Translating organisational definition into brand mark expression: Strategies for new organisations

Expressing a point-of-difference is considered to be one of the goals of corporate branding. The logic of this approach is as follows: In order to stand out in a crowded marketplace an organisation can gain distinction by emphasising a unique and favourable characteristic. This one-size-fits-all approach to corporate branding, however, assumes that differentiation is appropriate for all organisations. This paper argues that while such an approach may be relevant for established organisations, it may be less relevant for newer organisations. From a case study of 100 corporate brand identity programmes, the author describes how the majority of new organisations adopted a point-of-parity expression rather than a point-of-difference expression. These findings suggest that activity-based brand expressions are generally better suited for organisations in their formative period. The implications of this research are that, as scholars, we need to consider the how corporate brands attempt to define themselves through their visual identity and how this domain relates to the other aspects of corporate branding.