Corporate Identity, Image and Reputation

Brief textbook providing introduction to the field of public relations and related communications disciplines, eg. advertising, direct marketing, event management etc. Created for the purpose of a semestral course at Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic).
Main chapters: Corporate Identity and Cultury / Corporate Image, Reputation Management / Public Relations / Media Relations / Crisis Communications / Public Affairs, Government Relations and Lobbying / Internal Communications / Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Citizenship / Advertising / Direct Marketing / Event Management / Media in Corporate Communications / Political Marketing / Communication in Public Sector / Measurement of Communications

"Purpose – This paper aims to focus on how corporate and regional identity and image build a framework for stakeholder dialogue in higher education institutions.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on literature related to corporate identity and image. The approach is qualitative and the data consist of strategic documents and 23 focused interviews conducted with university and stakeholder representatives in three Finnish cities.

Findings – The paper outlines how corporate and regional identities are perceived by university managers and universities' local stakeholders. It claims that the identity and image of the university and the region concerned are among the central determinants of stakeholder interaction.

Practical implications – The paper shows that identity and image are central phenomena to manage communication in higher education institutions. It emphasises that when merging institutions, valuable assets such as the history with local stakeholders may be at risk.

Originality/value – There is information on how university identity and image are formed through research merits and education, but very little knowledge on how they are formed through the so-called third strand, regional service. The paper sheds light on this question."

Este trabajo se propone abordar la problemática de la construcción de la identidad gráfica televisiva del Canal Encuentro entre los años 2007 y 2011, a través de los enfoques del diseño, la semiótica y la comunicación. Se analizarán las piezas que componen el diseño corporativo de la primera imagen que tuvo el canal que incluye, también, el rediseño del año 2011. La identidad corporativa de un canal televisivo refleja la ideología de la institución a la que representa, así como su misión, visión y objetivos. Estos valores intangibles se expresan por medio de piezas visuales y formas discursivas particulares plasmadas en un sistema gráfico coherente, que circula en un mercado altamente competitivo. El Canal Encuentro es una señal pública que depende del Ministerio de Educación de la Nación y como todo medio de comunicación masiva, necesita expresar su identidad corporativa para generar valor y diferenciarse de otros medios. Lograr un posicionamiento diferencial y atractivo frente a una audiencia cada vez más alejada de la pantalla es otro de sus requisitos.

A diferencia de la imagen corporativa tradicional, la identidad televisiva —con sus condiciones espacio-temporales— presenta características particulares que permiten comunicar y construir sentido. El objetivo de este estudio será, entonces, analizar cómo es la construcción de la identidad corporativa de la señal pública en pantalla. De este modo, el estudio se ocupa, en primera instancia, del contexto de la televisión pública. En segunda instancia, de las prácticas de pantalla que dieron argumento al diseño audiovisual. En tercera instancia, del análisis de la imagen del canal desde tres ejes fundamentales: el primero, la identidad corporativa en pantalla; el segundo, la persuasión del diseño desde la retórica; y el tercero, la semiótica, que facilita el estudio del diseño corporativo televisivo como un género discursivo.

It all comes back to the tradition of hand, heart eye coordination. It is our responsibility to educate learners that are able to focus their attention on creating the working tools that they will need to be able to apply their craft to any situation throughout their lives.

Dans ce séminaire nous traitons ce qu’on appelle « identité visuelle », c’est-à-dire l’usage systématique d’un ensemble de signes récurrents (verbaux, iconiques, plastiques, sonores, …) dans tous les supports et dans toutes les actions de communication d’une organisation.
Les signes utilisés pour exprimer l’identité visuelle constituent le cœur du langage de communication d’une organisation

Within the bounds of possibility that technology presents today, rapid
developments in communication and transportation enable individuals located on various parts of the world to interact with each other simply and quickly. In such a situation, individuals, who are situated to have an epithet as global citizenship, travel to various countries and cities throughout the world because of different reasons. Although contents of these travels vary according to the individual’s expectations, in consequence, for whatever reason the travel is made, every country and city that is travelled is toured and sightseen by individuals. Today’s people naturally make research for necessary living conditions of the
countries to be visited, and their travel decisions are influenced from whether the country meets expectations. Today travels intended for health, education and entertainment-holiday are among the best known kinds of travel. During travel planning process, through various means of communication, people tend to make research about the country, which will give the best feedback and will fit best, concerning these features. Among these means of communication both the traditional media such as TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, and the new media environment present people the opportunities to see, follow and learn
about various contents regarding the introduction of countries. In this study, in terms of impression management theory, we aim to evaluate countries’ efforts to show and introduce themselves to people from other countries like individuals. All of the videos found in the content of the website hometurkey.com – an official website within the scope of “Turkey Home Campaign” and built by Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism for this purpose – and videos shared on social media accounts through YouTube that have links on this website are evaluated by content analysis.

Public relation is relatively new corporate function although like corporate function it has its roots in ancient activities Edward L. Berays, one of the fathers of modern public relation posited that the three main elements of public relation are as old as society. Informing people, persuading people and integrating people with people. Bernays E. I. (1960) and he traced public relation from primitive society (in which leaders controlled by force, intimidation and persuasion), to Babylonian where kinds commissioned historians to paint favourable images of them.

In many countries and regions around the world international students now weigh up the potential advantages and disadvantages of undertaking their higher education at an international branch campus rather than at a home campus located in a traditional destination such as the United States or United Kingdom. The aim of the research is to identify the criteria used by prospective students to evaluate the images they hold of international branch campuses and to investigate the impact of these assessments on students’ attachment to institutions. The study involved 407 students studying at nine international schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was found that information and opinions gained through personal relationships and the media explained 55.4% of the variability in the attachment/membership intentions of prospective students. It was also discovered that students evaluate international branch campuses using information related to both the local branch and the home campus. The implications of the findings for international branch campuses are discussed.

Drawing from fields such as marketing psychology, strategy, social psychology, and organizational behavior, the present examination explores the individual and organizational bases for personal reputation; specifically, how different bases interact with one another to produce an individual’s reputation within organizations. It is proposed that individuals use personal reputations to satisfy their need for positive self-esteem as well as to secure their sense of belonging in organizations. Furthermore, reputation allows individuals to obtain rewards such as autonomy, power, and career success and the opportunity to signal key information to audiences. Likewise, organizations utilize personal reputations to predict their members’ behaviors, market those who are a part of the organization to others, build their own corporate reputations, and signal information to consumers and competitors. To further this understanding of personal reputation an examination is presented as to how organizations serve as an essential context within which individuals realize their personal reputations and regulate their behavior.

Firms are encouraged to manage their corporate responsibility and identity in accordance with the popular stakeholder theory. Managers are, however, confronted with the complexity of the praxis and related ethical dilemmas, as the expectations of their external stakeholders may be myriad, ambiguous and self-contradictory, or even non-existent in the global and dynamic business contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to (a) review and critically discuss the stakeholder approach in striving for a responsible identity and (b) introduce an alternative approach that can address its inadequacies and shortcomings. The study outlines an alternative theorem, the awareness approach to responsible identity. In the conclusions, the article proposes how firms can adopt a responsible identity that leads to a desired image and reputation, and maps out further research opportunities. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

ABSTRACT
This ethnographic dissertation is a deep analysis of the relationships between people and place in the Ukrainian Cultural Center, which is a cultural organization based in the Old Town of Tallinn with a character oriented towards religion, ethics and tradition in a highly visually specific location. The starting point for this research was the interest of the author in the identity of the organization and its correlation with the perception of the Ukrainian Cultural Center by its stakeholders.
The purposes of the research is to reveal the nature of the relationships between the stakeholders of the organization and the place, how the organization is influenced by its values and how the place influences the perception of the image of the organization in the eyes of its stakeholders. This means that the study focuses primarily on the processes between people and the organization, not on evaluating the results of those processes.
One of the main contributions of this study is that the relationship is studied from a variety of perspectives: that of the audience, the owner, the employees and the observer (researcher). The specific nature of the researcher, where she is a fully integrated member of the ‘community’ at the Ukrainian Cultural Center is also case-specific and plays an important role in the approach and understanding of this paper.
The study uses previous research on organizational image and identity as well as literature on the spirit of place and place branding to build a framework linking the spirit of place and organizational values to identity and image creation through the audience in the Ukrainian Cultural Center.
The multimethodological approach applied in this research consists of interviews with owners, employees, as well as active and passive visitors, participant observations, use of pre factum observations and photographs.
Based on the theoretical framework, the empirical part of the study examines the general relationship between place and people in terms of different dimensions. Secondly, it reveals the relationship between the organizational image perceived by the audience and organizational identity – the intended face of the organization. The empirical part of the research not only provides answers to the research questions, but also aims to provide an opportunity for the reader to obtain an extensive insight into the phenomena with help of the data presented. Therefore, the reader is able to understand and conclude for him or herself the nature of the relationships between people and place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center.
The findings of this research have shown that values have a great impact on place, and have also revealed that a fair overlap exists in respect to the organization’s identity and its perceived image. The study also identified that cultural capital plays a significant role in people understanding the sense of the place. In terms of the spirit of the place and its uniqueness, the research has shown that the factor that creates this is not only the human qualities, but also the ideologies, philosophies, feelings, ambience, relationships and processes around the people within the place.

Keywords: spirit of the place, values, identity, image, religion based organizations

Kurumlar kamuları nezdinde daha iyi algılanmak amacına yönelik çok çeşitli faaliyetlerini hedef kitlelerinin izleyebileceği özellikler ve araçlar üzerinden tanıtma ve duyurma çabasındadır. Sosyal sorumluluk faaliyetleri bu tanıtım faaliyetleri arasında önemlidir. Sosyal sorumluluk bakımından hedef kitlesi nezdinde başarılı bulunan kurumlar ise kurumsal anlamda olumlu bir imaja sahip olabilmektedir. Kurumsal imaj oluşumunda da çeşitli teknikler kullanılmaktadır. Bu teknikler arasında izlenim yönetimi taktikleri ise imaj oluşturmada kurumlara önemli fırsatlar sunmaktadır. Bu çalışmada Garanti Bankasının kuruculuğunu yaptığı Öğretmen Akademisi Vakfı (ÖRAV) bünyesinde yürütülen sosyal sorumluluk faaliyetlerinin vakfın kurumsal sosyal medya hesapları üzerinden kitlelere nasıl ulaştırıldığı ve kitleler üzerinde nasıl bir imaj bırakılmak istendiği izlenim yönetimi taktikleri bağlamında değerlendirilecektir. Bu amaca yönelik ÖRAV’ın kurumsal Youtube hesabında paylaştığı videolar nitel içerik analizi ile değerlendirilmiştir. Buna göre Garanti Bankası ÖRAV üzerinden yürüttüğü sosyal sorumluluk faaliyetleri ile hedef kitlesi üzerinde kendini kabul ettirme, kurumsal tanıtım ve kendini örnek bir kurum olarak gösterme taktiklerini kullanarak, Bankanın sosyal sorumluluk sahibi, becerikli, etkin, çekici bir kurum olduğuna yönelik imajlar oluşturmak istediği değerlendirilmiştir.
ABSTRACT
The corporations try to publicize and broadcast their activities in order to be perceived better in the eyes of their target groups through various features and tools that the target groups can watch. Social responsibility activities are important among these publicity activities. In terms of social responsibility, the corporations that are successful in the eyes of their target groups can have a positive image in corporate sense. Various techniques are used in the formation of corporate image. Among these techniques, impression management tactics provide important opportunities for corporations in image creation. In this study, how the the social responsibility activities, which are carried out within the Teachers Academy Foundation founded by Garanti Bank, are announced to the target groups on the social media accounts of the Foundation and what an image want to be created with these publicity activities are analyzed in the context of impression management tactics. For this purpose, the videos shared by TAF on the corporate Youtube account were evaluated by qualitative content analysis. According the results of the analyzed videos, it was evaluated that Garanti Bank used ingratiation, promotion and exemplification impression management tactics through the activities within TAF. Thus, it can be stated that Garanti Bank tried to create responsible, skillful, successful, effective, attractive images on its target groups.

The study of our paper is the online co-branding initiative of Aeroflot and Manchester United, launched on Facebook and Twitter in July 2013. Our discussion focuses on the failed attempt to build a community around this co-brand. In our analysis of the reasons why this initiative failed, we pay particular attention to the connected issues of corporate identity and reputation. In our conclusion, we make certain recommendations as to how such online co-branding initiatives might be better designed in future.  These include a discussion of the importance of organizational design in social media branding.

Abstract: The article seeks to examine various marketing strategies used by Savanna Tobacco and how they help in the creation of the company’s brand image and identity. Savanna Tobacco being the second fastest growing cigarette manufacturing company after BAT, it is of pivotal importance that it make use of marketing strategies that helps it preserve a competitive edge. The main concepts to be assessed are; to understand whether Savanna Tobacco use Marketing strategies to gain a competitive edge and to explore how these strategies help the organization in creating brand image as well as identity. The study was informed by different theories such as two-way symmetrical model, open system theory, and social cognitive theory. These were subjected to qualitative method of data analysis. Interviews, participant observation as well as questionnaires were used by the researcher in a bid to establish the desired information.

Keywords: Brand, Identity, Public Relations, Marketing Strategy, Image and Communication.

A growing public awareness of the potential negative impacts of corporate activities on the natural environment and society compels large companies to invest increasing resources in the communication of their responsible conduct. This article employs Appraisal theory in a comparative analysis of BP’s and IKEA’s 2009 social reports, each company’s record of their non- financial performance. The main objective is to explore how, through Appraisal resources, BP and IKEA construct their corporate identity and relationship with their stakeholders. The analysis reveals two markedly different approaches to the construction of a responsible corporate identity. While BP deploys interpersonal resources to portray itself as a trustworthy and authoritative expert, IKEA discloses itself as a sensitive and caring corporation, engaged in a continual effort to improve. These differences are interpreted in light of the legitimization challenges the two companies face.

The paper introduces the semiotic definitions of the concepts of textual enunciation, resonance, and reputation, applies them to the analysis of the evolution of the cultural role plaid by Edmondo De Amicis’s novel Heart in both the past and the present-day Italian semiosphere, then compares such evolution with that of other cultural products (such as commercial brands), and underlines the influence of communication media in configuring these semiotic dynamics. The paper ends with some hypotheses on the impact of digitalization and ICTs on the semiotic processes of reputation, and suggests the need to develop a new epidemiology of meaning.

Corporate image which is a differentiation indicator is important for institutions of non-profit, institutions of profit oriented and public enterprises. In this sense, corporate images of ministries which do community service are important with regard to public opinion. As Ministry of Education is one of the most important ministries of our country, in this study it was aimed to determine the corporate image of Ministry of Education in the eyes of the teachers who works in central districts of Konya. The data of this study have been obtained with the survey forms which were addressed to 627 individuals by face to face interview technique. As a result, the image of Ministry of Education is positive generally. However, Ministry of Education can pay attention to the points about communication and quality factors and work on these points in order to improve the image of Ministry of Education.
Keywords: Image, Corporate Image, Ministry of Education, Public Relations, Konya.

Assistimos a uma dilatação do campo do memorável (Ribeiro & Barbosa, 2007), que se manifesta em uma multiplicação de práticas voltadas para o passado, instaurando uma cultura da memória. (HUYSSEN, 2000), que também atinge as organizações. Cada vez mais empresas investem em projetos de pesquisa sobre a sua história, recolhendo depoimentos de seus trabalhadores, acervo de produtos, objetos, marcas. Uma estimativa aponta que mais de 100 empresas no Brasil produzem algum projeto na área de memória. Qual é o propósito que leva as organizações a valorizarem e reviverem seu passado, investindo assim em pesquisa histórica, montagem de arquivos e constituição de centros de memória? De que maneira podemos relacionar o tratamento privilegiado destinado à memória por parte das empresas com suas estratégias de produção de discursos orientados à construção de identidades corporativas?

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Nowadays, as much as individuals, perceiving with a positive image is an important concern for the corporations built by individuals and which can exist with individuals. The perception of the corporations by their target audiences with positive images is undoubtedly possible by the fulfillment of certain conditions by the corporations. Although the image may be accidental, the effect of the image is too important to be left to random causes. A negligible image will cause disruptions in the vital functions of corporations. The continuation of the assets of the corporations is equivalent to the various meanings that individuals will attribute to the corporations.The creation of these meanings is within the scope of public relations. Corporations that give enough importance to public relations also attach importance to their image. The corporations benefiting from the various practices offered by public relations can make themselves positively accepted by their target audiences. Behind this acceptance is the corporate image. Corporate image; it can be expressed as the component of all kinds of concrete and intangible dimensions that the organization shows to its target audience. They are composed of wide components such as visual elements, culture, philosophy, behavior, communication and corporate responsibility activities. Perceptions created by these components on the target audience can determine the image of the organization. The behaviors and attitudes of the employees, who are the vital subjects and representatives of the corporations, also affect the image to be formed within the target audiences. Banks which are financial corporations have an important role in the daily life of individuals. Banks are among the corporations most affected by global competition conditions. Therefore, banks have to engage in a wide range of activities and practices in order to impress both their existing customers and potential customers who will work with them. Among these practices, banks can influence their customers with social responsibility and sponsorship activities carried out to support social issues. Because, in today’s corporate world, target audiences might wish to see such supports from all corporate structures. If the corporations convince their target groups that they are socially responsible organizations, they can increase their customer diversity and quantity more than their competitors. Furthermore, if banks use developing technologies to communicate more easily and quickly with their customers, they can be perceived positively by their customers. In addition, every kind of behavior of each bank employee towards each customer who comes to the bank is an important determinant for the customer. Gestures and facial expressions displayed by the bank’s employees while providing services, and the way they talk to customers may be a positive or negative assessment criteria on the customer’s mind. In addition, the facilities that can contribute to the positive perception of the target audiences such as car parks, visual guidance signs, air conditioning and lighting, which may be among the corporate appearance elements of the banks, are important for the corporate image of the banks. It is a subject of scientific interest for researchers to analyze how banks’ images are perceived by the target audiences due to all these factors. The aim of this study is to investigate the determinants of the corporate image of financial institutions which are lacking in public relations literature. For this purpose, a field survey was conducted in Konya city center between the months of April and June 2019 by using face-to-face survey technique with 558 participants over 18 years of age. When the findings of the study were evaluated that the participants give high importance to each of the factors such as security, behavior, corporate communication, visual identity and corporate social responsibility, respectively. In this respect, it is very important that banks should take into account the elements identified in the items presented within the framework of these factors. However, it was evaluated that the participants give the most importance to the items about the security of banks. Security is more important for banks than many corporations. For this reason, the importance level given to the security items by the participants should be taken into consideration by the banks for their corporate image. In addition, the behaviors of bank employees has been found to be a second corporate image determinant, which is as important as the security element.  Corporate communication is the third most important image determinant. With the developing technology, all kinds of communication facilities that banks will provide to their target audiences will positively reflect on the corporate image of banks. Visual identity also ranks fourth as another important factor. The elements such as heating, lighting, logo, personnel clothes, visual guidance signs and housekeeping of the banks were also considered important by the participants. In this respect, the fact that banks attach importance to visual identity elements will contribute positively to their corporate image. Participants also attach importance to the corporate social responsibility activities of the banks that take into consideration the social benefit. It can be stated that such activities will positively reflect on the image of banks in terms of creating corporate belonging and loyalty. The participants were asked what medium is they received the most news from the banks. According to the answers given for this item, internet was considered as the most important medium. The fact that newspapers and magazines took the last place among the news channels is a reasonable result. Internet banking ranks first among the participants’ ways of receiving services from banks. However, the service procurement directly from the ATM was second. In this respect, it should be stated that the participants prefer internet banking as an opportunity of new communication technologies and that a significant proportion of the participants continue to receive services by going directly to the bank ATMs. In this respect, the fact that bank ATMs are equipped with more modern facilities may contribute to the bank’s image. Participants in the 18-28 age group give more attention to security, corporate communication and corporate social responsibility factors than other age groups. Participants, who are at university level, give more importance the factors of security, corporate communication and corporate social responsibility. Participants with a monthly average expenditure of less than 2020 TL give more importance corporate communication and corporate social responsibility factors than participants with other expenditure. Participants with credit cards consider more importantly the items related with security and corporate social responsibility activities more important than those without credit cards. Participants receiving banking services by internet banking, mobile banking and ATM give more attention to the security factor than the others who take banking services going directly to the bank. As a result, participants in the 18-25 age group, most of them university students, who have credit cards and who receive online banking services, give more importance to the security factor in bank preferences. This implies that banks should pay more attention to the security factor in order to make their corporate image more positive. For this reason, the most important finding and suggestion of this study is that the banks should carry out more trustworthy practices to their target audiences with public relations activities. This would be possible through public relations policies covering corporate communication, corporate behavior, visual identity and corporate social responsibility practices.
Keywords: Image, Corporate Image, Public Relations, Banks’ Image.

This study was conducted to determine how the customer's perception of the corporate image on customer loyalty as well as to analyze the influence of corporate image on customer loyalty.. This type of research is descriptive and verification method descriptive and explanatory survey research. Data obtained through questionnaires, interviews, and observations in the field. The data collected by the primary data source is obtained from the total sample of 250 respondents. The analytical method used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the First Order Model approach. From the statistical test result is known that the image of pawnshops Housing has a significant influence on customer loyalty Pawnshop.

Para el fundador del convento de Agustinas Recoletas de Santa Mónica en la Puebla de los Ángeles, el obispo Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, resultó esencial proveerlo de su propia identidad corporativa y de un sentido de pertenencia a la Orden de Agustinas Recoletas. Es por ello que puso todos sus esfuerzos en la obtención de constituciones, ceremoniales y todo aquello que contribuyera a una correcta asimilación del carisma agustiniano por parte de sus futuras monjas, aún siendo colegialas. Para reforzar dicha filiación en el plano espiritual, la comunidad habría de servirse de una serie de recursos visuales al momento de meditar en torno a su sagrado y legítimo origen recoleto. Muestra de ello es el lienzo ubicado actualmente en el Museo de Arte Religioso Ex Convento de Santa Mónica, titulado: Religiosas agustinas recoletas (Santa Mónica enseña la regla a las Agustinas), mismo que representa el momento místico en el que las monjas recibieron la pauta del carisma agustiniano de manos de su patrona, la madre de San Agustín. El presente artículo pretende problematizar mediante este ejemplo, el estatuto de la imagen corporativa en el contexto de una fundación de origen secular, preocupada por generar una identidad de carácter regular.

For the founder of the convent of Agustinian Recollect Nuns in Puebla de los Ángeles, Bishop Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, it was essential to provide it with its own corporate identity and a sense of belonging to the Order of Agustinian Recollect Nuns. That is why he put all his efforts in obtaining constitutions, ceremonies and everything that would contribute to the correct assimilation of the Augustinian charism by his future nuns, even when they were a mere schoolgirls. In order to strong this filiation on the spiritual level, the community use a series of visual resources for meditation and reflection on its legitimate Recollect origin. One of the most eloquent evidence of this, is the painting entitled "Augustinian Recollect Religious (Santa Monica teaches the rule to the Augustinians)", currently located in the Museum of Religious Art, Ex Convento de Santa Mónica. The picture represents the mystical moment in which the nuns received the pattern of the Augustinian charism at the hands of her patron, the mother of St. Augustine. The present article tries to problematize by means of this example, the statute of the corporate image in the context of a foundation of secular origin, concerned with generating a regular identity.

This study aims to examine the effect of corporate image and relationship marketing on customer trust and loyalty in business to business industry. The data analysis method used is structural equation modeling-partial least squares (SEM-PLS). The number of respondents are 100 companies. The sampling technique in this study was the convenience sampling method where customers of PT. Dian Cipta Perkasa is the subject of this research. The results of the study found that company image has a positive and significant effect on customer trust, relationship marketing has a positive and significant effect on customer trust, corporate image has no positive and significant effect on customer loyalty, relationship marketing has a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty and trust has a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty. In general, it is found that relationship marketing is still the most determining variable in gaining customer loyalty