CASE 2 65products and technologies are obviously important, unfor-
tunately they cannot make Barco unique since they can
be easily copied. Further, even in a high-tech B2B environ-
ment, high quality is not the only thing that matters. An
image study in 2002 made this painfully clear to Barco.
The study showed that Barco was perceived as company-
centred, technical, technology-driven, purely factual without
an emotional link, not containing a ‘feelgood’ factor or
possessing much likeability. In short, a rather distant and
boring brand. Some customers even said they just bought
Barco because there was not yet a competitor for some of
the products, adding ‘as soon as an alternative comes onto
the market, we will buy from them’. No need to stress that
this was an unpleasant message for Barco.
As well as these image problems, each division appeared
to have its own ‘look and feel’ and communicated in dif-
ferent ways to the customers: different colours were used;
the corporate slogan ‘Innovators in Image Processing’ was
used by some but not all divisions; company presentations
were made in completely different templates, etc. The
divisions not only looked different, but also felt as if
they belonged to different companies. For example, when a
customer asked for information about projectors at a show
where LCD screens were on display, an employee simply
answered, ‘Oh, that’s not us, you need to talk to the Barco
projector guys’, without trying to help the customer.
Barco responded with a corporate branding programme
to give the company ‘one face’ and to move from a product-
oriented company towards a customer-oriented company.
To this end, first a unified vision and mission were spelled
out that explicitly incorporated the customer-orientation
aspect. Barco’s vision is that, as imaging is revolutionising
the world, accurate processing and display of visual infor-
mation have become critical in the business world. This
inherent complexity demands user-friendly solutions. In line
with this vision, Barco’s mission is ‘to create value through
the design and delivery of user-friendly imaging solutions
to selected professional markets on a global basis’.
Building further on the vision and mission, four general
principles were articulated underlying the new branding
strategy.Principle 1: One brand
Barco is the one powerbrand across all segments and cat-
egories in all divisions. Sub-brands can be installed, but only
in a secondary role to support the Barco brand. One logo, one
baseline, one website, one overall look and feel are installed.Principle 2: One company
The corporate brand defines the end promise of all prod-
ucts, in all markets, segments and product categories. The
branding strategy needs to be applied in all divisions and all
markets, so that it is clear, for example, that it is Barco and
not the division Control Rooms & Simulation that is launch-
ing a new product.Principle 3: Customer centred
The new branding strategy is driven and inspired by Barco’s
customers. It is based on customer insights, customer language,
customer decision processes and customer buying behaviour.Principle 4: Focus on Barco strategy
The branding strategy is an important contributor to Barco’s
mid-term and long-term corporate objectives. An important
objective of Barco is to be number one or a strong number
two in all the markets it serves.
Rucci, Kirn and Quinn (1998) demonstrated that the
engagement and commitment of employees towards the
brand and the company have a significant impact on how
they treat customers and, consequently, on customers’
perceptions and business performance. They showed that
companies that were rated by their employees as a great
place to work witnessed a 25% growth in share and divi-
dend returns compared with 6.3% for other companies.
Keeping this in mind, Barco continuously delivered import-
ant efforts to involve employees in each of the brand
process steps. Further, to reinforce the brand story and to
increase employee commitment, an internal ‘to be one’
branding programme was installed consisting of the follow-
ing internal brand identity guidelines:‘to be one’: internal brand identity guidelines
One team Barco has a team of 3500 dedicated professionals
One vision Barco leads the way in digital visualisation for professionals
One image Barco stands for innovation, quality and customer intimacy
One culture Barco shares a common set of strong values: accountability,
customer focus, innovation, integrity, team spirit, trust
One goal Barco aims for global leadership in all its target markets
One future Barco continuously invests in new technologies
One billion Barco is a €1 billion revenue companyM02_PELS3221_05_SE_C02.indd 65M02_PELS3221_05_SE_C02.indd 65 6/5/13 2:59 PM6/5/13 2:59 PM