Institutional Branding

In governance, the high level decision-making process includes institutional branding. Branding aims to establish a distinctive presence, using good reputation as a major edge in the competitive market, Strategic branding underlies any marketing effort in getting, keeping and growing the target external stakeholders.

An institution (whether civil, political, economic, social or cultural) must first define itself (eg what it stands for and what are its strengths) before communicating its value propositions to its external stakeholders. A brand is the resulting perception that consolidates the qualities and attributes of a product or service in the minds of external stakeholders. In the dynamic context, a good brand builds mutual trust between the institution and external stakeholders ie the promised values delivered meet or exceed market expectations.

An institution's identity is often represented by a traditional visual sign (ie a trademark), although a trademark, unlike a domain name, can be multi-sensory (particularly sound and smell). A brand is much wider than a trademark as all acts or omissions of the institutional actors form part of the brand. The basic principle is to use the sign and to deliver the promised values consistently so as to develop a cohesive brand identity that external stakeholders can clearly appreciate and be deeply emotionally connected with the brand.