The role of design in the repositioning of a corporate brand

Abstract

Philips has recently established a new brand strategy, which builds on the company's heritage of creating innovations that matter to people. The mission of the company is to improve people's lives through meaningful innovation and the new brand strategy emphasizes a clear orientation towards a more humancentered approach. The tagline 'innovation and you' conveys the brand promise of delivering meaningful solutions that matter to people. The new corporate brand positioning and identity was first introduced to Philips employees in order to convey the new brand strategy internally. The purpose of our research is to explore the role of visual materials in the organizational articulation of strategy. Graphic design emerged as a key element in the internal processes to articulate strategic intent at Philips and our findings suggest that design is not simply a medium or a tool that translates the strategy of the company in the end of a process of communication. Rather, design can be regarded as co-constitutive of the very own strategy it helps to implement. Graphic design is the principal translator of the corporate brand strategy, making it accessible and open to be interpreted in the different international offices of the corporation. Design outcomes become the materialization of the multinational strategic intent -a form of tangible strategy that can be interpreted, engaged with and build upon. Our research analyses and discusses these perspectives, devising broader implications from our case study setting.