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The purpose of this paper is to examine the framing and rhetorical devices employed by luxury brands to build CSR-based, ethical corporate identities while managing complexities of the CSR-luxury paradox, the perceived clash between the self-transcendent values of CSR, and the self-enhancement values of luxury.

Qualitative frame analysis was conducted to create detailed frame matrices for each dimension of CSR message content, followed by quantitative content analysis to establish the extent of usage of these frames across 43 luxury brand websites in the apparel, beauty, jewelry, and watch categories.

Luxury brands predominantly framed their CSR efforts as discretionary, driven by altruistic motives. They foregrounded brand over social issue and highlighted substantial input into CSR efforts consistently over a period. CSR efforts were put into programs that were congruent with the brands’ business and that conveyed impact in abstract terms, evoking emotions over logic. Such framing across the CSR message-dimensions of issues, motives, importance, commitment, fit, and impact reflected a sophisticated understanding of communicating to a socially and environmentally conscious demographic while simultaneously aligning with the central, enduring, and distinctive characteristics of luxury.

This study contributes to emerging empirical work on CSR as a tool to build ethical corporate identity. This study also adds to the literature on identity management and CSR communication in the luxury industry, a sector that exceeded €1 trillion in retail sales in 2016.

The purpose of this study is to understand the identity of the Nobel Prize as a corporate heritage brand and its management challenges.

An in-depth case study analysed within a heritage brand model and a corporate brand identity framework.

The Nobel Prize is a corporate heritage brand – one whose value proposition is based on heritage – in this case “achievements for the benefit of mankind” (derived directly from Alfred Nobel’s will). It is also defined as a “networked brand”, one where four independent collaborating organisations around the (Nobel) hub create and sustain the Nobel Prize’s identity and reputation, acting as a “federated republic”.

The new and combined application of the Heritage Quotient framework and the Corporate Brand Identity Matrix in the Heritage Brand Identity Process (HBIP) offers a structured approach to integrate the identity of a corporate heritage brand. In a networked situation, understanding the role of stewardship in collaborating organisations is essential: The network entities maintain their own identities and goals, but share common values of the network hub.

The integrated frameworks (HBIP) provides a platform for managing a corporate heritage brand.

This is the first field-based study of the Nobel Prize from a strategic brand management perspective.

The case focuses on the importance of the brand-building process, which takes place in B2B companies. Commodity companies focus a lot on the sales and distribution aspect of their marketing strategies but do not emphasize the importance of developing their brands. At the end of the discussion, the participants would be able: to examine the steps involved in conceptualizing the brand identity for an existing product in a highly competitive B2B market, as per Kapferer’s Brand Identity Matrix. To understand the steps involved in the journey of internal and external brand-building processes in B2B. To analyze the various challenges and issues faced by large organizations dealing in the metals and commodity business.

The case discusses a marketing challenge faced by Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) in launching a new brand of thermomechanical treatment (TMT) products in the market. Traditionally, the company had focused on the sales and distribution aspect of their marketing strategies but did not emphasize the importance of developing their brands. This case is based upon the challenges faced in the creation of a new brand identity for JSPL’s TMT products by the protagonist, Mr Paras Sharma (who is the brand custodian and manager in this case).

Postgraduate/Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Masters in Management Studies, Executive MBA.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The case learning objectives and discussion questions relate very closely to several theories related to branding, including brand positioning, brand growth, brand management, customer value proposition, brand matrix and brand identity.

The information provided in this case was gathered by the author through personal interviews and email exchanges with Jordan Boyes, managing broker and owner of Boyes Group Realty Inc. Secondary research was also conducted to gather relevant academic materials, as well as industry and competitor information.

Jordan Boyes opened Boyes Group Realty Inc. in 2015 after working as a Realtor® at another private realty firm in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for several years. They offered buying and selling services in the areas of commercial, residential and farm real estate. Over the past five years, they had experienced strong sales numbers and growth in the number of new agents joining the company. However, Boyes saw untapped potential in the marketplace and wanted to develop a brand strategy that took the best advantage of brand extension opportunities to drive the continued growth of his company.

This case is suitable at the undergraduate level for a branding course, marketing strategy course or services marketing course. The case is best used to apply the concept of developing brand identity and making strategic decisions in a service-based organization.

The purpose of the study is to inquire into and to provide an integrated framework of academics’ and practitioners’ conversations on corporate brand alignment.

A systematic literature review (with no time restrictions) was used to identify relevant journal publications from the years 2000 to 2013. Based on the retrieved articles, the Hegelian dialectic triad of “thesis, antithesis and synthesis” was used to inquire into conventional thinking on corporate brand management (i.e. through corporate brand alignment).

The final sample of 59 articles brought to light a theory of corporate brand alignment, its recent contradictions and critiques and scholars’ attempts to unify them into an integrated framework. Three main perspectives emerged, suggesting that corporate brand could be managed through aligned (i.e. thesis), separated (i.e. antithesis) or mixed approaches (i.e. synthesis).

This research considers only English peer-reviewed journal articles retrieved from the EBSCO and WOS databases.

This work proposes a contingency approach to corporate brand management, suggesting that there is no single best way of managing a corporate brand: aligned, separated and mixed approaches can be equally successful. Despite the choice of model (which arises from the analysis of the corporate brand meanings, stakeholders and contexts), three transversal corporate brand management imperatives emerged: the delivery of the corporate brand promise, the co-construction of corporate brand meanings and the recognition of the dynamic nature of corporate brands.

This paper aims to examine relationships between consumer-brand identification (CBI), brand prestige (BP), brand anthropomorphism (BA) and consumers’ active engagement in brand activities on social media in corporate brand settings.

Data collected with an online survey on a sample randomly drawn from an online panel of consumers were used to test the proposed theoretical model.

Anthropomorphism and prestige of corporate brands were found to positively influence consumer-brand identification. Also, CBI positively affects consumers’ active engagement and fully mediates the effect of BP and BA on consumers-brand engagement (CBE) with corporate brands.

Further research in other markets and on a broader set of corporate brands would additionally validate results and enable comparisons of impacts among different brand categories. The data were gathered in one country, so further research in other markets would additionally validate results of this study.

Chief executives responsible for corporate brand management are provided with some insights on how appropriate corporate brand identity management can strengthen CBI and stimulate CBE on social media.

This paper provides some novel insights into the research on consumer-brand identification. It is the first study (to the authors’ knowledge) that empirically supports the positive influence of brand anthropomorphism on CBI in corporate brand settings. It also contributes to the clarification of previously inconsistent results of the influence of BP on CBI. By showing that consumers’ identification with a corporate brand plays a vital role in increasing consumers’ active engagement on social media, the study contributes to the relatively sparse body of research on CBE.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the brand core and its management over time. The aim is to develop a framework for managing the core of a brand for continuity and change.

A longitudinal case study of the Volvo brand’s core and its management serves as the empirical basis for a qualitative analysis of the “brand core” using rhetorical perspectives.

The management of the brand core for both continuity and change is an unsolved paradox in strategic brand management literature and practice. Existing conceptualisations offer little or no guidance regarding managing a brand’s core over time. The Volvo brand has evolved by adding and shifting mindsets, which has kept its core surprisingly stable.

The new framework mitigates a paradox and, by defining the brand core as a point of reference, allows for brand management to address both continuity and change and consider a range of stakeholders while doing so. The integration ofs rhetoric into the framework makes it applicable to product, service and corporate brands, or indeed anything that can be considered a “brand”. The brand core is defined as “an entity of core values and a promise”.

By shifting perspectives on a brand’s core over time, change and development are stimulated while preserving its inner values and promise.

The brand core framework integrating rhetoric theory was supported by a longitudinal case study to resolve a strategic brand management paradox.

Being able to communicate a clear identity to different stakeholders is crucial for SMEs and startups in today’s world, which is characterised by accelerated innovation, growing competition and increasingly connected consumers. However, this can be a complex task for small organisations. The purpose of this paper is to propose a visual tool that supports entrepreneurs in SMEs and startups to collaboratively develop their identity communication strategy.

The paper follows a design science research approach. The authors propose the design of a tool as well as some preliminary qualitative evaluations. The authors conducted three iterations between design and evaluation, where the results of the evaluations are implemented in the design.

The authors demonstrate how to design strategic tools for allowing teams to co-design their identity communication strategy and present the tool. The authors also evaluate its use and find out through the preliminary evaluations that it could be easy to use and useful for practitioners.

The originality of this paper lays in the novelty of the tool and its development. Such a tool addressing identity communication strategy has not been developed with a scientific approach until now.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the claim that artworks and corporate art collections contribute a qualitative dimension to corporate identity by satisfying aesthetic, social and cultural standards.

To explore the qualitative research purpose, the theoretical framework is supplemented with in-depth interview data from five European banks.

The findings show that corporate art achieves synergies between culture and capital, internal and external communication and thus offers significant opportunities for innovative marketing communication and identity-building strategies.

The paper provides insights into how the arts interface with branding-related innovations, assisting managers in long-term decisions on value-based branding and identity construction.

Increased arts engagement by corporations creates new synergies between cultural institutions and corporations through partnerships and philanthropic initiatives.

The originality of the paper is twofold. It thematically explores the under-researched field of art in marketing scholarship. From a methodological point of view, the research design is multidisciplinary and thus delineates new avenues for marketing practice and scholarship.