brands more than their corporate owners. Among those brands
winning high levels of trust were Pepsi, Mars and St Michael
(product brands), while among the less trusted were Shell,
Microsoft and Sky (corporate brands).
It would seem that, in the United Kingdom at least, a
product brand, particularly one with a clear personality and
compelling emotional charge, can be loved and cherished,
while we remain wary of big business. Of course, it depends on
the particular big business as to whether a corporate brand is
good or bad for sales.
Shell’s tussles with environmental groups on issues to do
with exploration and drilling can have an impact on how we
see its products at the pump. Sky’s arguments with the
Manchester United supporters’ club can have an impact on its
image quite out of proportion to the scale of the particular
dispute. Companies that appear to the media, or to the
government, to be growing too powerful, such as Microsoft,
can have consequent problems with their brand image in the
eyes of the consumer.
But if the big business in question establishes a ‘good’ reputa-
tion then it can of course transfer that to a good brand image.
What we are saying here is that a big business can become a
brand, and express certain values through that brand. Virgin is
a case in point, with values that express a championing of the
customer, breaking with convention, and sounding a challenge
to existing norms and authorities.
The lesson taught by those that succeed in the pursuit of a
corporate brand is that such a brand can sometimes play on a
higher level of awareness and impact than the product brand. A
product brand must identify and match the needs, attitudes and
aspirations of a targeted market segment – it is necessarily
concerned with the small picture. The corporate brand’s defini-
tion requires a big picture approach, building values that match
the political, social and economic mood of the time. So long as
big business is venerated in Japan, corporate brands such as
Mitsubishi and Yamaha will thrive, but economic failure, the
end of the ‘job for life’ culture, and a few too many corporate
scandals could lead to a rethink.
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Understanding brands