Corporate brand identity co-creation in business-to-business contexts

Towards a theory of conscientious corporate brand co-creation: the next key challenge in brand management

“…Vallaster and von Wallpach 2013 ; von Wallpach et al 2017a ; Iglesias et al; 2013 ; 2020a ; da Silveira et al 2013 ; Kornum et al 2017 ). This is a continuous value creation process ‘that unfolds over time through a series of interactions that take place between multiple internal and external stakeholders’ (Iglesias et al 2020a , p. 33) as they contest, discuss, negotiate and reinterpret a brand’s meanings (Iglesias and Bonet 2012 ; Vallaster and von Wallpach 2013 ). According to Iglesias et al ( 2020a , p. 32), the core of a corporate brand, its identity, is co-created in ‘an ongoing dynamic process where multiple internal and external stakeholders engage in four different but interrelated performances: communicating; internalizing; contesting; and elucidating’.…”

“…Interestingly, the foundational corporate brand management literature seems to suggest that managers unilaterally define this covenant and that they mostly build corporate brands from an inside-out and top-down approach (Iglesias et al 2020a ). For instance, the traditional literature defines corporate brand identity as a unique set of stable values determined by managers to illustrate what the corporate brand stands for, and what makes it unique (Keller 1993 ; Aaker 1996 ; de Chernatony 1996 ).…”

“…In essence, corporate brands are co-created organically, together with multiple stakeholders (e.g. Vallaster and von Wallpach 2013 ; von Wallpach et al 2017a ; Iglesias et al; 2013 ; 2020a ; da Silveira et al 2013 ; Kornum et al 2017 ). This is a continuous value creation process ‘that unfolds over time through a series of interactions that take place between multiple internal and external stakeholders’ (Iglesias et al 2020a , p. 33) as they contest, discuss, negotiate and reinterpret a brand’s meanings (Iglesias and Bonet 2012 ; Vallaster and von Wallpach 2013 ).…”

“…This is a continuous value creation process ‘that unfolds over time through a series of interactions that take place between multiple internal and external stakeholders’ (Iglesias et al 2020a , p. 33) as they contest, discuss, negotiate and reinterpret a brand’s meanings (Iglesias and Bonet 2012 ; Vallaster and von Wallpach 2013 ). According to Iglesias et al ( 2020a , p. 32), the core of a corporate brand, its identity, is co-created in ‘an ongoing dynamic process where multiple internal and external stakeholders engage in four different but interrelated performances: communicating; internalizing; contesting; and elucidating’. Communicating involves the activities performed by stakeholders in transmitting the corporate brand identity; internalizing concerns the activities performed to bring the brand identity to life; contesting is a comparative process by which stakeholders confront the corporate brand identity with their perceptions; elucidating involves activities performed by stakeholders to develop an evolved shared understanding of the corporate brand.…”

“…In other words, a purpose is concerned with the way in which a corporate brand creates value for all its diverse stakeholders. It should both provide clarity so that managers can use it as a filter for strategic decision-making, and be dynamic, in that it can inspire and engage different stakeholders to further develop and elucidate a shared and evolving understanding of the corporate brand (Iglesias et al 2020a ). Surprisingly, there is a gap between the managerial discussions around purpose, which have become mainstream, and academia, where there is an inexplicable lack of research on how corporate brands should build a purpose and what the benefits of doing so are (Golob et al 2020 ).…”