In ancient times, as the most primitive political, economic and cultural groups of human beings - races or tribes, they always used some primitive symbols as their logo. This is the most primitive form of CI. The emergence of a country is an important symbol of the development of human civilization. When a country or nation uses its national emblem, national flag, laws, regulations and systems as its spiritual symbol and identity, it has already demonstrated a complete and mature CI system. Therefore, it can be said that the earliest origin of the CI concept is in human political and cultural activities.
The use of CI strategies by enterprises can be traced back to the early 20th century and before World War I. Germany's AEG Electrical Appliance Company and Italy's Olivetti Company are pioneers in the application of CI. The former used the enterprise designed by Peter Berhens for the first time in its series of electrical appliances. Identification symbols (mainly trademarks) form a unique visual unity; Olivetti Company focuses on the novel design of merchandise and sales space, as well as the design of the company logo, which is considered to be the first company to implement unified The first of its kind in visual recognition systems. It can be seen from this that the prototype of CI strategy originated from the corporate trademark design. CI strategy is the abbreviation of Corporate Identity. Literally, Corporate means "enterprise", "community" and "organization". Identity has many meanings such as "identity", "personality" and "unity". Therefore, CI strategy is generally translated as "unification of corporate image", "corporate identity" or "corporate image recognition".
CI strategy consists of three subsystems: Mind Identity; Behavior Identity; Visual Identity. If the enterprise is personified, the three subsystems of the CI strategy can be vividly compared to the "thoughts", "behavior" and "appearance" of the enterprise.
1. Concept Identification (MI)
Enterprise spirit, values, sense of mission, basic policies of activities, etc. In a sense, corporate philosophy is not only the internal driving force for corporate development, but also the crystallization of wisdom for corporate growth and development. Therefore, MI is the core and soul of CI strategy.
2. Behavior Identification (BI)
Under the guidance of the corporate philosophy, the behavioral situation of all aspects of the company's production and operation activities involves both internal and external aspects of the company.
3. Visual Identity (VI)
Visual identification is the most intuitive and explicit part of the CI strategy. VI is a systematic and standardized design of all visual elements of the enterprise, and then uses specific communication media to let the public understand the enterprise as quickly as possible, so that the public can identify the corporate image. VI consists of three parts: basic system design, application system design and auxiliary system design.
1. American visual CI
In the 1940s, CI was officially born in the world when the Italian Olivetti Company comprehensively sorted out and revised the original design and designed special company logos and standard characters; In 1951, the CBS of the United States widely used the logo designed by William Gordon in various media, which had a great impact on society; in 1956, the International Business Machines Corporation of the United States, IBM, fully applied the CI strategy, and President Xiao Thomas Watson said: "People have personalities and their own worldviews, and due to education and hobbies, they form unique behavior patterns, which reflect each person's personality. If the company is measured with the same thinking, then should the company have What about a unified 'personality'?"; In 1961, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company changed its trademark and corporate identity to "3M Company" (and then to "3M" in 1978); Chrysler Automobile Company introduced CI strategy to help its market The market share increased by 18%; Eastern Airlines, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, miraculously came back to life due to the introduction of the CI strategy; in 1970, the famous Coca-Cola Company also hired the famous designer R. Rowe to redesign the company's trademark and logo, forming a brand that is still in use today. The "red ribbon" trademark has a strong visual impact and is favored by consumers.
The "American CI strategy" has distinct and prominent "visual design" characteristics, that is, it mainly uses the visual elements of the corporate image as a tool to communicate corporate philosophy and corporate culture. In terms of specific operations, creativity is developed based on the company's existing business philosophy, business policies, business strategies, etc., and all visual elements of the corporate image, such as corporate logos, standard words, standard colors, packaging, advertising, clothing, vehicles, etc. Buildings and other buildings carry out highly rigorous and standardized system design to achieve the purpose of strengthening the corporate image. The operational thinking of this "American-style CI strategy" is closely related to the humanistic and natural background of the United States such as automobile culture, immigrant culture, and vast territory.
2. Japanese cultural CI
In the 1960s and 1970s, CI strategy was introduced to Japan. Japan's "National Income Doubling Plan" in the 1960s was an unprecedented success, bringing Japan rapidly into a period of rapid economic growth. After entering the 1970s, Japan's economy prospered, and the CI strategy spread and became popular in Japan rapidly. In 1971, Japan's Daiichi Kanye Bank took the opportunity of merger to take the lead in introducing CI strategy, followed closely by Mazda, Sekisui Chemical Industry Company, Hisbei ??Company, and later Isetan Department Store (ISETAN) and Koiwai Dairy Company. , Baihe Liquor Company, Minolta Company, Mizuno Company, Wacoal Company, etc. have successively introduced CI strategies. In the 1970s, Japan's CI strategy was influenced by the "American CI strategy", and the focus of implementation was on the design of visual elements of corporate image.
After entering the 1980s, Japan's CI strategy entered a stage of in-depth development and innovation. On the one hand, CI strategy has become popular rapidly. In 1985 alone, as many as 129 companies introduced CI strategy. Many companies regard the introduction of CI strategy as an important means to enhance their corporate image and enhance their competitiveness. On the other hand, the Japanese business community, design community, and public relations community have gradually moved away from the model of simply imitating and copying based on the "American CI strategy". They have added corporate culture and The content of corporate philosophy, and formed a CI strategic model with corporate philosophy and corporate culture as the core. In terms of specific operations, it not only inherited the rigorous visual design thinking of "American CI strategy", but also introduced the enterprise into CI strategy as an activity to re-understand and organize corporate philosophy and corporate culture, and added behavioral recognition and The content of concept identification has greatly enriched the connotation of CI strategy and brought CI strategy to a new level.
3. CI imported from China
In the early 1980s, with the development of market economy and the strengthening awareness of enterprises to participate in international competition, enterprises in China began to pay attention to logo design. The first time was undoubtedly the 1980s when the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China and 12 Chinese banks implemented a computerized joint venture and began the work of designing a bank logo.
In 1988, Guangdong Dongguan Yuangang Health Beverage Factory, the predecessor of Guangdong Sun God Group, introduced the CI strategy. After just a few years of hard work, a "Mastercard" that had been on the market since the early 1980s but had remained unknown "brand biological health oral liquid has become a hot-selling product in health drinks, and the company itself has also been reborn from a small joint-stock township enterprise to a well-known large-scale enterprise group. The output value increased from 5.2 million yuan in 1988 to more than 40 million yuan in 1990, quickly rose to 800 million yuan in 1991, and mythically exceeded 1 billion yuan in 1993. The application of CI strategy has enabled Sun God to achieve a qualitative leap. After entering the 1990s, CI strategy was further promoted and developed. A large number of companies, such as Wahaha Group, Chunlan Group, Haier Group, Shanghai Petrochemical, Yizheng Chemical Fiber, Beijing Landao Building, etc., have introduced CI strategies one after another. The demonstration effect of companies that are the first to introduce CI strategies has led more and more companies to join the ranks of investing heavily in introducing CI strategies.
However, judging from the development trajectory of CI in China, it is basically a borrowed CI. Although there are professional institutions in China that specialize in CI design and even research, and although they also try to explore Chinese-style CI, in the end, due to the immaturity of the market economic system and the limitations of their own human and financial resources, they have to dabble in superficial research and cannot go into depth, so it is difficult to achieve real results. The typical characteristics of China's imported CI are mainly reflected in two aspects: First, the business community has a superficial understanding and uses VI as CI, which is a typical "buying a casket for a pearl". Those who study VI are not familiar with CI, and even call CI planning CI design. As a result, there are very few real CI experts in China, and CI talents are in short supply. Secondly, China’s market economy is also in the stage of importing, and Western management theories are often indigestible and cannot be adapted to foreign countries. However, in order to make money, Chinese designers do not have time to study CI theory in depth, let alone integrate the traditional culture of the motherland into CI plans. Therefore, drawing tiger-like dogs cannot ultimately form a Chinese-type CI strategy.
4. The third big CI country
Chen Wenlong, an expert on China’s big CI strategy and founder of China CI Network, believes that due to China’s long-term planned economic conditions in the past, it has cultivated a country that is different from the United States and the United States. Japan's red national quality and sub-business culture, reform and opening up have overturned this quality and culture, and at the same time made China a new super economy in the world. In this super economy formed against the background of a populous country and sub-business culture , will inevitably lead to a new CI form, which will subvert the original CI and become the third major CI country after the United States and Japan. 1. Improve the quality of the company
If the company has a vague image, it is easy to be misunderstood and misidentified, the company name does not match the current situation of the company, the products do not match the trademark image, the popularity is too low, the competitiveness and awareness of the image If the company is in an unfavorable situation, the internal quality of the company is poor, employee morale is low, people are distracted, and the image of certain products becomes an obstacle to other products, CI can come in handy. CI provides opportunities and methods to review and solve these problems, help enterprises change their living conditions, and even help solve the way out for enterprise development, break through business bottlenecks, inject new vitality into enterprises, and enable enterprises to embark on healthy development.
2. Enhance corporate image
Corporate image not only includes external tangible factors such as products, trademarks, and factory equipment, but also includes reputation, style, values, business philosophy, and behavioral norms. and other intangible factors. CI is the integration of all image elements with business philosophy as the core to form a comprehensive, unified and unique corporate image. It turns the various characteristics and elements of the enterprise into a simple visual symbol - logo, standard font, Make a unified color, turn it into a slogan, a behavior pattern, and then through various communication channels, so that people can recognize this enterprise at a glance in the colorful world.
3. Enhance internal cohesion
The role of CI in enhancing the cohesion of an enterprise and improving its competitiveness is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, through the understanding of employee values ??and behaviors Cultivation and standardization enable employees to transcend the narrow vision of low levels, mobilize them to form a community with consistent interests for the same goal, consciously adjust the relationship between individuals and collectives, and cultivate employees' sense of belonging and group awareness. and participation awareness. Secondly, standardized and normalized visual design can give people a refreshing and energetic feeling, create a good ecological environment for the enterprise, achieve the purpose of being subtle, subtle and impressive, and at the same time stimulate the morale of employees so that they can maximize their performance. Positivity and creativity produce a collective effect of 1 plus 1 being greater than 2.
4. Create consumer confidence
In modern society, customers are the gods of enterprises. They use the banknotes in their hands as votes to support enterprises that meet their wishes. Consumer confidence is what they vote for. Orientation, and a good corporate image is the basis for voting. CI creates a unified and unique corporate image, such as a credit card issued by the company to customers, so that customers can make purchases with confidence and boldness.
5. Create a business environment
A good corporate image is like a huge magnetic field, attracting the accumulation of social resources such as capital, technology, and talents to maintain the long-term vitality of the enterprise. Excellent CI strategy attracts outstanding talents to join us and maximize their potential. It attracts loans from banks, investments from shareholders, government support, guarantees from insurance companies, etc., creating a good external operating environment for enterprises. The Coca-Cola Company once declared: If one day, a fire reduces the company to ashes, we can still rely on Coca-Cola's reputation to rebuild the Coca-Cola empire. This cannot but be said to be the success of Coca-Cola's excellent CI strategy. Although the two major CI countries, the United States and Japan, have achieved rapid enterprise and economic development through the introduction of CIS, China's unique humanistic environment and CI's own shortcomings have hindered its development in China.
1. The limitations of emphasizing internal and external aspects
CI strategy focuses on the overall design of the main body in shaping the corporate image, and focuses on rational and technical means and methods in specific operations. methods, and pay less attention to factors such as enterprises and the environment, that is, public relations, etc., thus having obvious limitations in winning public trust.
2. You cannot ignore your own limitations
The various management activities involved in the CI strategy mainly emphasize the unity of public identification and the company's own behavior. Therefore, in various management activities has great limitations in deepening. The application of concept identification (MI) and behavior identification (BI) mainly involves review, sorting, refining and modification. Therefore, CI strategy cannot replace the business management and public relations work of the enterprise. It can only play a certain auxiliary and supplementary role.
3. Limitations of diminishing functions
The functions of CI strategy have a "diminishing function" effect. From the perspective of society as a whole, with the widespread application of CI strategies, the "differentiation" advantages gained by enterprises from the introduction of CI strategies are gradually fading. The later an enterprise introduces CI strategies, the more its CI benefits will be significantly inferior to leading companies. Therefore, it is entirely possible that the “advantages” gained by introducing CI strategies will become only the basic conditions for enterprises to compete in the future.
4. Limitations of sitting back and reaping the benefits
There are certain conditions for introducing CI strategy. It requires the enterprise to have considerable economic strength, product stereotypes and a certain market share, a relatively solid management foundation, a high level of organizational management and employee quality, etc. These conditions restrict the comprehensive application of CI strategies by small and medium-sized enterprises to a certain extent.
5. Limitations of high professional threshold
Implementing CI strategy requires the cooperation of multi-disciplinary talents and the full participation of experts. It is difficult for companies to reserve such a large number of talents.
The planning, design, introduction, and implementation of CI require professional institutions and specialized talents. It requires marketing, management, logic, psychology, sociology, public relations, political science, public opinion, communication, and advertising. It is a collection of professional knowledge such as science, journalism, statistics, computer technology, etc., and requires strong judgment and decision-making capabilities and a high policy level. This talent group must also have a good understanding of the industry, products, markets, and consumers in which the enterprise is located. , competitors are quite familiar with the situation. This is undoubtedly a difficult problem in China, which has just entered the market economy, and in the current Chinese planning and design circles.
6. Limitations of the national conditions of “Professionalism focuses on money”
CI theory was initially introduced by the Chinese design community. What designers are capable of is actually the VI part of CI. Even if They are interested in MI and BI, and they have to go through a long period of study and exploration. What's more, many professional institutions and VI designers are not interested in doing CI knowledge in order to make quick money, which leads to the phenomenon of separation of MI, BI and VI. , making China CI like a tree without roots and water without a source.
7. Limitations of not being able to keep pace with the times
Looking at the practice of CI strategy in China, combined with the actual national conditions where the market economy system is improving and maturing, we can easily find that The three subsystems of CI (MI), behavior (BI), and vision (VI) can only be used at the enterprise operation level, and cannot fundamentally solve the problem of Chinese enterprises focusing on long-term practical work rather than management, and focusing on short-term interests rather than long-term planning. The urgent problems caused by strategic malnutrition and tactical underdevelopment cannot completely change the current situation that Chinese enterprises have to be the "world's processing factory" due to their "simple-mindedness". In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a jewelry merchant in Chu State. In order to sell his jewelry, he made many small boxes out of precious wood. He carved and decorated the boxes very delicately and beautifully, and made the boxes emit a fragrance. Then he put the jewelry inside the boxes. . There was a man from Zheng who saw that the box containing the pearls was exquisite and beautiful. After asking the price, he bought one. He opened the box and found the treasure inside, but he did not know how valuable it was, so he took it out and returned it to the jeweler, taking only out of the box.
This very familiar idiom story of "buying a casket and giving it back a pearl" perfectly satirizes the Chinese CI buyers (enterprises and other organizations) who abandon the treasure (MI) in the CI and only look at the gorgeous appearance. box (VI). This is the current situation of CI in China.