Description
Why do companies look the way they do? Why do they build themselves fortresses of steel and glass, stuffed with extravagant black leather furniture like latter day Versailles?
Do they, like Louis XIV do it for self- glorification? Do they do it without thinking, as a kind of reflex action? Do they do it because that's what all the other big, companies do? Or is it part of a master plan to project their image as all-knowing and all-powerful?
Why do almost all emergent nations change their names and start up new international airlines, even when common sense suggests that a jumbo jet is the last thing they need?
And why, for that matter, do most national airlines look the same, even when they come from countries that are poles apart?
Where does a brand of goods stop and the company that makes it begin? What is the difference between the identities of the brand and the company and the images that customers and other people have of them? How do you create, control and manipulate an identity whether for a brand, a company, or even a nation?
What are the tools you use, how much does it cost and what kind of result can you expect? Does all this help or hinder communication, sales and employment? Who are such identities intended for? What are they supposed to do?
In this witty and perceptive book, Wally Olins, a leading consultant and practitioner in the field of corporate design in Britain and Europe, examines these and other questions that are basic to an understanding of what it takes to research, design and implement a corporate identity programme.
His findings, and the practical advice he provides, make vital reading for all those involved in the projection of an organisation in management, marketing, advertising and public relations and for anyone with an interest in why corporations look the way they do.
