Proceedings: Conference on Corporate Communication 2012 Page 1

The Dynamic Interplay of Visual and Textual Identification Strategies
in a Corporate Context
A Multimodal Analysis of Grundfos Employees’ Magazines
Carmen D. Maier & Mona A. Andersen
Department of Business Communication
School of Business and Social Sciences
Aarhus University, Denmark
cdm@asb.dk & ma@asb.dk
This paper explores how corporate identity is communicated through texts and images in
Grundfos employees’ magazines.
Drawing on an interdisciplinary methodological framework related to organizational
identification theory and social semiotics, it proposes a multimodal analysis model through which
several identification strategies are explored at the level of each semiotic mode and at the level of
the modes' interplay. The paper explains how corporate identity is communicated in accordance
with the potential and constraints of texts and images. It claims that by exploring how these
semiotic modes reinforce, complement or subvert each other, the identification strategies can be
more thoroughly addressed.
This paper expands the existing research work by examining the semiotic modes’ complex
interconnectivity and functional differentiation in corporate identity communication, extending
the usual textual focus to a multimodal one. Shedding light on how the multimodal interplay
contributes to communicate corporate identity, this model can be employed by communicators in
order to nuance and improve their communicative practice.
Keywords: Corporate communication, Identification strategies, Semiotic modes, Multimodal
interplay
Abstracts of <strong>Conference</strong> <strong>Proceedings</strong>: <strong>Conference</strong> on Corporate Communication 2012
Page 26