• What do we want to be?

• How does the external World see us? (2)

History
The identity of a company was originally connected with its founder. One example would be Thomas Watson for IBM or Henry Ford for Ford. Even after the founder´s death his ideas and visions would remain in the company and would be adopted under the new management.
In the 1920s homogeneous products were given the most priority as the company´s identification. They were offered with uniform packaging, price and quality.
After the Second World War brands like Lufthansa and Braun realized the importance of design when inventing a new product.
In the mid-fifties brand names were promoted instead of just the product itself. The idea of a corporate image was born. Moreover the aim of creating a corporate image was to get a company out of anonymity and to build up a long-lasting relationship with its customers. Nevertheless the creation of these images did not bring the anticipated success because of the fact that there was a difference between the external image of the company and the internal image the employees had. Additionally it was found out that there are several factors influencing an image of a company, not just its appearance for its customers.
In the 1970s the concept of corporate identity was defined by Walter P. Margulies based on the company´s design, behaviour and communication. (3)

Why is corporate identity so important?
Nowadays throughout the world markets are saturated and people are enjoying a certain kind of wealth. As a result of that companies have to deal with perfect competition on the markets, because there is a high amount of products for the retailers to choose from.
Due to that fact a company can only survive by having a high level of brand awareness as well as a unique image and unique products. (4)
Major companies like Coca Cola and BMW already recognized the positive effects of corporate identity.
Nevertheless small and medium sized businesses are usually not using corporate identity. Although it would be easier for them to create and use corporate identity because of the fact that there are not that many people involved in the decision making processes. Furthermore they have the advantage of creating customer loyalty because of their familiarity. (5)

Aims of corporate identity
Corporate identity can have internal and external aims. A detailed analysis can be used to find out which targets are best for the company to follow.

Internal aims: increase performance

• By giving employees a feeling of unity they are more likely to identify themselves with its organization.

• Through higher transparency and by giving more responsibility to the employees the mission statement become more concrete. As a result employees can change their working habits for the good of the company.

• Synergies become possible. Employees follow the idea of 1+1=3. (6)

External aims: recognition value, sympathy and trust

• Corporate identity is concerned with the set of meanings by which an organisation allows itself to be known and through which it enables people to describe, remember and relate to it. (7)

• The purpose of corporate images is creating authenticity, safety and customer loyalty. (8) While corporate identity describes the way the company sees itself, a corporate image is how a target group perceives the company.(9) Of course both should have the same attributes to create a perfect synergy.

• Corporate identity enables the company to stand out of the market and to be perceptible. (10)

Corporate images are very important because of the fact that they can influence the attitude of target groups towards the company and enables the so called “Halo-Effect”. (11) Furthermore it is essential that the organisation has a positive media presence because this is beneficial with regard to sales.

How to create corporate identity
First of all it is necessary to be aware of the corporate culture in terms of values, norms and thought patterns. Secondly there has to be a draft of the mission statement including idea and slogan. (12) Accordingly the corporate culture and the mission statement need to be implemented through the following steps:

 Image 1: “Corporate Identity” (13)

• Corporate design contains the whole appearance of a company in terms of packaging, logo and advertising material for example.

• Corporate behaviour describes the manners and appearance of employees among themselves as well as towards clients, competitors and the public.

• Corporate communication, including advertising, sponsoring and PR describes the communication of a company to all its publics. In this instance publics can be internal as well as external. Internal publics are employees and stakeholders for example. External publics could be the media, the government or the general public.  Through the internet a lot of retailers open ed up an online shop complementary to their normal business. Thereby the term virtual identity became important because it symbolises an aspect of corporate communication. It describes the fact that the e-commerce is part of the corporat e identity.

The creation of corporate identity is a difficult and long lasting process. Many companies pick out several aspects of corporate identity like corporate design or corporate communication and leave the rest out. Thereby these businesses loose the homogeneity of an accomplished corporate identity. (14)

Relevance for e-commerce 
The internet as an interactive medium enables companies to come in contact with its customers. Because of the fact that nearly every customer uses the internet to inform himself about products, virtual identity becomes very important by the establishment of corporate identity including e-commerce.

Virtual identity is created through the following three aspects:

• Orientation

• Motivation and stimulation

• Trust

The collaboration of these aspects influences virt ual identity in terms of stabilizing it and moving it into the awareness of the consumer. (15)







Bibliography


(1)    http://www.bickmann.de/cgi-bin/bickmann.pl, 07 September 2009
(2)    Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, page 13 & Fill, Chris (2005), Marketing                                Communications, Engagement Strategies and Practise, 4. Edition, Harlow, page 425
(3)    Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, pages 11-13
(4)    Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, pages 7 - 8
(5)    Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, pages 16 - 17
(6)    Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, pages 17 - 18
(7)    Fill, Chris (2005), Marketing Communications, Engagement Strategies and Practise, 4. Edition, Harlow, page 424
(8)    Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, page 20
(9)    http://www.4managers.de/themen/corporate-identity/, 07 September 2009
(10)  Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, page 20
(11)  Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, page 21
(12)  Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, pages 23 -31
(13)  http://www.4managers.de/themen/corporate-identity/,07 September 2009
(14)  Herbst, Dieter (1998): Corporate Identity, 1.Auflage, Berlin, page 16
(15)  http://www.shopmarketing.info/internet_praesenz/corporate_identity, 07 September 2009