A corporate identity is the overall image of a business in the minds of their stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers etc. At the basic level, corporate identity is an expression of the culture, ethos, and ‘personality’ of the business, as well as the products and/or services it offers. It is a representation of how a firm views itself, how it wishes to be viewed by others, and how others recognize and remember it and, as such, helps the organisation to answer questions like “who are we?” and “where are we going?”
In general, this amounts to a business or product name, logo, tagline and other supporting visual elements that are created in line with a set of brand guidelines. These guidelines set out how the brand identity should be applied and include colours, typefaces, page layouts, etc.
The organisation’s Brand and Corporate Identity must, therefore, must support each other so that the experience that consumers receive when dealing with a company and its products and services meet or exceed the standards that the brand communicates.