Brand, identity and corporate reputation

Brand, identity and corporate reputation

Article Type: Editorial From: Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Volume 33, Issue 2

Introduction

The Eighth Brand, Identity and Corporate Reputation Conference was held at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto) in the beautiful city of Oporto in April 2013, under the most able stewardship of the organizing chairs, Dr Joana Machado and Dr Leonor Carvalho, supported by the entire executive committee of the SIG.

This Special Issue of carefully selected papers is the happy culmination of yet another unqualifiedly successful conference. As Guest Editors of this Special Issue, we are proud and pleased to say that the SIG just keeps growing in strength, stature and popularity year after year. It remains the host and organizer of the leading academic conference in the field of corporate branding, identity and reputation in the UK and beyond.

Papers featured

The papers featured in this Special Issue cover a broad, yet focused, range of issues in brand management today and provide truly international perspectives on brand consumption, B2B branding and consumer behaviour using key brand variables. The contexts for a number of these papers are also attracting new kinds of innovative approaches.

Bertil M.L. Hultén’s paper, “The impact of sound experiences on the shopping behaviour of children and their parents” draws on direct observation methods to discover the myriad effects of auditory cues upon the shopping behaviour of children and their parents in a Swedish retail setting.

In an innovative paper on place marketing, John Nadeau, Norman O’Reilly and Louise A. Heslop provide valuable insights into the use of place-based images by sponsors and non-sponsors at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Their paper, “Cityscape promotions and the use of place images at the Olympic Games” captures the immediacy and vividness of how this spectacular event is marketed by these stakeholders.

Galina Biedenbach, Maria Bengtsson and Agneta Marell take a different, and very timely, perspective on the hierarchical effects that intersect between brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty but in the business to business context. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse over 600 responses from companies buying audit and consultancy services from one of the Big Four auditing companies.

Norman Peng and Annie Huiling Chen, in their paper on the “Diners’ loyalty towards luxury restaurants – the moderating roles of product knowledge” provide a fascinating account of the factors that influence diners’ loyalty towards Michelin-starred fine dining luxury establishments. By studying the role of environmental stimuli in individuals’ emotional responses to the luxury dining experience, the author is able to draw convincing conclusions about the specific ways in which product knowledge – moderated by diners’ emotions as influenced by environmental stimuli – builds brand loyalty.

The increasing interest in “internal branding” (and the role of organizational actors in shaping and promoting brand reputation and strengthening corporate culture) is well represented by two other papers in this issue. First, Xie Chunyan, Richard P. Bagozzi and Kjersti V. Meland tackle this subject through the lens of employer branding in their paper, “The impact of reputation and identity congruence on employer brand attractiveness”. Their interesting findings show that corporate reputation is a key variable in the degree of congruence between job applicants’ perceived organizational identity and their self-identity. The choice of a Norwegian offshore industry as their case of choice makes this paper a valuable contribution to the international flavour of the Special Issue.

Oriol Iglesias and Fathima Zahara Saleem’s paper, “How to support consumer-brand relationships: the role of corporate culture and human resource policies and practice” further expands on organizational strategies and the role they play in shaping corporate culture. In this paper, Iglesias examines the role of internal units and departments in mediating the consumer-brand relationship. Iglesias argues for a more holistic, integrated role for HR policies and practices that can shape corporate culture in ways that promote consumer-brand relationships. Drawing upon an appropriately open, exploratory research design that spans three case studies and over 50 interviews, he uncovers some of the hitherto under-researched dimensions of HR practices in promoting a supportive corporate culture for the corporate brand – recruitment, promotion, training, communication, evaluation and compensation.

Reflections

This Special Issue spans industries, countries and a range of research foci that genuinely advance scholarship and innovation in our field. It showcases both North American and European corporate culture and identifies under-researched or completely new questions for rigorous enquiry. More and more papers are boldly experimenting with new methods and new approaches; in the process, genuine advancements in brand frameworks and paradigms are made.

Future agendas

We are already looking forward to another special conference to be held in Turku, Finland from 27 to 29 April 2015. In keeping with the spirit of entrepreneurialism, innovation and internationalism, the theme is “Creative Brand and Design”. Many meetings have been held and plans are well underway to welcome all our supporters, delegates, sponsors and colleagues from around the world to join us once more in another exciting global brand conference. We look forward to seeing you there.

Dr Ming Lim, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

Dr Joana Cesar Machado, School of Economics and Management and CEGE, Universidade Catlica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal

Dr Oriol Iglesias, ESADE – Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain