Insights into Brand Identity

During the 1980s  — when "Corporate Identity" was in all its glory; when logos, personality traits and color specifications made agencies legitimate "identity" experts — the gestalt was one of a one-size-fits-all, rubber-stamp approach. Consider those days of the three-ring binders, pica-to-point brochure templates and print-ready logo stat sheets. In that era, the category was aptly labeled "CORPORATE" Identity, as in: the point-of-view is owned and governed by the CORPORATION.

Now, fast forward to 2000: Any agency concerning itself with corporate identity really became the logo and Pantone guys. Eventually the category outgrew its CI skin and evolved into something described by the more overarching term "branding" — somewhere between advertising, management consulting and spiritual healing.