and, Napoli, and Yakimova do not appear to consider brand identity (the means) per se but the positioning (the ends) of brands around product benefits, levels of service, logistics or by being adaptive and providing advice.
. Defining B2B service brand identity
on the corporate identity work of Hatch and Schultz (2000), de Chernatony (2006), considers brand identity as «the distinctive or central idea of ??a brand and how the brand communicates this idea to its stakeholders ». In what could be considered a somewhat abstract definition, Kapferer defines brand identity as «specifying the facets of the brands« uniqueness and value » whilst Aaker regards brand identity as «... what the organisation wants the brand to stand for in the customer» s mind » or more simply put «how strategists want the brand to be perceived». Aaker «s (1996) work raises several points. First, brand identity emanates from the »organization«. It is not a consumer or client side construct. Second, within the organization, the «strategist» plays a pivotal brand identity role. Third, brand identity is visionary in nature. Considering the construct as visionary is consistent with both de Chernatony and Aaker and Joachimsthaler. The latter researchers regard brand identity as the «vision of how that brand should be perceived by its target audience». However, several issues materialize from Aaker and Joachimsthaler »s definition. For example, these authors refer to a «vision» but do not elaborate on whose vision this actually is. This is a benefit of Aaker «s (1996) work insofar the vision lies with the« strategist ». Furthermore, it may be more appropriate to define brand identity in the context of stakeholders and not an audience. Broadening the scope of the construct »s definition in this way overcomes a limitation of Aaker« s (1996) work which appears to be customer centric. (1996) and Aaker and Joachimsthaler »s (2000) work was considered particularly useful in terms of specifying brand identity due to the clear, concise and unambiguous way the construct has been defined. This helps specify the «domain» of the construct and so lay the foundation for subsequent scaling. Furthermore, Aaker «s (1996) work provides some sampling frame guidance in the form of the brand« strategist » i.e. a senior marketer. Consequently, guided by this rationale we define B2B service brand identity as the strategist »s vision of how a B2B service brand should be perceived by its stakeholders. The next section explores the domain of the B2B service brand identity construct within the parameters of the aforementioned definition.on the literature review B2B service brand identity is a multidimensional construct and its facets in a B2B service context are:
· Marketing culture
· Client relationship management
· Corporate visual identity
· Integrated marketing communications
· Brand personalitybrand identity scholars such as Aaker, Joachimsthaler, de Chernatony, Kapferer have noted the important role «culture» plays in building brand identity. However, culture refers to a category of constructs and not a construct with the former being unsuitable for scaling procedures. Consequently, Webster «s marketing culture work was considered a pertinent form of culture for three reasons...
