Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

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Closing the Gaps – the Identity Struggle around GAP‘s Re-branding Veronika V. Tarnovskaya, Lund School of Economic Research, Sweden Introduction and Purpose Even the most successful brands have to evolve by bringing their identities into a better correspondence with the changing consumer trends and competitive situations (de Chernatony, 1999; 2002). The re-branding campaigns are planned by managers while consumers often face the corporate change post-factum. In the era of Internet and increased influence of social media on consumer behavior, the corporate re-branding attempts cannot go unnoticed. On the contrary, they catch attention of internet community the minute a certain change occurs. Drawing on the recent episode of GAP‘s unsuccessful attempt to change its logo, this paper aims at exploring the reasons of the company‘s failure to re-brand itself by looking at the identity struggle that took place in the Internet directly after the re-branding move. The question I intend to answer is: what is the impact of identity struggle between users and managers upon brand identity? By looking at the individuals‘ identity struggle, I intend to increase our general understanding of the character of users-company interaction on the Internet and its impact upon brands. I purposefully talk about users and not consumers only, since the former combine different roles such as customers, employees, social stakeholders, marketing experts, etc, depending on the situation in which they act. Methodology The episode of Gap‘s rebranding has been studied with the usage of secondary sources (internet articles, forums, blogs, and corporate web-site). The texts taken from the corporate bulletins, internet magazines and twitter streams were analysed with the help of Weick‘s (1995; 2001) sense-making methodology. It allows developing a deeper understanding of the processes of organisational change by focusing on the ways in which its members construct frame, comprehend, construct meaning, interact and arrive at some mutual understanding of different events. Although the majority of actors under study were not members of the organisation, they represented a virtual community whose stakes in the company and its brand seemed to be as high as those of managers and employees. I have specifically studied the sense-making processes of customers (brand fans), designers, branding experts and top managers. Conceptualisation Conceptually, the paper integrates the literature on corporate branding, internet branding and sensemaking. It draws on the theories of corporate brand identity as represented by the mainstream marketing and organisational literature (Balmer 1995; Olins 2000; Balmer 2001 a, b; Hatch and Schultz, 2001; 2003; Urde, 2003; de Chernatony, 2002; Balmer and Gray, 2003; Balmer and Greyser, 2003; Kapferer, 2004; Balmer and Greyser, 2003). The paper has its starting point in the commonly held view of the corporate brand as ―the face of the organisation‖ (Balmer and Gray, 2003; p. 991) since it captures the essence behind the complex elements of the brand, among which vision, mission and core values are stressed as guiding the brand and enhancing its consistency and longevity (Ind, 1997; de Chernatony, 2002; Hatch and Schultz, 2001; 2003). Some authors present a more sophisticated view of a brand as a covenant subsuming multiple organisational identities under a commonly held contract between the organisation and its constituencies (Balmer 2001a, b; Balmer and Greyser, 2003). Thus, branding involves communicating the essence of the contract (the brand‘s promise) to its audiences and enhancing their positive perceptions of the brand (image). The interaction between the brand and customers is conceptualized in the marketing literature as interplay between organisational vision, culture and image (Hatch and Schultz, 2001; 2003) or as a symbiosis of identities of brand, organisation and customers (Urde, 2003). Common to these conceptualisations is the idea that brand identity with its core values represents an important point of departure for the branding process. Managers are capable to instill the intended brand meaning into the products and affect customer perceptions and behaviours. Challenging the established view that a brand can be controlled by managers, many authors, for example, Christensen and Askegaard (2001) and Pitt et al (2006) argue that brands increasingly constitute the open sources owned by many actors, decreasing the company‘s ability to control them. Thus, the boundary of identity and image is dissolving. In the conceptualisation of brands as open sources, they are represented by more or less open bundles of associations generated and authored by multiple actors (Pitt et al, 2006). The evolution of brands from closed resources controlled by managers to open sources influenced by many different actors has been intensified in the e-space. The e-space constitutes a radically different brand sphere (de Chernatony, 2006), in which the relationship between consumers and brands has changed in favor of consumers. Branding on the Internet is about participation and co-creation of meaning by customers and other constituencies (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Thus, successful brand strategies on the Internet involve building relationships, enabling interactivity and tailoring offerings in a more precise way than before (de Chernatony and Christodoulides, 2004). That implies facilitating conversation about brand by consumers, whose perspectives on companies and brands are often in conflict with the image the managers want to convey (Christodoulides, 2009). The extreme cases of anti-brand web-sites that are growing in number show that Internet communities have an ability to create the negative on-line identities for the targeted brands (e.g. Coca Cola – Killercoke.org; Starbucks – Starbucked.com; Wal-Mart – Walmart-blows.com in Krishnamurthy and Kucuk, 2009). On the whole, branding has moved from the corporate offices to blogs, widgets, groups, video casts and other Internet applications, resulting in the tremendous loss of control by managers. Consumers can even interfere with the most sacred brand element – its core values – by voting against them. The brand manager who used to be a custodian of the brand (Mitchell, 2001) has become a host whose main role is not to control but to facilitate the interaction process (Christodoulides, 2009). The interactive process has moved to a microlevel of individual actors (managers and Internet users), implying the need to specifically focus on that mechanism. Looking deeper into the nature of brand-user interactions, this paper applies Weick‘s (1995; 2001) ideas of sense-making defined as: ―placing of items into frameworks, comprehending, redressing surprise, constructing meaning, interacting in pursuit of mutual understanding, and patterning‖ (Weick, 1995, p. 6). Sense-making involves the ongoing retrospective development of plausible images that rationalize what people are doing (Weick, 2001, p. 460). When people engage in acts of sense-making, they are 222
accomplishing reality rather than discovering it. ―To make sense is to focus on a limited set of cues, and to elaborate those few cues into a plausible, pragmatic, momentarily useful guide for actions that themselves are partially defining the guide they follow‖ (Weick, 2001, p. 460). As follows from these excerpts, sense-making is especially relevant in the e-context when Internet users actively interact with the sources and can even change their content, for example, by adapting it to their preferences. Applying seven properties of sensemaking: 1) social context 2) personal identity 3) retrospect 4) salient cues 5) ongoing projects 6) plausibility 7) enactment - to the Internet community‘s reaction to the episode of corporate re-branding (change of logo), as a good example of major organisational change (Muzellec and Lambkin, 2006), the paper aims at understanding of the impact of multiple sense-making processes on the outcome of this change. Thus, branding is viewed from a micro-perspective of individuals (users, managers) rather than a macroperspective of organisations common in the literature. Empirical Case The GAP re-branding drama was approximately a week long, starting on October 6, 2010 when the company showed its new logo on its website and ending on October 12 when GAP announced the return to the old one. As unremarkable as it sounds when looking at these plain facts, the ―logo operation‖ involved an astonishing spectrum of feelings: from hatred to love, and diverse statements from customers (fans, Facebook and Twitter followers), designers, branding experts and company representatives. The result of the weeklong war around GAP‘s new logo was its retreat, publicly labeled as the company‘s defeat and community‘s victory. Findings By strengthening and optimising their profiles on the Internet, brands provide its audiences with highly visible cues such as brand logos and symbols which become interwoven in their individual stories in a much deeper way than before the Web 2.0. Because users‘ individual identities are developed in the close relation to brands, they get easily threatened by the changes occurring to them. As different users‘ sense-making processes depend on the same cues and occur in the same context of the Internet space, they become more eagerly engaged in the agitated discussions that can overturn the brand‘s (managerial) intentions or instill a completely different meaning into their messages. The shared context and cues unite the brand users, allowing them to arrive to a common sense of events and act decisively (a strong sense-making process). Those managers who still rely on their own, limited branding context (e.g. corporate web-site; stores) and secret cues (consultant reports, surveys) find themselves in a weaker sense-making situation. To strengthen their position, managers have to re-define the brand context, use different cues and enact their brands in an on-going interaction with the users. Due to the interactive nature of Web 2.0 as a new social context for brands, identity struggles might decide the success or failure of any brand change. Practical Implications Internet brand sphere imposes new dangers on the companies‘ rebranding attempts and branding in general. Many companies still act as if they own the brand space on the Internet while in reality they only share it, in accordance with the new rules of the game. They either have to accept the loss of control over brand and be more receptive to their internet community or regain this power by defining the new rules for the community (as strong internet brands like Nike and Apple do). References: 1. Balmer, J.M.T. (1995), Corporate Branding and Connoisseurship, Journal of General Management, 21(1), 24-46. 2. Balmer, J.M.T. (2001a), Corporate identity, corporate branding and corporate marketing: Seeing through the fog, European Journal of Marketing, 35(3/4), 248-291. 3. Balmer, J.M.T. (2001b), The three virtues and seven deadly sins of corporate brand management, Journal of General Management, 27(1), 1-17. 4. Balmer, J.M.T. & Greyser, S. (2003), Revealing the Corporation, Perspectives on Identity, Image, Reputation, Corporate Branding, and Corporate-Level Marketing. New York: Routledge. 5. Balmer, J.M.T. & Gray, E.R. (2003), Corporate Brands: What are they? What of them?, European Journal of Marketing, 37(7/8), 972-997. 6. Christensen, L., & Askegaard, S. (2001), Corporate Identity and Corporate Image Revisited, European Journal of Marketing, 35(3/4), 292-315. 7. Christodoulides, G. (2009), Branding in the post-internet era, Marketing Theory, 9, 141-144. 8. de Chernatony, L. (1999), Brand Management Through Narrowing the Gap Between Brand Identity and Brand Reputation, Journal of Marketing Management, 15(1/3), 157-180. 9. de Chernatony, L. & Christodoulides, G. (2004), Taking the Brand Promise Online: Challenges and Opportunities, Interactive Marketing, 5(3), 238-251. 10. de Chernatony, L. (2002), Would a Brand Smell any Sweeter by a Corporate Name?, Corporate Reputation Review, 5(2/3), 114-132. 11. de Chernatony, L. (2006), From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation, Strategically Building and Sustaining Brands. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 12. Hatch, M.J. & Schultz, M. (2001), Are the strategic stars aligned for your corporate brand? Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 128-134. 13. Hatch, M.J. & SchultzM. (2003), Bringing the corporation into corporate branding, European Journal of Marketing, 37, 1041-1064. 14. Ind, N. (1997), The Corporate Brand. London: Macmillan Business. 15. Kapferer, J.-N. (2004). The new strategic brand management, 3-d edition, London: Kogan Page. 16. Krishnamurthy, S. & Kucuk, S.U. (2009), Anti-branding on the internet, Journal of Business Research, 62, 1119-1126. 17. Mitchell, A. (2001), Right Side up: Building Brands in the Age of the Organised Consumer, London: Harper Collins Business. 18. Muzellec, L. & Lambkin, M. (2006), Corporate rebranding: destroying, transferring or creating brand equity?, European Journal of Marketing, 40(7/8), 803-824. 19. Pitt, L., Watson, R., Berthon, P., & Wynn, D. (2006), The Penguin's Window, Corporate Brands from an Open-Source Perspective, The Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 115- 128. 20. Urde, M. (2003), Core value-based corporate brand building, European Journal of Marketing, 37(7/8), 1017-1040. 21. Vargo, S.L. & Lusch, R.F. (2004), Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing, Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1-17. 22. Weick, K.E. (1995), Making Sense of the Organisations, Blackwell Publishing, UK. 23. Weick, K.E. (2001), Making Sense of the Organisations, Blackwell Publishing, UK. 223
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Book of Proceedings Brand, Identity
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Session 1.1 Emotional Branding in T
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p.31) consumers tend to those sourc
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Tables and figures Brand perception
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Malaysia‘s Global Halal Hub - ―
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Birds of a Feather Consume Sports T
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Session 1.2 How is Social Media, li
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2. Interviews made with the adminis
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Table-5 Facebook Members of Homeles
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content (UGC) or even direct intera
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Fierman, (1991) found that 47% of c
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Multiple Dimensions of Brand Identi
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Session 1.3 Corporate Identity, Cor
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CSR are the ideals and ethics of co
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Corporate Brand Identity Management
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To study the influence of B2B relat
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Antecedents And Consequences Of Bra
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22. Gurviez, P., and Korchia, M. (2
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Non-monetary factors, such as effor
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23. Holbrook, M.B. (2006). Consumpt
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Brand Extensions and Culture: The I
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avoidance tend to prefer more infor
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Virtual Internal Brand Communities:
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References 1. Algesheimer, R., Dhol
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associations based on their percept
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shift in the psychological contract
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10. Berthon, P., Ewing, M., & Hah,
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Session 2.1 Global Brand Relationsh
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G. Brand Personality Excitement Hon
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The Impact of Relationship Marketin
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‗United 2010-one for all, all for
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Brand Equity Trends in Top Global B
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Uncovering ‗Meanings‘ through A
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45. Melewar, T.C. and Saunders, J.
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Thus, from a design perspective, we
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Keywords Brands, marketing, meaning
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How Important is the Brand Name Ele
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References 1. Aaker, D. (1991). Man
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Simon Cowell and Branding the X Fac
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Dead or Living: Which Celebrity To
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Reference 1. Bagozzi, R.P. & Yi, Y.
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has been adopted and within this an
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Organizational Factors Contributing
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examine and reconcile existing lite
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Effects of Corporate Social Respons
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15. Morsing M, & Schultz M. (2006).
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1989). But if the information avail
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An Inquiry into Corporate Heritage
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3. Balmer, J. M. T., & Greyser, S.
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Research questions and methodology
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Building Corporate Reputation: A Di
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Session 3.1 Financial vs. Consumer-
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For indicating brand equity, one of
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Financial Brand Valuation: an exper
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Figure 1 Religiously Motivated Cons
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I Don‘t Like It! - Understanding
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Session 3.2 Advertising Agency Empl
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applications of the Repertory Test
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The Life Cycle of Mavens Lynne Free
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Exploring the relationship between
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internal branding process. Internal
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proper branding strategy. With the
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Profiling the Image of Urban Busine
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Finally, the paper confirms the cau
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Table 3 Image differences according
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associated with the brand‖ (Aaker
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Figure 1 - Number of adjectives sel
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Figure 5 - Main attributes of a gol
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Empirical Studies For both studies,
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Figure 2: Perception of the City of
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Co-branding places? Andrea Lucarell
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12. Lucarelli, A., & Berg, P. O. (2
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the place brands, as has been showe
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Session 3.4 Innovation and Entrepre
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The interviews were conducted in th
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Country-of-Origin Effects on Brand
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7. Kaynak, E., Kucukemiroglu, O. &
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Results The demographic profile ind
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use games consoles (Childwise, 2001
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Plenary Session 2 Brand Performance
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Uncles, M.D. & Kwok, S. (2008). Gen
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Brand Management Framework Empirica
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Coneptualising Branding in Indian P
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characteristics could be zeroed upo
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Concentrating on the actual practic
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Page 189 and 190: Conclusion Public sector organisati
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Page 263 and 264: Introduction Reputation and Financi
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Page 269 and 270: Introduction Factors Affecting Bran
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27. Gentry, C.R., ―Building on Br
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Together these issues have resulted
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elations. If the contact persons tr
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How do you Really Know? Exploring B
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Originality/value The psychology li
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asked ―did you see any of these c
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expressivity (Ω experts = 0,96 p
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Next are brand associations, also r
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Table 1: Selection of variables, it
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Special Session Issues in Brand Gov
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A Competance based Brand: Meaning a
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Session 12.4 Special Session Topic:
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Brand Meaning Co-Creation of Newcom
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Leonor Vacas de Carvalho, Évora Un
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Ronaldo Schutz, University of the A
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