Corporate image and identity are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. Corporate image refers to a company’s visual stimuli, while corporate identity includes its culture and guiding principles. Corporate image is easier to change than corporate identity, which is more durable.
Corporate image and corporate identity are so similar that sometimes they seem interchangeable. Both refer to how a business presents itself to the outside world. While the two terms may sound the same, they have different meanings and implications for the company. Corporate image is what a company looks like in terms of its logo, corporate colors, design, and other visual stimuli. On the other hand, corporate identity includes the effects of the type of organizational culture of the company in relation to how it reflects on the company.
One way to better understand the difference between corporate image and corporate identity is to consider a company that has recently been acquired by another. A change in corporate image is one of the first things consumers and other people will see. If a bank has been acquired by another bank, the new bank will immediately change the old bank’s logo, letterhead, and other visual cues to reflect its corporate logos. This change will be seen by people passing the branches of the old bank in the form of new signs and designs. The corporate color of the new bank will also be reflected in elements linked to the bank, including letters, information leaflets and checks issued to customers. The new company is simply trying to establish its corporate image on items that previously belonged to the other bank, which it acquired.
Corporate identity is simply the culture of the new bank, which replaces that of the old one. This includes how the bank relates to customers, what the bank pays its employees, how employees dress, how management communicates to its employees, opening hours and package of welfare in place for employees. Corporate identity is the definition of what the bank stands for: its motto. It answers the question of the guiding principles and ethics governing the bank’s brand.
One difference between corporate image and corporate identity is that corporate image is easier to change than corporate identity which is more durable. If the company logo is old and the company is trying to appeal to a younger market, it might redesign the logo to appeal to the younger generation while still retaining elements of the older design that the older generation can identify with. Conversely, a company may find it more difficult to change the perception its consumers have about it.
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