Marketing Communications

18 CHAPTER 1 INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS

principles, and as such is a major component of the corporate identity or even its main

determining factor.^44

Corporate identity is also embedded in corporate strategy. Long-term strategic objectives

will determine and shape the desired corporate personality: the company’s mission will refl ect

the desired personality and corporate culture; positioning decisions will refl ect the priorities

that companies hold as to their chosen personality. On the other hand, the corporate person-

ality will also determine the strategic options. Corporate culture and corporate personality

are a very persistent part of the internal company environment, and as such cannot be

changed overnight. Corporate strategy will always to a certain extent have to be based on the

most persistent elements of the corporate personality, or at least take them into account.

Corporate identity is also infl uenced by industry identity and corporate structure. Industry

identity involves underlying economic and technical characteristics of an industry, such as

industry size, growth, competitiveness, culture and technology levels. A strong generic or

industry-wide identity (e.g. the banking industry) oft en forces companies to have similar

strategies and missions. Corporate structure consists of organisational structure and brand

structure. Organisational structure is concerned with the lines of communication and report-

ing responsibilities within the organisation. It relates to the degree of centralisation and

decentralisation, and oft en has a major infl uence on brand structure (see also the next chapter).

Obviously, the choice of a specifi c type of corporate identity will depend on the strategic

priorities defi ned, and will have a great impact on brand strategy and marketing and

corporate communications.

Corporate identity is the set of meanings by which a company allows itself to be known

and through which it allows people to describe, remember and relate to it. It is the way the

company chooses to present itself to its relevant target audiences by means of symbolism,

communications and behaviour. It is the tangible manifestation, the visual statement, of the

personality (shared values) or corporate culture of an organisation. Corporate identity is

what the company is, what it does and how it does it. It relates to the products and brands a

company off ers, how they are distributed, how the company communicates with the public

or stakeholders, and how the company behaves.^45

Corporate communications , but also marketing communications, have to be based on, and

be consistent with, the important elements of the corporate identity of the company. For

One of the obvious ways to show commitment to your own company and its products and services is not to buy,

use or wear competitive brands. Word has it that Bill Gates from Microsoft forbids his wife to buy big competitor

Apple’s iPhone. CEOs from Belgian companies seem to agree. Jef Colruyt, the CEO of one of the largest retailers in

Belgium that carries his name, says he buys 99% of what he needs in his own supermarkets. The products he can-

not find in his own shops, like fresh lobster, he buys at the local fish store, and not in a competitive supermarket,

and he expects the same from his family. The CEO of the outdoor supermarket chain AS Adventure occasionally

enters a store of his biggest competitor, Decathlon, but says it feels like cheating. Barbara Torfs, CEO of the shoe

store chain Torfs, only wears shoes from her own brand and expects other family members to do the same. Wearing

other shoes at family parties is barely tolerated and regarded as blasphemy, she says. Anthony Vanherpe, CEO of

Panos (a chain of take-out sandwich shops), says he eats at competitors Délifrance once or twice a year to monitor

the competition in terms of product assortment, marketing and look and feel, but wouldn’t appreciate it if his

family did the same.^46 CEOs buying and using their own products is a strong and obvious sign of commitment that

can enhance corporate identity and reputation.

BUSINESS INSIGHT

CEOs and their families don’t buy their competitors’ products

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