Co-branding
Co-branding occurs when two or more brands are combined in a joint product or
brand. This phenomenon is also called brand alliances or brand bundling. The two
companies should consider carefully what their strategic alliance means for their
respective brand portfolios, as their brands will become more associated in the
future through the new product. Keller (2003) chapter 7 describes this
phenomenon in more detail.
Corporate brand
When the corporation is branded instead of the individual products, a corporate
brand is the case. In most literature on corporate branding it is assumed that the
energy and inspiration of the brand stem from within the organization and that a
branding strategy, in order to be successful, requires the engagement of the whole
corporation. Read more in chapter 5 (this book) about the identity approach.
Employee branding
Employee branding is defined as ‘the process by which employees internalize the
desired brand image and are motivated to project the image to customers and other
organizational constituents’ (Miles and Mangold 2004 p. 68). It is a notion resem-
bling the ‘living the brand’ concept a lot; turn to chapter 5 (this book) about the
identity approach, Miles and Mangold (2004) and the references mentioned under
‘living the brand’ for further insight.
Employer branding
The term ‘employer branding’ relates to strategies for communicating about a
company as an attractive employer to both current and potential employees. It is
a hot management topic at the moment with a corresponding number of books
and articles. Employer branding will not be elaborated on in this book; relevant
literature to turn to is Barrow and Mosley (2005) emphasizing the interrela-
tionship between HR, communication and top management, and Lievens and
Highhouse (2003) about the emotive and tangible benefits for both potential and
actual employees.
Living the brand
Employees are important bearers of the brand, especially when it comes to service
brands. ‘Living the brand’ is an end-goal in the process of engaging employees in
the branding process. Making employees live the brand mean that employees
incorporate and live brand values and thereby deliver the brand promise fully to
consumers. The concept is briefly reviewed in the identity approach, chapter 5 of
this book, other recommended readings are Ind (2001) and Karmark (2005).
16 Setting the scene