Corporate Digital Communications

Table of Contents

Page List of Tables and Figures

Executive Summary

Organisation Summary

Stakeholder Analysis

Development, Evolution and Perception of Corporate Reputation

Corporate Identity

Corporate Branding

Corporate Image

How Qatar Airways Has Developed Its Brand Identity Overtime

The Impact of Qatar Airways' Brand Identity on Its Reputation

The Compatibility of Corporate Strategy, Structure and Culture in Relation to its Positioning and Reputation

An Assessment of the Current Brand Identity of Qatar Airways

Recommendations for Developing an Enhanced Brand Identity

Monitoring and Evaluating the Recommended Strategies

Digital Tools and Channels for Establishing and Managing Brand Identity

Digital Channels Currently Used by Qatar Airways to Communicate Brand

Identity

Digital Communications Strategy for Establishing an Enhanced Brand

Identity

References

Bibliography

List of Figures Page

Figure 1: Stakeholder Mapping

List of Tables

Table 1: Stakeholder Analysis of Identified Key Stakeholder Groups

Table 2: Stakeholder Engagement Activities with Key Stakeholders

Executive Summary

This report is in three tasks. The first task provides the organisational summary of the chosen organization (Qatar Airways). Then assesses the current stakeholders' perceptions of its existing brand identity through stakeholder analysis and mapping and evaluates the ways in which the organisation has developed its brand identity over time and the impact this has had on its reputation. In conducting the stakeholder analysis, eight stakeholder groups were identified and their expectations analyzed. With this done, a thorough assessment was conducted using stakeholder mapping to know their perceptions of the brand identity of Qatar Airways. The assessment revealed that stakeholder perceptions of the brand are generally positive. By evaluating how the brand identity has been developed over time, the context and concepts relating to branding and corporate reputation were first examined and then the impact of the brand identity on the organisation's reputation was evaluated. This evaluation revealed that Qatar Airways' brand identity has developed through deliberate brand identity strategies. Generally, the brand identity of the organisation has impacted the company's reputation positively.

The second task of the report considers the use of digital communications to establish a new brand. It begins by assessing the following as the most relevant digital tools and channels available for establishing and managing brand identity: brand website, social media, mobile phone applications and email. It further evaluates the suitability of two digital channels currently used by Qatar Airways to communicate its brand identity: the organisation's brand website and its Facebook page. This task then concludes by recommending the following digital communications strategies for establishing an enhanced brand identity: having an increasingly active presence on popular social media platforms; increasing the use of email newsletters; increasing the use of visual elements on social media platforms; providing information consistently and purposefully on the corporate website and developing the corporate website into an online collaboration platform and content hub.

The final task of this report examines how Qatar Airways can develop a new corporate brand identity that better reflects the needs of both the organisation and its stakeholders. An assessment of the role of the corporate brand in maintaining and developing the corporate positioning is first carried out through the assessment of the compatibility of the corporate strategy, structure, systems and culture with the brand. Further, an assessment of the current brand identity of Qatar Airways is conducted through the analysis of its mission and vision statements, its culture and values and its organisational structure and systems. It then recommends the following strategies for developing an enhanced brand identity: a well-differentiated mission statement; autonomy in the organisational structure; enhanced visual identity; a new global brand slogan and developing new alliances. Finally, the report suggests the use of the Balanced Scorecard model developed by David Norton and Robert Kaplan to monitor and evaluate the recommended strategies using these key performance indicators: shareholder perspective; customer perspective and the employee perspective.

Organisation Summary

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Assessing stakeholder perceptions of the existing brand identity of Qatar Airways

Stakeholder Analysis:

A stakeholder is an individual, group or an organisation that can affect or are affected by an organisation's operation and objectives (Kivits, 2011). Stakeholder analysis is the practice of classifying and categorizing stakeholders, which is a prerequisite for successful stakeholder engagement (Clarkson, 1995; Reed, et al., 2009).

Table 1: Stakeholder analysis of identified key stakeholder groups of Qatar Airways.

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Although the perceptions that the various stakeholders hold about the brand identity of Qatar Airways are not within the organisation's direct control (Argenti and Druckenmiller, 2004), over the years, Qatar Airways has planned and delivered communication and engagement activities with key stakeholders to identify issues that are important to them, and prioritise efforts on material initiatives and activities that matter to stakeholders and help build a positive perception.

Table 2: Stakeholder engagement activities with key stakeholders

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Figure 1: Stakeholder mapping:

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Conclusion: through the well-coordinated stakeholder communications and engagement activities, stakeholders' perception of Qatar Airways' brand identity is generally positive

The ways in which Qatar Airways has developed its brand identity over time and the impact of the brand identity on its reputation

Development, evolution and perception of corporate reputation:

Organisations increasingly recognize the importance of corporate reputation to achieve business goals and stay competitive. The proliferation of media and information of the past two decades, the demands of investors for increased transparency, and the growing attention paid to social responsibility all speak for a greater focus on the part of organisations to building and maintaining strong reputations. (Argenti and Druckenmiller, 2004).

Gray and Balmer (1998) defined corporate reputation as a result of the aggregation of stakeholders' personal perceptions on past actions, attributes, and outputs of the company. Corporate reputation has been deemed as dependent on company commitment towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Arru, 2015), managerial behaviour and brand promise (Argenti and Druckenmiller, 2004) and products' quality (Podnar and Balmer, 2013). Therefore, it may be interpreted as the sum of overall evaluations that stakeholders make about company constituents (Rialti et al, 2016). Hence, strategies that enable companies to preserve corporate reputation are fundamental for preserving brand and survival of the company (Rialti et al, 2016).

Although many factors contribute to an organisation's reputation, the fundamental components of the process considered in this report are corporate identity; corporate branding and corporate image.

Corporate identity:

According to Gray and Balmer (1998), corporate identity is the reality and uniqueness of the organisation. Its principal components are the company's strategy, philosophy, culture, and organisational design. Furthermore, corporate identity refers to the way in which the organisation presents itself to its stakeholders and answers questions like “who are you?” (Dowling, 2004) and “what is the organisation” (Melewar et al., 2005).

The corporate identity of the organisation is concerned with what the organisation is and what it seeks to be and comprises two parts. First, the strategic choices made by the organisation including the organisation's mission, vision, strategic intent, values and corporate culture and, secondly the corporate expression, which consists of the decisions concerning visual identity, the brand promise, brand personality and brand communication (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011).

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