360 Lifecycle Of Corp Final

LIFECYCLE OF CORPORATE IDENTITIES

Tarun Menon Research Executive

IMRB, India

[email protected]

Ankit Mogra Manager-Sales

Goodyear India Ltd.

[email protected]

Executive Summary

The research attempts to explore the need for a change in corporate identity by

organizations and to figure-out a pattern, if any, associated with such a change across

organizations.

As the introduction to the paper we have defined ‘Corporate Identity’, its purpose and

elements. In this paper we have limited our case studies to corporate identities that have

reflected some kind of a visual change apart from changes in any other element.

We have analyzed ten inflexion points ranging from mergers and acquisitions to business

re-orientation to changes in organizational culture and how these factors necessitate

changes in corporate identity. Based on this we have proposed a model which showcases

the growing impact of these factors over time and how the occurrence of World events

has intensified the ‘change factors’ which in turn are putting all the more pressure on

corporations globally to reconsider their identity. The intensity of these factors would

vary from industry to industry, with each industry having a different lifecycle.

The model brings out the paradox of shortened lifecycle of corporate identities which

itself poses an extraordinary challenge to companies for effectively elongating and

managing their identities. Changing ones corporate identity is not only an expensive

affair but can also create dissonance in the minds of the stakeholders, if not managed and

communicated properly. In order to succeed companies will have to exercise tremendous

clarity of thought and understand their purpose of existence.

Table of Contents

1. Corporate Identity : Concept and Purpose

2. Corporate v/s product brand identity

3. Corporate Identity Elements

4. Reasons for change : Strategic Inflexion Points

4.1. Change in Technology (Case Study : Intel; Kodak)

4.2. Change in Consumer Habits (Case Study : Intel; Kodak)

4.3. Change in Culture (Case Study : JWT)

4.4. Regulations and Societal Changes (Case Study : ITC; Altria)

4.5. Changes due to Mergers and Acquisitions (Case Study : Group Danone; AOL

Time Warner)

4.6. New Business Opportunities (Case Study : 3M)

4.7. Change in Name (Case Study : Sara Lee; Accenture)

4.8. Change in Leadership (Case Study : Intel; ITC)

4.9. Visual Considerations

4.10. Change in Focus (Case Study : Dabur India)

5. Conclusions

6. Bibliography

Introduction

Corporate Identity - Concept and purpose

The concept of corporate identity and its management evolved over the last 50 years, and

programs are now in place in most large organizations, in the private as well as the public

sector. Generally defined as a management technique for communicating an

organization’s unique characteristics in a memorable manner, corporate identity is based

on the premise that key publics must perceive an organization clearly and accurately if,

management objectives are to be achieved.

It can be said that every organization, regardless of size, has a corporate identity, and it

can be either formal or informal. The question is whether an organization manages its

corporate identity in the most effective and purposeful manner possible.

The function of management is to ensure that all corporate communications reflect the

organization and its goals in a consistent and positive manner, reinforcing each other. An

identity program is not a ‘quick fix’ to a problem of corporate communications, nor

should it be seen as a cosmetic that can represent something the institution is not. In

developing an identity one must examine the institution’s past, its present situation and

where it wants to be. Managing identity is taking a comprehensive view of an

institution’s activities, how these are being identified and how the public perceives the

institution. It involves long-range planning and represents an integral part of corporate

strategy. The aim is to minimize any dissonance between corporate identity and corporate

image.

Corporate v/s Product Brand Identities

There is a long-standing, often polarizing discussion about the differences between a

corporate brand, as opposed to a product brand identities. Upon certain thought one

realizes that there are big differences between corporate and product brand identity. For

the convenience of understanding, the differences can be categorized at the two levels –

analysis and execution.

At the analysis level, organizational philosophy plays the anchor role while

conceptualising a corporate identity whereas in case of the product brand identity it will

surely not play the role with the same intensity.

At execution level, the periphary for managing a product brand is restricted to the

understanding of the businesses whereas managing corporate identities are much beyond

the mere business/industry understanding. However, these differences may blur incase of

product or service brands that take the corporate name itself, say CitiGroup or HSBC.

Corporate Identity Elements

Every organization has a personality or an identity that is an amalgam of various factors

and which is symbolized through the use of a logo. While conceptualizing a corporate

identity a company must study four major components namely, architecture,

environment, communications and design.

Corporate Identity Elements

Architecture Environment Communications

- Vision & Mission

- Objectives

- History

- Culture

- Philosophy

- Ownership

- Management

- Relationships

- Subsidiaries

- Businesses

- Core

Competencies

- Brands / Products

- Industry

- Competition

- Size

- Location

- Society

- Political Scenario

- Continuous media

Stationery

Calling cards

Signage

- Transient media

Print

Television

Internet

- Logo (wordmark

& symbol)

- Corporate

Signature

- Type styles

- Formats

- Colours

- Product naming

system

- Brand/product

logos

- Business unit

names

- Divisions

- Job titles

-

Design

Reasons for Change: Strategic Inflexion Points

We have analyzed certain trigger points that organizations face at some point of their life

that forces them to review their identity. These factors have been explained through

various case studies.

These inflexion points, for one, can not be studied in isolation for example like, a reason

for technology becoming extremely important for an organization could be because of

change in focus or vice a versa. And hence, the duplication of certain case studies under

different change factors.

Secondly, most of these factors are affected by World events; the affect of which on these

have been discussed later.

#1: Change in Technology

Technology is a significant factor when it comes to driving change and who would know

it better than tech giants like Intel and Kodak.

On January 2006, Intel unveiled a new brand identity; today that represents a significant

milestone in the company’s history and further signifies the company’s evolution to a

market-driving platform solutions company. The key technologies behind Intel’s platform

focus include the microprocessor, chipset and software that together enhance system

performance and improve the overall user experience.

The new brand identity involves changes to the widely recognized Intel Inside® logo that

was created in 1991, and the original Intel ‘dropped-e’ logo, which was created by

Silicon Valley pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore 37 years ago as they were

forming their new ‘integrated electronics’ company.

1969 1991 2006 2006

This change to the corporate identity stems from a change in their entire business model.

Under Grove and successor Craig R. Barrett, Intel thrived by concentrating on the

microprocessors that power personal computers. By narrowing the company’s focus, the

duo buried the competition. Today, Paul Otellini, the new CEO along with new CMO

Eric B. Kim have been instrumental in tossing this model out and pushing Intel to play a

key technological role in on four key market segments namely mobile, digital home,

enterprise and health.

But for a company that is pulling in nearly USD 1 billion in profits every month, many

would question such a change. The fact of the matter is Intel is facing a possible

slowdown. PC growth is slowing, even as cell phones and handheld devices compete for

the numero uno spot in people’s lives. Intel’s revenue growth has averaged 13% for the

past three years, but analysts figure it will see only 7% growth in 2006, to $42.2 billion.

Meantime, profits, which have surged an average 40% annually over the past three years,

are expected to rise a measly 5%, to $9.5 billion.

In addition to the possible market slowdown, there are a couple of more factors at work.

One is the public’s increasingly insatiable desire for ubiquitous computing. For example,

computer users want to procure music, photos, movies and other types of content out of

their computers. The other is that longtime rival AMD is steadily eating into Intel’s

market share and has out maneuvered Intel with the its 64 bit Athlon and Opteron chips.

Another company in the midst of a technology shift is Kodak. With the emergence of

digital photography, Kodak has been trying to extend or refocus its brand to include

digital products and services. As one of the strongest brands ever, Kodak is associated in

peoples’ minds with photography and, specifically, film.

In 2004, Kodak embarked on full blown digital transformation that will continue till 2008

and which will see them balance their commercial and consumer portfolios, achieve

attractive margins and generate substantial revenues.

Kodak’s strategy is to broaden their digital

presence in three markets, namely consumer,

commercial and healthcare and they are well

poised to handle these markets given the

brand, the technology and their expertise. In

this attempt to handle the shift, Kodak has

hived off its Remote Sensing Systems Unit, its

APS camera business and closed or

consolidated many of its global film and

photographic paper manufacturing units. The

company has also been restructured and it

now focuses on three main business areas:

Digital and Film Imaging systems, Graphic

communications and Health.

In 2005 more than half of Kodak’s revenues

came from digital products and with digital revenue growth standing at 40% and overall

growth up by 6%. (See table below)

In order to communicate this drastic change Kodak felt the need to change its corporate

identity and hence, the new visual identity. The new logo reflects the multi-industry,

digital imaging leader Kodak has become.

#2: Change in Consumer Habits

Linked very closely to technological changes is a change in consumer habits be it usage

patterns, consumer behaviour or rate of adoption. Intel and Kodak tie in very well with

the changing consumer paradigm. In the case of Intel it was the consumers’ requirements

with regard to omnipresent computing. The consumer wants to access information

wherever he is and doesn’t want to be tied down to his desktop. What this also means is

that the computer is now competing with mobile phones and PDAs.

In the case of Kodak, it involved the sudden rage surrounding digital technology and the

way the consumer has readily adopted the technology. The consumer made the transition

from traditional film to digital technology with consummate ease and this had Kodak

floundering for awhile.

#3: Change in Culture

In January 2005, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, J. Walter Thompson

formulated a brand new point of view for itself. “Buy People’s Time with Powerful

Ideas; New Creative and Performance Metrics, Corporate ID Signal Change.”

According to Bob Jeffrey, Worldwide CEO of J. Walter Thompson, ‘Time is the new

currency. Our job is to ensure that more people spend more time with our clients’ brands.

We need to create ideas that people want to spend more time with. The better the idea the

more time people will spend with it.’

2005 This change in corporate culture saw J. Walter Thompson become JWT. The new multi-

coloured logo reflects the multi-cultural aspect of the organization and also aims to

project it as a contemporary organization. In addition to this it also saw the formulation of

new Creative Standards, and a quantitative-and-qualitative evaluation tool that will move

the agency beyond using financials as the sole performance measure. Called the Health

Check, the evaluation tool considers an office’s work, people, client relationships and

reputation, in addition to the bottom line.

This initiative aims to shift in their focus from account management which was

historically the agency’s strength to creative strategy, award worthy work, and producing

ideas that stay with the customers beyond the duration of the message. Now the reasons

for this transformation are two. One, the industry was changing and JWT was falling by

the wayside. In 2002 and 2003, J. Walter Thompson’s flagship operation in New York

had competed in 20 new business pitches without a single win. It had lost cornerstone

accounts such as Kellogg’s; others (Merrill Lynch, for one) were hemorrhaging. Year-

over-year revenue growth was stalled at 5%, and employee morale was at an all-time low.

In India, with the fee based system increasingly replacing the 15% commission model,

advertising was becoming more accountable. Formula based advertising was making way

for compelling creative. The exit of the commission system has also led to the end of

long term contracts and the unbundling of services with divisions such as creative, media,

direct marketing and public relations becoming separate profit centers.

The second factor is the sheer size of JWT. There was a disconnect between the

company and its employees. Many a time employees were more clued on to the clients’

culture. The size factor also imposed another handicap – JWT was unable to attract the

best creative talent.

The renewed focus on creative and compelling advertising is surely working for JWT as

they’ve won 22 awards at Cannes 2006 as compared to their tally of 15 in the previous

year. For the fourth largest agency in the world, it still has a long way to go.

#4: Regulations and Societal Changes

ITC is one of India’s foremost private sector companies with a market capitalization of

over US $ 13 billion and a turnover of US $ 3.5 billion. Rated among the World’s Best

Big Companies by Forbes magazine and among India’s Most Respected Companies by

Business World, ITC ranks third in pre-tax profit among India’s private sector

corporations.

ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name of ‘Imperial Tobacco

Company of India Limited’. The Company’s ownership progressively Indianised, and the

name of the Company was changed to I.T.C. (Indian Tobacco Company) Limited in

1974. In recognition of the Company’s multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide

range of businesses - Cigarettes & Tobacco, Hotels, Information Technology, Packaging,

Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Agri-Exports, Foods, Lifestyle Retailing and Greeting

Gifting & Stationery - the full stops in the Company’s name were removed effective

September 18, 2001. The Company now stands rechristened ‘ITC Limited’.

The removal of full stops is not merely a facial

uplift in ITC’s corporate identity, it is a face of

the philosophy that the company has truly

believed in and worked towards under the

visionary leadership of Y. C. Deveshwar.

Despite the huge profits from the cigarette

industry, the company is aware that the good

times may not last. The Government is

tightening regulations and ITC has been forced

to stop sponsoring the Indian cricket team. In such a situation, keeping up brand loyalties

will get more difficult all the time. Initiatives like setting up `Wills Sport’ stores will only

have a limited impact owing to the small number of such stores and their upmarket

profile.

According to the company, the success of the strategy of creating multiple drivers of

growth leveraging the diverse competencies inherent in the various portfolios of

businesses is evident from the growing share of the non-cigarette business. Over the last

six years the net turnover of non-cigarette business has grown at a compounded annual

growth rate of 30% to Rs 4,707 crore in 2005-06.

The net effect of the skewed taxation policy of the Central government is an increase in

contraband cigarette sales apart from a gradual shift in tobacco consumption patterns in

the country. Cigarettes are one of the most highly taxed commodities in India, and almost

half the gross revenues of cigarette companies like ITC, Godfrey Philips, VST, and GTC

go towards excise payments. Present tobacco consumption is totally skewed in favour of

chewing tobacco and paan masala, with a lion’s share of 48 per cent, followed by bidis,

which constitute around 36 per cent. Cigarettes are the smallest component with a 16 per

cent share. Additionally, a ban on cigarette advertising has just compounded the matters

for tobacco majors already reeling under excessive taxation while advertising by

international brands continues unabated with increased penetration of satellite channels

into Indian homes.

ITC’s brands will also be under attack from foreign brands beamed through satellite TV

channels to Indian homes. The immediate danger is clearly the inflow of foreign

cigarettes through informal channels. Following the lifting of quantitative restrictions,

foreign brands are now sold with impunity by retailers.

The company also faces a threat from an unexpected quarter. For years it has battled bidis

that have burnt a hole in the cigarette market. Now, however, it is facing a threat from

chewing tobacco. The market share of cigarettes in tobacco sales has declined from 19

per cent five years ago to 16 per cent today, and most of the market share has gone to

chewing tobacco. Even the poor man’s bidi has been hit by the sudden fondness for

chewing tobacco. Chewing products now constitute 36 per cent of the tobacco market and

there are no prohibitions on advertising and sponsorships.

A similar example is that of Phillip Morris changing their

name to Altria. Even though they were the largest consumer

product company in the world, their corporate name actually

shared the name of their cigarette division which had a terrible

reputation and was rubbing off on the corporate brand. It was

an impediment to the other brands that they owned like Kraft

and Nabisco.

#5: Changes Due To Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and Acquisitions are extremely powerful corporate events that have the potential

to create critical issues with respect to the performance, survival and success of the

individual as well as the company. Companies coming together have to study each others

cultures, strategies, products and brands. It is essential that there is a synergy between the

brands and that this compatibility is articulated through a well engineered corporate

identity.

In recent years there have been some huge mergers and acquisitions especially in the oil

industry. It is part of a trend toward industrial and financial consolidations where

transnational corporations are seeking to strengthen their position amid tight global

competition. The nature of modern production requires access to markets and raw

materials throughout the world and possession of enormous amounts of capital. Examples

include BP Amoco, Chevron-Texaco and Exxon Mobil.

We have studied two cases to showcase the impact of M&As on corporate identity-

Group Danone and AOL Time Warner.

Two French glass companies, Souchon-Neuvesel glassworks and Glaces de Boussois

merged in 1966 to become Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel or BSN, boasting an annual

turnover of one billion French francs (€ 1.5M). By the 1970s, after more mergers and

acquisitions, BSN Gervais Danone was the largest food group in France, offering

everything from ready-to-eat meals to drinks, pasta and packaged foods.

By the early 1990s BSN Gervais Danone looked to emerging markets such as Asia, Latin

America and South Africa for millions of fresh, untapped consumers. To position itself as

a global food powerhouse, the company realized that the cumbersome and lengthy name

of BSN Gervais Danone was not evocative enough to match its new objective at the

global level. BSN wasn’t known and didn’t have any inherent meaning beyond the

company itself. From a consumer standpoint, the initials were completely invisible.

According to Landor Associates, BSN wanted to stand for

three things: purity, wholesome, and natural and after

extensive research, it was determined that the Danone

brand captured the three attributes best. Potential

downsides of bumping the product brand up to the

corporate level were considered and in the end, the

company was christened Groupe Danone and a visual mark

of a little boy gazing at a star in the sky was created.

A very different kind of example is that of AOL Time Warner. Three and a half years

after Time Warner merged with America Online (AOL), a tie-up which the two firms had

hoped would generate huge returns by distributing Time Warner’s films and music over

AOL’s global internet network, the world’s biggest media and entertainment firm was

simply known as Time Warner and the AOL prefix was dropped.

The collapse of the internet bubble wiped out much of

AOL’s market value, ensuring that the much-hyped

combination never yielded the promised results. The

merger had also been hampered by a culture clash

between AOL’s new media executives and their more

traditional counterparts at Time Warner, as well as a poor performance from the online

division in the years since the two companies joined forces.

It is believed that the Time Warner executives had been contemplating dropping the AOL

prefix, but the name change strategy acquired added momentum when AOL’s own boss,

Jonathan Miller, threw his weight behind it. Mr. Miller was neutral in the feud between

AOL and Time Warner executives, having been brought in after the original merger to

overhaul the company’s online activities.

Both parties are trying to distance themselves from the fiasco, with both of them trying to

rectify the situation and rebuild their equity.

#6: New Business Opportunities

A perfect example of a company that has had to change its corporate identity from time to

time because of new products and new businesses is 3M. Starting of as the Minnesota

Mining and Manufacturing Co. 3M quickly moved into sandpaper, Scotch® Tape,

defense materials, photographic products, carbonless papers, overhead projection

systems, medical products, pharmaceuticals, radiology ,energy control, optical films for

LCD televisions and cleaning products. Now due to these changes in its product

portfolio, 3M had to evolve and thus change its corporate identity.

The first 50 years saw a phase of nonchalant trademarking. The first appeared in 1906. It

was a complex amalgamation of the company’s full name, its headquarters location

(Duluth, Minn.) and, in a diamond at the center of the design, the term, ‘3M Co.’.

Variations of this design survived until World War II. But it was not the company’s only

logo. Sometimes, as many as three or four very different marks were used concurrently.

Most followed a hyphenated 3-M theme, but one spelled out the number so the logo read:

Three M. The second phase of mark-making began in 1950 with the debut of a simplified

logo. But with no standards manual to provide guidelines, variations of this logo

flourished. In some cases, the oval was completely abandoned and the ‘3M’ stood alone.

1906 1950 1961 1977

By 1960, 3M was a major international corporation producing more than 27,000 products

with sales of $550 million, and a third logo phase began. While the decentralization of

the company into virtually autonomous divisions had sparked tremendous growth,

management felt that the company as a whole was suffering from an identity crisis. To

solve its identity problem, 3M hired Gerald Stahl & Associates, a New York design firm,

to create a definitive logo that would unite the corporation and all its business units under

a single sign. The result was a ‘3M’ with a decidedly industrial look. This exercise also

had its shortcomings.

By the 1970s, a change was needed. 3M was no longer a company focused on industrial

abrasives and tapes, but now had many innovative products for the commercial and

consumer markets. In 1977, 3M embarked on phase four in the evolution of the logo.

Siegel & Gale (S&G), a New York design firm, was hired to audit the existing system.

The result was the current 3M logo.

#7: Change in Name

A change in name is a compelling enough reason for a company to revisit and redefine its

corporate identity. This is exactly what happened to companies like Sara Lee Corporation

and Accenture although their reasons for name change are different.

In 1939 Nathan Cummings acquired C.D. Kenny Company, a wholesale distributor of

sugar, coffee and tea in Baltimore, which later became Consolidated Foods Corporation

in 1954 to emphasize its diversified role in food processing, packaging and distribution.

The name is selected to identify with more than one segment of the food industry.

In 1956 Consolidated acquired Kitchens of Sara Lee and entered the retail food business.

From then on the company acquired a number of companies like Electrolux in 1978,

Hanes in 1979, and Nicholas Kiwi in 1984, to name a few. In 1985 the company was

renamed Sara Lee Corporation to reflect the consumer marketing orientation of the

company and the high-quality, well-known branded products it markets around the world.

The diverse nature of its businesses necessitated a change in corporate identity. The

previous name had lost its meaning and relevance.

Accenture on the other hand is an interesting story when you consider the circumstances

for the change and the time they had to do it. The name change followed an independent

arbitrator’s August ruling in favor of Andersen Consulting in its arbitration with

Andersen Worldwide and Arthur Andersen. Under the terms of

the ruling, Andersen Consulting was excused from any further

obligations to Andersen Worldwide and Arthur Andersen, including any obligation to

make termination payments, and given until December 31, 2000 to adopt a new name.

The entire naming process — from conceptualization, analysis

and research to final name selection — was completed in what

is believed to be a record time of less than three months. Employees contributed 2,700

name ideas, Landor Associates added a few thousand and the winner was Kim Petersen,

an employee from the Oslo office. The word ‘Accenture’ is derived from ‘Accent on the

future’.

With the breakaway from Arthur Andersen and the fact that the partners felt that the word

‘Consulting’ in the name was a drawback, since the firm was moving into non-consulting

work such as outsourcing and ventures, it was only a logical step to adopt a new name

and a new identity.

#8: Change in Leadership

For the success of any corporate identity program, a strong leader is essential. He or she

should not only support the program but more importantly act as a catalyst.

Taking over the chairmanship from Krishan Lal Chugh in 1996, Y. C. Deveshwar had a

daunting task ahead of him, transformation not only of the company but also in the way

stakeholders use to look at the businesses conducted by the company.

Analyzing the speeches made by Deveshwar from 1996 to 2006 on ITC Annual General

Meetings, which is an extremely crucial event for any company to communicate itself to

all its stakeholders, one can not be hesitant in saying that he had an absolutely clarity

with respect to the fate that he had decided for ITC. The way he had prepared his team

for the sea change that lied ahead is reflected in the AGM speeches made by him:

In his first Annual General Meeting speech in 1996, the AGM title was ‘Economic

Dimensions of the Tobacco Industry’ and his opening lines were “Today, I would like to

highlight the immense growth potential of the tobacco and cigarettes industry, its

economic dimensions and related opportunities.”

Further in the speech the aspects touched were: the global tobacco market, the Indian

tobacco market, how tobacco industry in India can be structured by learning from the US

tobacco market and how tobacco of better quality can be produced.

Now take a look at 1997 AGM title ‘Reshaping the ITC of Tomorrow’ and the opening

lines nowhere talked about tobacco; even in the rest of the speech ‘Economic Potential of

the Tobacco Sector’ was just one of the aspects talked about amongst others such as ‘The

Emerging Economic Landscape’, ‘Core Business for the Future’, ‘Travel and Tourism

Sector’, ‘Packaging and Paperboard Sectors’, ‘Investigations Relating to Export

Transactions’, and ‘Company’s Contribution to the Economy’. But the most noticeable

aspect of the 1997 speech was Deveshwar bringing in a concept of ITC as an Indian

Enterprise.

It was in the year 1998 that he talked about the repositioning and restructuring of ITC and

change in the strategic focus and challenges; and all this he wanted to align with the

concept of Indian Enterprise with greater value addition. In successive years Deveshwar’s

concept of Indian Enterprise only gained more and more prominence in ITC’s strategic

intent and the company started addressing issues like how India’s economic growth could

be accelerated, how rural India could be more involved in the growth process, how

technology can be harnessed further for the betterment of Indian farmers, etc. Hence the

birth of initiatives like, e-choupal, etc.

From ‘Economic Dimensions of the Tobacco Industry’ to ‘Vision, Values and Vitality;

Powering ITC’s Transformation’, the title for the AGM speech made by Deveshwar on

July 21, 06, ITC has come a long way under his transformational leadership. It would not

be wrong to conclude that Deveshwar had a very clear vision of how he would be

integrating ITC’s growth with the country’s growth. Although in such strategic

restructuring instances time given to a leader is of immense important, the leader’s vision

for the company is the most important criteria for successful transformation. If the

numbers do all the talking, then here is the latest quarter fact (as reported in The Financial

Express dated August 12, 2006) where, the ITC’s non-cigarette divisions fetched over 50% of

net sales (Rs 9,791 crore), against 15%-20% a few years.

Intel is another company propelled by a visionary leader. Reorganization aside, CEO,

Paul Otellini also made dramatic changes with respect to the way products were

designed. While in the past engineers worked on ever-faster chips and then let marketers

try to sell them, there are now teams of people with a cross-section of skills. Chip

engineers, software developers, marketers, and market specialists all work together to

come up with compelling products. Otellini put most of Intel’s 98,000 employees into

new jobs creating new business units for each product area including mobility and

healthcare. He also added 20,000 new jobs in the past year.

Another important aspect is the impact of this change on the product portfolio. The

famous Pentium brand will be slowly phased out. In its place: a troika of brands, two of

those freshly minted. Viiv is the name of a new chip for home PCs, designed to replace

your TiVo (TIVO ), stereo, and, potentially, cable or satellite set-top box. Intel also will

launch a set of notebook PC chips under the three-year-old Centrino brand, as well as so-

called dual-core chips, which will put two processor cores on one sliver of silicon. The

new brand ‘Core’ will be put on products that don’t meet the specifications of the Viiv or

Centrino platforms.

#9: Visual Considerations

Many companies have changed their corporate logos because of certain visual

considerations. These according to us are cosmetic in nature and do not reflect a change

in a company’s corporate identity per se.

Pontiac Texaco

These considerations would include the existing symbol becoming controversial for some

reason, as in the case of Pontiac. The design itself has grown obsolete, appearing dated,

old-fashioned. This happened to Texaco. Perhaps the existing symbol created technical

problems, for example in being too delicate to reproduce well. An example in this case

would be that of the Citicorp logo. Another reason could be due to legal concerns as in

the case of AT&T. Citicorp AT & T

#10: Change in Focus

Set up in 1884 by Dr S K Burman in West Bengal as a proprietary firm for the

manufacture of ayurvedic drugs, Dabur is now one of the top five fast moving consumer

goods (FMCG) companies in India, dealing in food and beverages, health care, oral care,

personal care products and a host of other products. Though its spread into various

segments has ensured that the company’s bottom-line has improved over the years,

Dabur’s positioning was not clear.

Therefore, in the early 2000s, the company went in for a restructuring which included

aligning Dabur’s brand architecture with Dabur’s brand equity; pruning products that did

not align with the brand architecture and launching new products.

Dabur shifted their focus from ayurveda to FMCG because the FMCG business was

clearly doing far better. They also focused on overseas sales and an international business

division has been set up within the company to promote exports. The company went

about this reorientation by streamlining their product portfolio, by realigning their supply

chain systems and by acquiring consumer goods companies Balsara and Weikfield.

But the most important task in any such change in business reorientation or restructuring

is the communication of the new philosophy to the stakeholders. So, after over two

decades of using the banyan tree as its logo, DIL decided to replace it with something

‘more contemporary and relevant’.

Hence, the new corporate identity was born which, through its

form and colours and the new logo combines freshness and

stability. It expresses a brand that is positive, proactive and

progressive. The burst of leaves and their colours symbolize

growth, rejuvenation and inner strength.

Conclusion & Findings

In the above model, on the vertical axis we have listed the factors (not an exhaustive list)

that have forced corporations worldwide to reconsider their corporate identities; of the

factors spelled out here, ‘change in name’ and ‘visual consideration’ are two factors that

are not bound by timeline or the World events.

On the horizontal axis are the World events on a timeline; the axis can be infinitely

elongated to the left but for the convenience of understanding the model we have taken it

from 1900 onwards.

The model helps us understand how the occurrence of World events has intensified the

‘change factors’ which in turn are putting all the more pressure on corporations globally

to reconsider their identity in order to keep pace with the fast changing times. Therefore,

the changing shades of blue colour in the model that signify the increasing intensity of

the factors framed against the timeline.

Another critical point that this model brings out is the shortening timeline. Towards the

beginning of the 19th century the World events were intense by themselves but could not

affect the factors in turn, to put enough pressure on businesses to reconsider their

corporate identities; but as the previous millennium was approaching the end the World

events were so strongly affecting the factors that corporations had not many options but

to reconsider their identities to communicate the change that had undergone or were

expecting soon. So the lifecycle of corporate identities is shortening every passing event;

be it a new technology that has forced Intel and Kodak to change their identities or

regulatory changes that required giant corporate brands like Philip Morris and ITC to

change their identities.

This paradox of shortened lifecycle of corporate identities itself poses an extraordinary

challenge to the companies for effectively elongating and managing their identities.

Changing ones corporate identity is not only an expensive affair but can also create

dissonance in the minds of the stakeholders, if not managed and communicated properly.

In order to succeed companies will have to exercise tremendous clarity of thought and

understand their purpose of existence.

Bibliography Press Articles: Dabur Management Discussion and Analysis (2002-03) Management Discussion and Analysis (2003-04) Dabur Annual Report (2004-05) Accenture to pen Dabur’s sales reform Dabur says IT is its chyawanprash Dabur India Ltd by Jaffe, Rosenthal & Gupta Dabur pens Rs 500 crore e-sourcing strategy FMCG consumption patterns largely static by Chiatali Chakravarty & J Padmapriya Dabur plans product reallocation by Bhanu Pande Dabur upbeat on growth strategy by Jyothi Datta ITC ITC to focus beyond tobacco; The Asian Age, 2001 ITC’s new mantra; Business Standard, 2001 Excise on cigarettes - Real bad for Big Smoke; Business India, 2001 Grey market afire as govt stubs out ITC ads; The Economic Times, 2001 ITC chief calls for deeper partnership in economy; The New Indian Express, 2001 Deveshwar stresses on Indianness; The Times of India, 2001 ITC’s non-tobacco drive to lift topline by Rs.2000 cr; Business Standard, 2001 ITC to hike investment in non-tobacco areas; The Financial Express, 2001 Govt. urged to drop cigarettes from free import list; Deccan Herald, 2001 Many ways of tobacco danger; Business Standard, 2001 ITC seeks reformed legal regime for tobacco sector; The Hindu Business Line, 2001 Keep cigarettes out of VAT, says TII; The Hindu Business Line, 2001 Where There’s A Wills; The Times of India, 2001 ITC calls for `pragmatism’ on WHO norms; The Times of India, 2001 Dressed to Kill; Business Today, 2002 ITC expects e-choupals to be biggest grosser; Business Standard, 2003 ITC sees big jump in foods division revenue; The Times of India, 2003 ITC: Where There Is Smoke, There’s Fire! The Financial Express, 2003 Smoking Proves Good For ITC’s Health; The Financial Express, 2003 Leading a focused conglomerate; The Financial Express, 2003 ITC To Ramp Up Hotel Business; Financial Express, 2004 ITC: The non-tobacco drag; Business Standard, 2004 FMCG: ITC steps on the gas; The Financial Express, 2005 Tobacco exit unlikely to hurt ITC: Deveshwar; Business Standard, 2005 Non-cigarette segment lifts ITC; DNA India, 2006 The morphing of ITC; The Financial Express, 2006 Chairman’s AGM Speech, 2006 Chairman’s AGM Speech, 1996, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 01& 02 Intel Financial Statements from 1996-05 Intel’s New Brand Architecture, 2006 Intel in Healthcare: Connecting People and Information for better health, 2006 Business Outlook, 2006 AMD grabs Intel market share in desktop arena, 2004 Inside Intel, 2006 Intel: Repositioning, and new corporate logo ; www.identityworks.com, 2006 Intel Set to ‘Leap Ahead’ in 2006; Clint Boulton, www.internetnews.com, 2005 ‘Intel Inside’ out, ‘Leap ahead’ in for new year, 2005

Intel Unveils New Brand Identity, 2006 The Industry Handbook - The Semiconductor Industry; www.investopedia.com Historical Stock Chart; www.intel.com, 2006 Kodak Eastman Kodak; www.identityworks.com, 2006 Kodak Introduces New Logo; www.adrants.com, 2006 Annual Report, 2004 and 2005 JWT JWT re-defines role; www.wpp.com, press release, 2005 Advertising: Where change is a constant; The Hindu Business Line, 2004 J Walter Thompson is now JWT; The Hindu Business Line, 2005 JWT’s creative quest; The Hindu Business Line, 2005 Dialogue with Rohit Ohri, Senior Vice President, JWT; www.exchange4media.com, 2005 It’s time stupid: JWT; www.domain-b.com, 2005 Websites: http://www.identityworks.com/tools/components_of_identity.htm http://www.identityworks.com/tools/corporate_identity_process.htm http://www.identityworks.com/tools/corporate_brand_platforms.htm http://www.identityworks.com/tools/implementation_checklist.htm http://www.identityworks.com/reviews/index.htm http://www.brandensemble.com/content.html http://www.ciportal.de/index.php?id=32&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=769&tx_ttnews[backPid]=6&cHash=7bd14b1bf2 http://www.logolounge.com/articles/default.asp?Archive=True&ArticleID=248 http://www.logolounge.com/articles/default.asp?Archive=True&ArticleID=210 http://www.logolounge.com/articles/default.asp?Archive=True&ArticleID=209 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_n3_v40/ai_20141977/pg_1 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4001/is_200101/ai_n8940894/pg_1 http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=632 http://www.management-hub.com/brand-management-power.html http://www.polaris-inc.com/ http://www.wpdfd.com/ Other Resources: Designs of the Times by Tony Spaeth, 1991 Corporate Identity: A Watershed Year by Tony Spaeth, 1991 Logomania by Tony Spaeth, 1992 Do Logos Really Matter? by Tony Spaeth, 1993 What does it all mean? by Tony Spaeth, 1994 PowerBrands by Tony Spaeth, 1998 Corporate Identity Management: Applying the ACID Test by Tricia Fox, John Balmer, Alan Wilson, 2001 The role of trademarks in M&A by Tim Heberden and David Haigh, 2006 Seven Reasons for a Corporate Logo/Symbol Change by Tony Spaeth Corporate Identity Implementation Checklist by Tony Spaeth Managing your brand through your employees by Larry Oakner, 2005 Would a brand smell any sweeter by a corporate name? by Leslie de Chernatony, 2001 Aligning Your Organization and Your Brand for Performance, Interbrand, 2001 BrandAsset Valuator®, Young & Rubicam Group Leveraging the Corporate Brand by James R. Gregory