Leveraging Cultural Artifacts in Corporate Branding in a Developing Economy

A brand is a combination of a name, symbol, and design that, via its specific characteristics, gives consumers an understanding of its distinct identity among a plethora of options. As companies move toward corporate branding, they use symbols and artifacts as cues to communicate their values and desired associations with consumers and other stakeholders. This chapter presents a fresh outlook on understanding brand element design and formulation, utilizing specific cues, particularly, cultural artifacts, through the lens of the cue utilization theory. It shows how a Ghanaian bank leveraged cultural artifacts in the design of brand elements, including brand name, logo, and slogan. A survey of 392 customers of the bank confirmed that harnessing cultural artifacts in these brand elements communicate specific cues which positively influence the banks’ brand image and enhance customer loyalty. Cultural artifacts, brand elements, and corporate branding have received relatively less attention in research in developing economies. Hence, the chapter contributes new knowledge on the design and formulation of brand elements in corporate branding. Target Audience Corporate branding is an intricate systematic process that takes into consideration brand story, brand identity, brand values, brand positioning, and audience personas. This chapter demonstrates that, through the utilization of specific cues, such as cultural artifacts, in the design of brand elements, firms achieve anticipated outcomes. This implies that corporate communications experts, brand managers, and marketing executives can use cultural artifacts in designing their firm’s brand elements including name, logo, and slogan. These can help enhance brand likeability and memorability as well as communicate desirable brand attributes to target audiences. For students studying brand management and marketing strategy, the outcome of this research provides valuable lessons in the design of brand elements as well as demonstrates how specific cues can be utilized to communicate brand attributes and elicit desirable customer behaviors.