In the conditions of growing competition between companies and brands, the need for creating a unique, memorable to the consumer image, highlighting against the background of rivals is increasing. The solution to these problems contributes to high-quality corporate identity. Developing a unique corporate identity is a complex and responsible process. All elements of the corporate identity of the enterprise must correspond to its mission and positioning.
Corporate identity concept
Company identification is the most important marketing task, which is the key to recognition and stable demand for goods and services. It is the elements of corporate identity that can achieve recognition of the company and its products among competitors.
Corporate identity, or corporate identity, is an individual image of a company, its character, which is easily recognized by people. It is a component of a holistic, well-thought-out communication of the organization and assumes that all the main elements of the corporate identity will be implemented in a single concept, placed on all products, documentation and attributes of the company, so that the consumer easily identifies the manufacturer by any of its components. The concept of corporate identity is formed in marketing, as it serves the tasks of promoting the company.
Occurrence
You can talk about the first signs of corporate identity by considering ancient cultures. So, in the tombs of Ancient Egypt were discovered products with a unique author's pattern, which allowed the ceramics of a certain artisan to stand out from a number of other similar products. Elements of corporate identity were also found on the works of pottery, jewelry, weaving craftsmanship in ancient Greece. In the Middle Ages in Europe, each guild of masters had its own distinctive signs, which also began to be placed on signboards and buildings. Even bakers and winemakers stigmatized their products. In the 19th century, Britain adopted the first law on the registration and protection of trademarks. Later, patents for marks appeared in the United States, and then around the world. Today, in the United States alone, more than 50 thousand characters are registered.
In Russia before the revolution, as in all of Europe. brands of masters were accepted, for example, the famous jeweler Karl Faberge put a special seal on each of his works confirming the authenticity of the thing. During the Soviet era, the need for a corporate identity virtually disappeared, as there was no free competition in the country. Although then an identity existed, for example, the corporate font for spelling the names of the Izvestia and Pravda newspapers is recognizable today. After perestroika, Russia began to rapidly catch up with developed countries in creating corporate identity.
Functions
The corporate identity has a number of marketing functions that make it such a significant component of the development and promotion of the company. The main one is the identification of the organization. Slogans, logos and other elements of corporate identity are needed so that the consumer quickly and easily understands which manufacturer’s goods are in front of him. Moreover, recognition should occur during the perception of any of the components of the corporate identity and even its parts. For example, the Coca-Cola company melody in New Year’s television commercials is recognized by the first notes, and the consumer can easily not only remember the manufacturer’s name, but also continue the composition from anywhere.
Next to recognition is a function such as differentiation. In saturated, highly competitive markets, there is an acute problem of detuning from similar goods and services. The consumer psychology is such that in each product category he usually remembers from 3 to 7 items, and it is in this range that he makes his own consumer choice. Therefore, the task of corporate identity is to make a product, company or service different from competitors. For example, in the juice market of the middle price category, there is a fierce struggle for the consumer, the quality of goods and packaging are very similar among different manufacturers, and the buyer most often makes his choice based on positioning, which he learned from advertising. And to unite in an associative chain a commercial and, for example, packaging of juice, help single graphic elements. Therefore, elements of corporate identity in the company's advertising must be present.
Each communication between the manufacturer and the buyer should help to remember these unique characters, which are then recognized at the level of automatism at the time of purchase. And when a person goes past a long counter with juices in a store, he will choose a package with familiar signs that he associates with the manufacturer.
The most important function of corporate identity is the formation and maintenance of the image of the company. Today, more and more often, the consumer, when choosing a product, focuses not on his objective characteristics, but on his ideas about him. Therefore, the task of creating a positive image of the product and the company becomes paramount. The image is built on such basic elements as the company's mission, its advantages and positioning.
The task of marketing communications is to create a stable image in the consumer’s head from a set of certain qualities that he will have every time he encounters elements of corporate identity. The consumer is ready to pay more for a product that he knows a lot about, and about which he has his own (as he sees it) opinion. A familiar product is more credible. And it is the image that becomes the main source of surplus value. But today, in the general pursuit of positive images of their goods and services, there is an acute problem of creating a unique image, and this is what competent corporate identity helps to solve.
Components
The main elements of corporate identity are: logos, trademarks or service marks, corporate block, slogans or text signs, color and font, corporate character, corporate sound. All these elements should be united by a common idea - a positioning platform and the company's mission. Corporate identity development should be based on the ideological platform of the brand. Only understanding the specifics of the company, its advantages and goals, you can develop an effective corporate identity.
Corporate Identity Benefits
Corporate identity development is a rather expensive and serious undertaking. Why spend money, time and effort on it? Corporate identity makes it easier for consumers to choose and make a purchase. Formed recognition helps to distinguish goods from competitors. Effective corporate identity facilitates the task of bringing the product to the market, reducing advertising costs. The mission and corporate identity work to create a corporate spirit within the company, and loyal employees are always valuable capital of the organization. Also, stylish paperwork, places of work, corporate clothes increase the prestige of the company in the eyes of both customers and employees.
Corporate identity is a unifying beginning for all marketing events; it makes disparate events a unified communication strategy. Thanks to this, the consumer links all the advertising messages of the company into a single information field. Such a synergistic effect increases the effectiveness of all communications.
Service mark
All elements of corporate identity will be built around the name of the company. Therefore, the trademark is extremely important for the image of the company. A service mark (or trademark) refers to a certain legalized spelling of a company name. It is a symbol of guarantee and quality from the time of the ancient masters. The organization through the sign transmits its reputation to the product, is charged for it. There are several types of service marks:
- Verbal. The most common, captures the legal rights of the owner to the name. There are many examples of such signs: Aeroflot, Mercedes.
- Graphic, or visual. A special mark of the name, it is often synonymous with the logo.
- Volumetric. The form of packaging or the product itself can also be patented and is a sign of a particular manufacturer. For example, the famous glass bottle of Coca-Cola.
- Sound. Some companies, due to their specifics, can fix sound signs that are associated with its activities. For example, the callsign Radio Lighthouse or the click of a Zippo lighter. Today, there is a tendency to register sound elements of a company's corporate identity, which are assigned to it by law. This way goes the company "Nestle", "Danone" and others.
Logo
The concept of corporate identity, the elements of which work to identify the company, is often reduced to one, the main component - the logo. It really is an important component of the image of the company, but not the only one. A logo is an original mark of a company name, brand, product group. It usually contains not only the name, but also certain visual components that carry important semantics.
It is very important to understand that the logo - not just a beautifully written name - is a schematic, simplified representation of the company's mission. For example, the famous Nike logo not only includes the name mark, but also a curved line, which today is already a symbol of the brand and can sometimes be used even without letter accompaniment. The logo should “tell” the story of the brand. For example, Apple’s famous apple has at least three corporate myths that explain its significance. The main signs of a good logo are simplicity, memorability and expressiveness.
Brand block
The layout of corporate identity elements for placement on documents, packaging and other media is called the corporate unit. Its composition may vary depending on the needs of the company. Most often you can find a combination of logo, slogan and address information, which is placed on company letterheads, envelopes, business cards. The combination of the name and logo is usually placed on the packaging and goods. For example, the Adidas company places a logo and a company name on its products, sometimes it is supplemented by the name of a line or series.
Corporate color
An important element of corporate identity is color. Psychologists have long understood that color has a strong connection with associations. There are whole tables of color-emotion pairs. Of course, there may be individual differences in this matter, but the colors do have an effect on our body and psyche. For example, red enhances arousal, increases heart rate and blood pressure, green, on the contrary, relaxes and soothes. Also, when choosing a corporate color, you need to remember the semantics assigned to it in a particular culture. For example, white is usually associated with light, purity, snow, milk. But in Japan, sadness and sadness are added to these characteristics, since this color is traditionally considered mourning.
When choosing a color, you also need to remember about combinations, about the rules of contrast and addition. So, the combination of black and yellow is one of the most striking, but at the same time it signals a danger. Typically, corporate identities do not use more than three colors, so as not to create variegation that is poorly read and remembered.
And the last thing to consider when choosing a color is the features of its transmission on different media. So, a complex combination of lilac and yellow-orange may be incorrectly transmitted by some printing machines.
Tagline
Elements of corporate identity can be not only visual, but also verbal. A short catchy phrase is also a means of creating corporate identity. It has a special task: it is not only the key to recognizing the company, but also tells the consumer about the main advantage of the company, about its mission. For example, the slogan “Drive a Dream” of a Toyota car has a deep meaning: dreams are manageable and achievable, our cars are the dream of anyone. The slogan should convey very large content in an extremely short form (no more than 7 words). Therefore, the slogans are written by professionals - copywriters who are able to not only add a whip phrase, but also fill it with the necessary content.
The development of corporate identity elements should be based on the basic idea, which becomes the starting point for the technical task of the copywriter. The slogan is necessarily placed on all products of the organization, on documents, is included in advertising messages, thereby it ensures the integrity of communication with the consumer, its semantic unity.
Brand character
We have listed the main elements of corporate identity, however, there are additional, variable components, such as a hymn, legend, layout and design features. Additional components of brand identity include a corporate character. A brand character is a fixed embodiment of the brand’s features and missions in the person of a hero or any person. The corporate hero is usually used in advertising communications: commercials, printed samples, events. The character can embody the representative of the target audience or be an authoritative person for her. Also, a corporate hero can visualize the best qualities of a product. For example, the brand character of the Mr. Muscle Detergent brand is associated with its name and is included in all types of advertising.
Carriers
Elements of corporate identity of the organization can be placed on various media. Usually a company is branding, i.e. places its logos on everything that a consumer may come into contact with. The main carriers of corporate identity elements are business cards, documents, envelopes, the organization’s website, corporate form, promotional products, and souvenir products. In addition, corporate identity elements can be placed at points of sale and customer service, on banners, on gift products, on company vehicles. Also, corporate identity should be used to design presentation materials: folders, packages, racks, electronic presentations.