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The aims of the paper are to examine the nascent area of corporate marketing.

The paper draws on some of the key literature relating to the history of marketing thought.

The study reiterates the case that corporate identity, corporate branding, corporate communications, and corporate reputation should be integrated under the umbrella title of corporate marketing. The paper introduces the 6Cs of corporate marketing.

The paper integrates British and US perspectives on the area and draws on Balmer's work vis‐à‐vis corporate marketing and Greyser's historical overview of marketing written for the Marketing Science Institute (MSI)

Corporate marketing is a marketing and management paradigm which synthesises practical and theoretical insights from corporate image and reputation, corporate identity, corporate communications and corporate branding, among other corporate‐level constructs. The purpose of this paper is to explain the nature and relevance of corporate marketing and to detail the antecedents of the territory.

Via the adoption of a quadrivium; a traditional classical approach to the acquisition of knowledge, the paper shows how organisations can be faced by Apocalyptical scenarios through a failure to accord sufficient attention to one or more dimensions of the corporate marketing mix; explains why the emergence of corporate level constructs such as corporate image, identity, branding communications and reputation represents, both individually and collectively, the Advent of corporate marketing; details the various integrative initiatives in corporate design, corporate communications and identity studies which, together with the incremental augmentation of the marketing philosophy, find their natural dénouement in the Epiphany of corporate marketing; and describes the 6Cs of the corporate marketing mix and reflects on possible future directions in organisational marketing.

The paper reveals the efficacy of adopting an organisation‐wide corporate marketing philosophy to management decision makers and scholars.

Drawing on the marketing/management theory of identity alignment policy the paper accords attention to each dimension of the corporate marketing mix and ensures that they are in meaningful as well as in dynamic alignment.

The practical utility of corporate marketing is explicated by making reference to case vignettes, and various marketing and non‐marketing literatures.

This paper aims to provide insights into the what, why, and how of recognising corporate brand crisis through a synthesis of organisational experiences with threats to brand reputation, and to offer guidelines for analytic approaches and suggested organisational actions.

The approach takes the form of a clinical set of examinations and interpretation of a substantial number of recognised corporate brand crisis situations. The analysis and suggested approaches in the paper have been tested with corporate executives and communications counselors in classrooms and private applied situations.

The main points are: reputational trouble can come in many forms, from many sources and many publics; the most serious situations are those that affect the distinctive attribute/characteristic – “the essence of the brand” – most closely associated with the brand's meaning and success. A number of specific examples illustrate this point. However, past and present corporate behaviour is the most significant element in a crisis situation. Authenticity plays a key role in building, sustaining, and defending reputation. From analysis of many corporate brand crisis experiences the paper finds that forthrightness in communications and substantive credible responses in the form of behaviour are most likely to restore trust and rescue a brand in crisis. The most important actions, however, are those taken to build a “reputational reservoir” as a strong foundation for corporate reputation.

Research on reputational troubles is rarely based on documented information from inside the affected/afflicted organization. Except when companies have successfully overcome such situations (such as Johnson and Johnson in the Tylenol tragedy), internal information is typically unavailable. Examination of media coverage and informal discussions with former executives can be mitigating substitutes.

The principal implications relate to: how an organization can assess the seriousness of an actual or prospective situation affecting its brand reputation; suggested approaches to the value and use of corporate communications and the salience of authenticity; and suggested actions in the face of brand crisis.

The paper provides an analytic approach to assessing the seriousness of threats to organisational brand reputation. It also examines actual reputational troubles in the context of corporate‐level marketing and corporate communications; and draws on extensive case studies and seminars in this area with experienced executives.

The principal purposes of this paper are to provide normative advice in terms of managing the British Monarchy as a Corporate Heritage Brand and to reveal the efficacy of examining a brand's history for corporate heritage brands generally.

Taking a case history approach, the paper examines critical events in the Crown's history. It is also informed by the diverse literatures on the British Monarchy and also marshals the identity literatures and the nascent literature relating to corporate brands. Six critical incidents that have shaped the monarchy over the last millennium provide the principal data source.

In scrutinising key events from the institution's historiography it was found that the management and maintenance of the Crown as a corporate brand entail concern with issues relating to: continuity (maintaining heritage and symbolism); visibility (having a meaningful and prominent public profile); strategy (anticipating and enacting change); sensitivity (rapid response to crises); respectability (retaining public favour); and empathy (acknowledging that brand ownership resides with the public). Taking an integrationist perspective, the efficacy of adopting a corporate marketing approach/philosophy is also highlighted.

A framework for managing Corporate Heritage is outlined and is called “Chronicling the Corporate Brand”. In addition to Bagehot's dictum that the British Monarch had a constitutional obligation to encourage, advise and warn the government of the day, the author concludes that the Sovereign has a critical societal role and must be dutiful, devoted and dedicated to Her (His) subjects.

This is one of the first papers to examine the British Monarchy through a corporate branding lens. It confirms that the Crown is analogous to a corporate brand and, therefore, ought to be managed as such.

This article describes corporate reputation as it pertains to corporate practice. Key areas treated are worldwide executive opinion on their ability to affect corporate reputation; three specific strategic benefits and goals of strong corporate reputation (preference in doing business with a company when products/services are similar, support for a company in time of controversy, and company value in the financial marketplace); the six key factors that drive corporate reputation; examples of how these drivers vary in importance in different countries, in different industries in the same country, and in the context of the three different goals; and illustrations of how company behaviour, relative to public expectations, can erode corporate reputation. Credibility is cited as the central link between company behaviour and public confidence, also encompassing the “promise/performance gap” between consumer expectations and product/service delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of corporate communications on behalf of the monarchy as a corporate brand.

Draws on the preliminary findings of a major study on monarchies.

Argues that corporate communications is an important aspect of corporate brand management (especially in relation to constitutional monarchies).

That monarchies are analogous to organisational brands and are amenable to being managed as such.

Draws on a unique study relating to monarchies as corporate brands.

This paper aims to describe the uncovering of a corporate brand's core values and implications for strategic management of its track record.

The paper examines the specific track records of Volvo, IKEA, IBM, and Scanpump, focusing on core values and how they evolve. Based on multiple sources of evidence, the track records of the case companies emerge as patterns of values that are: perceived externally by customers and non‐customer stakeholders; and rooted internally within an organisation.

Four categories of core values emerge, termed true, aspirational, potential, and hollow.

The Core Value Grid is proposed as a managerially useful model on “how to build true values and avoid hollow values”. In principle, a corporate brand cannot be stronger externally than it is internally. Rooted core values with track records supporting a brand promise represent the essence of a corporate brand, guiding internal and external corporate brand building and management. The foundation of a corporate brand risks being undermined by hollow core values and empty promises.

Consumer packaged goods is an industry long known for its reliance on “pull” marketing strategies, that is, clever brand positioning supported by heavy advertising and couponing. As many product categories have become mature in the 1980's, managers find themselves increasingly concerned with improving the productivity of “push” programs — trade deals and personal selling efforts aimed at retailers and wholesalers. This article reports the results of an in‐depth, descriptive study of “push” marketing techniques among packaged goods companies. Discussed are: (a) specific “push” programs initiated on both the marketing (brand management) and sales force sides of the business, and (b) organizational moves to enhance integration and coordination between the Sales and Marketing groups. A concluding section urges packaged goods marketers to regard the “push” and “pull” components as twin building blocks of a companywide marketing strategy.