1. Branding as a professional area has gained
importance in the last few years in Spain, but
there is still a long way to go: many participants
of the business community still confuse brand
with its visual representation (84 %), most of the
companies still don’t have a team dedicated to
brand management (54.3 %), corporate culture
is not sufficiently promoted/shared internally
(39 %), key vendors are predominantly designers
(71 %) and engagement of the top management
is insufficient (29 %).
However, some progress has been made in
the field: an increasing number of directors
view corporate branding as an intangible asset
characterized by high strategic value (79 %),
value is recognized as the essence of the brand
(44 %), employees are increasingly viewed as
the key stakeholder group (67 %), well above
shareholders (61 %) and catching up with
clients (91 %) and consumers (76 %). Besides,
reputation is viewed as the key element of
brands’ future success (92 %).
These are the data presented by Almudena
Clemente, Director for Strategy at The Brand
Union, and contained in The State of Branding
in Spain report, developed by AEBRAND, an
association that unites all major consultancies
working in the field of brand management in
Spain.
The study reflects the current situation in
the profession and was carried out between
November 2013 and February 2014, based on
surveys of 100 executives (representing such
corporate areas as communication, marketing,
brand and general administration) from large
companies with more than 500 employees and
international presence in B2B (industrial and
services) and B2C (consumer goods) sectors.
Are top managers aware of the importance of corporate branding? Who is responsible
for managing the Master Brand in organizations? To what extent does the corporate
brand facilitate international expansion?
Strategy Documents
I67/2014
Top Managers’ Engagement as
the Key Factor of Corporate
Brand’s Success
Brand
Insights & Trends
This document was developed by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership and among other sources, contains references to the
statements of Oriol Iglesias, Director of ESADE Brand Institute; Conrad Llorens, CEO of SUMMA Branding; Almudena Clemente, Director
for Strategy at The Brand Union; Víctor Mirabet, CEO of Coleman-CBX; Pablo Vidal, Director of Telefónica’s Global Brand and Marketing;
and Isabel García Sánchez-Valiente, Director for Brand and Corporate Research at Santander Bank, made during the presentation of The State
of Branding in Spain 2014 report, organized jointly by AEBRAND (Spain’s Association of Branding Companies) and ESADE Business School in
Madrid, in 2014.

2. Insights & Trends 2
Top Managers’
Engagement as
the Key Factor
of Corporate
Brand’s Success
“The most
important
element of
any corporate
culture is
its values –
something
that should be
cultivated over
time”
Promises aligned with experience
A brand is the essence of the company’s
promise to a client. It represents the company’s
personality and is fundamental for the
company’s differentiation, say Pablo Vidal,
Telefónica’s Global Brand and Marketing
Director, Isabel García, Santander’s Brand
and Corporate Research Director, and Víctor
Mirabet, CEO of Coleman-CBX.
Llorens believes that in the current context
brands should create true experiences that
make the brand’s promise meaningful, because
experience is the moment of truth for the
stakeholders. In order to achieve it, all corporate
areas of a company should be engaged in the
process. It’s important to break down the silos
and make sure that the brand becomes a truly
firm-wide concept and reality.
It’s also necessary to overcome the short-term
vision and try to build the brand’s reputation
in the medium and long run. This is especially
important for corporate brands. In this sense, a
company should clearly show its determination
to develop a powerful corporate culture and
proactively communicate it.
Culture should be cultivated
Culture is essential in promoting a strong and
consolidated corporate brand. It allows the
company to anticipate the way it will be perceived
from the outside, directly engages employees
(an increasingly important stakeholder group)
and defines the most important element of
any brand: corporate values, which should be
cultivated over time.
AEBRAND report reflects concerns about
corporate culture. Answering the question on
whether the culture in their companies is clearly
defined, 42 % of the respondents said “a lot”,
15 % said “quite”, as opposed to 9 % who said
“little” and 34 % who said “somewhat” (which
adds up to 43 %). As for the degree to which
this culture is shared by stakeholders, positive
answers are slightly lower (55 % said “a lot”
or “quite”, as compared to 45 % who said
“somewhat” or “little”).
In order to activate its brand, a company should
provide as much information as possible, using
such media as e-mail, intranet and the corporate
website (used by 92 % of companies), as well
as messages in the working space and the office
(71 %), internal presentations (68 %), brand
manuals and other corporate literature (65 %),
meetings of directors and employees (42 %) and
training (34 %).
Involvement of the top management
In addition to an aligned and shared culture,
corporate brand’s success requires involvement
of the top management. According to the study,
B2B companies largely achieve this purpose.
However, in general, the importance attached
by Management Committees to this issue is still
low (32 % said “somewhat”, 25 % said “a lot”,
29 % said “quite” and 11 % said “none”).
Isabel García from Santander Bank says that
directors should include brand issues into
their daily agenda, since the brand’s key
ambassadors are the employees. Telefónica’s
Pablo Vidal believes it is the responsibility of
brand management areas to demonstrate to the
top management that a brand is the best way
of linking up with the company’s stakeholders.
According to the study, corporate brand is
managed by dedicated departments in 21 %
of the cases. In other cases, it is managed
by marketing departments (30 %) and
communication departments (32 %). In 19 %
of the cases it is the responsibility of the general
administration, and in 15 % of the cases it’s
managed by corporate or institutional areas.
Graph 01: ¿Qué se entiende por marca corporativa? (What is corporate branding?)
Source: La salud del branding en España, AEBRAND.
84% 79% 64% 36%
La expresión gráfica de su
identidad (naming, logo,
colores corporativos...)
Un activo intangible de alto
valor estratégico.
El instrumento de
comunicación del proyecto
empresarial.
Las acciones de
responsabilidad
corporativa.

3. Insights & Trends 3
Top Managers’
Engagement as
the Key Factor
of Corporate
Brand’s Success
“A brand’s success
depends on its
capacity to fulfil
its promise and
deliver a coherent
experience
through
positioning which
should be based
on the company’s
identity”
Conclusion: the emerging
importance of a corporate brand
Consumer goods companies, new multimedia
groups, public institutions and even NPOs
agree that a consolidated and strong corporate
brand is increasingly understood as the way to
success.
The growing importance of reputation as a
driver of brand differentiation and prestige
also boosts the importance of a corporate
brand. AEBRAND study shows that its value
is recognized as the companies’ main strategic
resource.
A brand’s success depends on its capacity
to fulfil its promise and deliver a coherent
experience through positioning which should
be based on the company’s identity as well as
co-creation with the stakeholders.
The challenge of international expansion
Most of the companies that took part in the
survey are multinational corporations, and one of
the most important challenges that they reported
is managing a corporate brand in the highly
competitive and increasingly globalized scenario.
In fact, 32 % of the respondents believe that the
needs of international expansion have a strong
influence on the brand strategy (31 % said “a lot”,
22 % said “somewhat” and only 15 % said “little”).
On the other hand, 45 % of the companies report
that they manage their brand from the company’s
central office, as compared to 34 % who combine
centralized and local management, 16 % use
centralized or decentralized approach depending
on the brand’s specifics, and 5 % use fully
decentralized approach.
It’s especially important to understand that in
the process of international expansion, the brand
launch strategy should always go hand in hand
with the overall business strategy, taking into
account the local specifics.
Graph 02: Implicación del comité de dirección (Engagement of the top management)
Fuente: La salud del branding en España, AEBRAND.
Los Comités de Dirección parecen ser conscientes
de la importancia de la Marca Corporativa,
especialmente en el caso de las empresas BtB.
En su opinión ¿qué importancia concede el
Comité de Dirección de su empresa a los temas
de la Marca Corporativa?
Ninguna 11%
Alguna
32%
Bastante 28%
Mucha 29%

4. ©2015, Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership
A foundation established by major companies aiming to excel in the management of intangible assets and facilitate promotion of strong brands
with a good reputation and a capacity to compete on the global markets. Our objective is to become the driving force, which would lead and
consolidate professional reputation management as a strategic asset, fundamental for building value of companies around the world.
Disclaimer
This document is a property of Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership developed with an objective to share business
knowledge about management of reputation, brand, communication, non-financial indicators and public affairs.
Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership is the owner of all rights to the intellectual property related to images, texts,
drawings or any other content or elements of this product. Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership is the holder of all
necessary permissions for the use of the document and therefore any reproduction, distribution, publishing or modification of the document
without its express permission is prohibited.
Leading by
reputation