Brand Identity vs Corporate Identity: Difference and Comparison

Brand and corporate identities are two essential marketing tools and are often indistinguishable from each other, but they vary in multiple aspects.

Corporate identity primarily concerns the company’s visual appearance in the market, and brand identity plays an integral part.

Key Takeaways

1. The brand identity encompasses the visual elements, messaging, and overall perception of a specific product, service, or company; corporate identity represents an organization’s overall image, values, and culture.
2. The brand identity focuses on differentiating a brand from competitors and building a unique image; corporate identity aims to create a consistent and cohesive image across all company-related materials and communications.
3. Both brand and corporate identity are essential for building a strong, recognizable presence in the market and fostering trust with consumers and stakeholders.

Brand Identity vs Corporate Identity

Brand identity refers to the visual and verbal elements that distinguish a company or product from its competitors and can help build customer loyalty. Corporate identity refers to the overall image and perception of a company, including its mission, values, culture, and communication style.

A brand identity gives the product the personality and the face value to establish a long-lasting imprint on customers’ minds, which enables them to buy that particular product.

The most crucial reason brand identity is essential to a company is that a company gets recognition among its customers. The logo plays a vital role in implementing that identity for the company.

Corporate identity undertakes corporate identity exercises such as emphasising logos, collaterals, and outlet design to change consumers’ perceptions about the quality and the services.

On the other hand, brand identity is the proposal that the company makes to the consumers regarding the benefits, quality, service, features, etc. This can be seen through the example mentioned follows:

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Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Brand Identity	Corporate Identity
Meaning	Comprises of the perception about the particular product or service that the company provides to the consumers	It is an overall perception of a company presented to the customers.
Aim	The main goal is to differentiate the product from the other products in the market.	The sole aim of developing corporate identity is to engage a large number of customers in the company’s various products.
Target audience	Brand identity primarily targets just customers.	The target of corporate identity is the customers, stakeholders, and shareholders.
Duration of approach	Brand identity tends to change with the latest and ongoing global trends.	A corporate identity remains stable over a long period
Constituents	The main constituents here are key colours, graphic elements, etc.	Corporate identity is visualized through trademarks, product design, advertising, etc.

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What is Brand Identity?

Brand identity is the perception of the product the company provides to engage the maximum number of consumers.

The primary objective of creating the brand identity is to distinguish one product from other similar products in the consumerist society.

Brand identity is tangible and is basically what we see. The product is the central area of focus for developing the brand identity.

Some of the critical factors of brand identity are as follows:

1. Publicizing a particular product in the market primarily encourages consumers to buy that specific service or product.
2. Consumers play an influential and critical role in being the people of concern.

It is a way in which the organization represents its particular product in the market to attract a large audience.

 

What is Corporate Identity?

Corporate identity is the visual appearance of the company in the market. Website designs, logos, advertising, etc., play a key role in maintaining the company’s corporate identity on varied grounds.

Corporate identity is the identity which the company wants the public to perceive about them.

Corporate identity is the perception of the entire company that the consumers eventually form and is not just based on the idea of particular products and services.

Some of the critical factors of corporate identity are as follows:

1. It is not just concerned with the promotion of just a single product in the market but with improving the entire perception of the company by using various propositions.
2. Customers, stakeholders, and shareholders play an equal role as the target audience.
3. It is a way in which the organization presents itself to the public, including customers, investors, etc.

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Main Differences Between Brand Identity and Corporate Identity

1. Corporate identity is how the company presents itself to the public, whereas brand identity is how it presents its product to the public.
2. The target of the corporate identity is the customers, shareholders, and stakeholders, whereas brand identity engages just with the customers.
3. Corporate identity remains stable for a considerable period, whereas Brand identity has to change according to the trends.
4. Corporate identity incorporates the overall messaging, whereas brand identity depends on the narrow messaging.
5. Advertising, public relations, trademarks, etc., are the critical elements of the corporate identity, whereas logos, key colours, and graphic elements are the key elements of brand identity.

References

1. https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/19915/Abratt_Corporate%282012%29.pdf?sequence=1
2. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/007/2012/00000046/f0020007/art00011