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QUO VADIS CORPORATE MARKETING? Reflections and directions on corporate identity, branding, image, reputation and communications

20th ICIG Symposium, June 5-7, 2018

Organisers: Professor John M.T. Balmer (Founder and Chairman of the ICIG) & Professor Klement Podnar

Since 1994, when the first International Corporate Identity Group (ICIG) symposium was organised, the field of corporate identity & corporate communication developed tremendously and is now fully recognised among the scholars and practitioners. In the new Millennium, the term corporate marketing has been proposed as an umbrella term that underpins the family of concepts such as corporate identity and branding, corporate reputation and corporate image, corporate and brand identification, organisational culture, employer and internal branding, stakeholder relations etc.

In the contemporary social, political, natural and economic environment, organisations, especially mid-sized and big ones, have little choice but to become corporate marketing based. For a long time now, they are much more than just means for production, distribution and exchange of goods and services. As an organizational communities organisations are forced to act as social actors within a complex networks of relations, expectations, demands, interests and responsibilities. Critical public with its environmental and social concerns, demands an organisational shift toward a more sustaianble and holistic approach. Organisational strategic management of their being, doing and communication is a must if they want to keep their social costs low and income high.

The 20th ICIG symposium would like to make a step forward and provoke a debate on general and specific issues within the corporate marketing. We are fully aware that corporate communication and corporate marketing as academic fields must be broad enough to allow the integration of knowledge from different disciplines as well as specific enough to allow for differentiation of distinct contributions. The theme of this symposium encourages academics and practitioners to use a multidisciplinary approach for expanding corporate marketing and related knowledge to the next level.

We are pleased to announce that the ICIG Symposium will take place on June 6-7, 2018. The symposium will be hosted by the Corporate and Marketing Communication Association. The meeting will take place in stimulating and inspiring surrounding in the heart of the Alps. The symposium will be held at the Alpine 4* Špik Hotel (and SPA) in the scenic Slovenian Alps Region – Gozd Martuljek, Slovenia. Because we wish to keep the atmosphere small and cosy, we will limit attendees to 20-30, so please commit to us early.

Symposium topics

We are very excited about the diverse range of insightful topics and paper suggestions authors have sent us. Based on received papers we will have following sections: Corporate marketing; Corporate social responsibility; Employer branding; Organisational identity & identification; Corporate brand heritage; Personal branding and corporate brands; Corporate branding in B2B context; Corporate brands in digital era.

The ICIG Symposium will start on 5th of June. We will start with a relaxed evening with Erzetic eco wines tasting.

Our first keynote speaker will be Dr Helen Stuart. She attended the first ICIG symposium in 1994, and has since been researching aspects of corporate identity, image and communication. Her reflection on the future of the field itself and its research directions is titled ‘Quo Vadis Corporate Marketing’.

It is a tradition of the ICIG symposia to also involve practitioners and it is our pleasure to inform you that Mr. Jacob Benbunan from Saffron Brand Consultants will join us, with his keynote titled: ‘Brands in disruptive times’. Saffron Brand Consultants is an independent global consultancy specialising in brand experience and innovation strategy, and design. The company has offices in London, Madrid, Berlin, Istanbul, Mumbai, Melbourne, San Francisco and São Paulo. Saffron was founded in 2001 by Jacob Benbunan and Wally Olins with a simple but compelling vision: to build a brand consultancy strong in its strategic thinking and its creativity.

We will also organise a ‘meet the editor’ section, where Prof Naveen Donthu, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Business Research, from Georgia State University, will talk about the JBR special issue linked to ICIG symposium.

Submission and acceptance details

At this instance, the organisers invites expressions of interest to chair the session, or serve as a panel discussant – reviewer from the international community of corporate and organizational marketing, identity, image, reputation, communication and related fields. Each session will have one chair. Applications for Chairs and discussant may be made by academics or independent scholars.

Your expression of interest should be sent to Prof. Klement Podnar at icmca.net@gmail.com by May 1, 2018.

Full information is available here:

 

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