Image, Identity, & Reputation

Image and Identity of a corporation is one of the most critical components of the corporate communication function. A close alignment between the company’s image and identity generates a strong reputation. These are the tools an organization uses to distinguish themselves in the minds of the customers, shareholders, employees, communities, and other relevant constituencies.

A company’s Identity is the visual manifestation of the company’s reality as conveyed through the organization’s name, logo, motto, products, services, buildings, stationery, uniforms, and all other tangible pieces of evidence created by the organization and communicated to a variety of constituencies. Image is a reflection of an organization’s identity. It is the organization as seen from the viewpoint of its constituencies. Depending on the type of constituencies, an organization can have many different images. Hence, we see that the identity remains consistent among the constituencies, whereas the image varies.

In marketing, a corporate identity (CI) is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives, and is usually visibly manifested by way of branding and the use of trademarks.
Corporate identity comes into being when there is a common ownership of an organizational philosophy which is manifest in a distinct corporate culture - the corporate personality. At its most profound, the public feel that they have ownership of the philosophy. (Balmer, 1995).
In general, this amounts to a logo (logotype and/or logogram) and supporting devices commonly assembled within a set of guidelines. These guidelines govern how the identity is applied and confirm approved color palettes, typefaces, page layouts and other such methods of maintaining visual continuity and brand recognition across all physical manifestations of the brand.
Many companies, such as McDonald's (http://www.mcdonalds.com/) have their own identity that runs through all of their products. The trademark "M" logo and the yellow and red appear consistently throughout the McDonald's packaging and advertisements. Many companies pay large amounts of money for an identity that is extremely distinguishable, so it can appeal more to its targeted audience.
Corporate Identity is often viewed as being composed of three parts:
1. Corporate Design (logos, uniforms, etc.)
2. Corporate Communication (commercials, public relations, information, etc.)
3. Corporate Behavior (internal values, norms, etc.)
Corporate Identity has become a universal technique for promoting companies and improving corporate culture.

Due to globalization the products all over the world are becoming more or less the same. Consumers are increasingly making distinctions based on notions other than the products itself, thereby making image, and identity even more powerful differentiators.

Identity is something that is in the hands of the company. Many companies use the following method to manage the identity process:

Step 1: Conduct an Identity Audit
Step 2: Set Identity Objectives
Step 3: Develop Designs and Names
Step 4: Develop Prototypes
Step 5: Launch and Communicate
Step 6: Implement the Program

The foundation of a solid reputation exists when an organization’s identity and its image are aligned. Reputation of an organization has a framework, as the organization function in a society and interacts with different constituents. The reputation framework would consist of customer image, community image, investor image, employee image. The organizations reputation would completely depend on the communication between the different parties. The organization should always try to win the confidence of their employees, inform the investor about the changes and the ventures and future plans, ensure quality in products and services and provide social service to the local community.

Strong reputation can help companies to weather crisis more effectively. For example, strong reputation helped Johnson & Johnson (http://www.jnj.com/home.htm), (http://www.jnj.com/contact_us/student/q03.htm) survive the Tylenol cyanide tampering crisis in 1982, and allowed Coca Cola’s (http://www.coca-cola.com/) contamination cases in India in 2004 to come and go without measurable long-term damage to the firm. I did my internship from Johnson & Johnson Medical India, JJMI; which is a division of the parent company J&J. Everybody is familiar with the J&J logo, though most of them associate it with the baby products; an interesting fact is that J&J Medical is one of the largest divisions in Asia – Pacific. It holds a very strong image, not only with its employees, but also with the customers and other stakeholders. Even summer trainees felt immense pride in saying that they doing their summers from JJMI. While doing my internship, I got to hear about the Tylenol crisis, and how efficiently J&J rescued itself; thanks to its already established strong reputation.

Article References:

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/crr/journal/v10/n1/full/1550039a.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_9_16/ai_57786894

Organizations are increasingly appreciating the importance of a strong reputation. The explosion of media and information, the demand for increased transparency, and the increasing attention paid to social responsibility all speak for a greater focus on the part of organizations on building and maintaining strong reputations.