Advertising serves a PR purpose

“Marketing Corporate Image”
James R. Gregory
NTC Business Books




The book’s subtitle, “The Company as Your Number One Product,” immediately tells us what it is all about. It is about corporate, not product, image. It is about corporate reputation, not brand recall. Of course, these are hair-splitting distinctions.

But if you scan this book, “Marketing Corporate Image,” having been used to the marketing – not public relations —function, you will realize that PR (of the high calibre and professional category) has a strategic contribution to creating goodwill among the company’s publics – beyond brand loyalty – and even to giving the company a compelling voice in advocacy campaigns – beyond the familiar jingle and MTV production.

You are now familiar with that feel-good slogan of General Electric: “We bring good things to life.” This book will tell you how the much-respected Jack Welch, president of GE worldwide, streamlined the huge GE organization, removed the “product fiefdoms” and “independent republics,” retired different advertising and PR themes, and unified the complex business structure under one slogan. A bonus is an appendix that gives the reader a peek into the drawing boards of GE’s communications people and ad agency when the slogan was born – naturally after going through a lot of “visions and revisions,” in the words of poet T. S. Eliot.

The book also devotes a special section to Xerox. When it decided to redefine its business beyond selling copying machines'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=copying%20machines">copying machines, it adopted the tagline: “The Document Company.” A local telephone firm, responding to the challenge of convergence in the telecommunications field, did the same thing by adopting: “The Telecommunications Company.” In both cases, the use of the definite article “the” has given them industry leadership position – a strategic PR move, if I may say so.

Other companies, according to the book, were even adventurous enough to go beyond a change in corporate slogans. They changed their names.

The book says that, in some cases, a legal obligation exists for a name change. When the International Harvester sold its agricultural equipment operations to Tenneco, it also gave up its rights to its name and logo. But there were other reasons. One, the remaining operations are into other businesses and therefore need a new identity. Two, the market would be thrown into confusion if the two entities sport the same name. The result: the old IH went about configuring a new name with the aid of human and computer brains and came up with “Navistar.” To manage the transition, they took out corporate ads with the tagline -- “The rebirth of International Harvester” – to manage the transition.

Mergers and corporate takeovers are also discussed in the book, pointing to the need to communicate the new character of the corporation as a result of the “marriage”. This explains hyphenated names like Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, following the merger of Squibb Corporation and Bristol-Myers Company in October 1989 – and consequently creating “one of the strongest companies in the world” with leadership positions in pharmaceuticals, consumer products'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=consumer%20products">consumer products, nutritionals and medical devices, according to James Gregory, the author. In the local scene, we have seen the mergers of banks which have opted to sport hyphenated names – for equal billing – or which decided, understandably with much negotiation, to retain a dominant name and retire the other.

The book has nine chapters and, if you do not have the stamina to read through the entire book, you can go direct to these stand-alone topics for your immediate need. But, the first chapter is must reading, since it establishes the premise that “image” is the “leading edge of corporate strategy.” There is one chapter that you may want to read immediately: “Advocacy Advertising,” also called issue or constituency advertising.

Gregory has done a good job highlighting this one strategic option available to corporations which somehow feel that the “side” of business is usually laid aside (no pun intended) by media for more populist positions.

Two notable cases are cited by the book: W.R. Grace & Co. and Mobil Corporation. W. R. Grace took out a series of advocacy ads against the increase of capital gains tax – with such headlines as: “The small investor: An endangered species,” and “Taxes up. Productivity Down.”

In Mobil’s case, it took out “op-ed ads,” with this premise: “Business needs voices in the media, the same way labor unions, consumers and other groups in our society do. Our nation functions best when economic and other concerns of the people are subjected to rigorous debate.”

Mobil, for example, took the issue of petroleum prices to the public with tables and graphs, with this title: “Let the numbers do the talking: Where’s the rip-off?” Listen, Philippine oil executives, as you face the juggernaut on the popular but ill-advised National Oil Exchange!

The Mobil series was aimed at giving the big picture, a must for issue management programs anywhere. This almost lyrical premise is in the book:

“An old saying in business is that people have to look at the big picture. And the big picture today is that famous one of earth rising, taken from the moon. Business has seen it too. We get the picture.”

Check out this book in your favorite bookstore – or in Amazon.com. It gives you the big picture about corporate image. Or, if you choose, it gives you a chance to get one piece of the mosaic at a time – at leisure. You will have enough time to reflect on its far-reading implications.