19 | What is corporate branding and how do we approach it?

When people think of corporate branding, they often picture a logo, or maybe a brand colour and a set of typefaces. But real corporate branding goes far deeper, shaping how a business is seen by customers, employees, investors, and the wider market. It’s not just a visual identity, but a whole system that influences perception, alignment and long-term growth.

For established companies, corporate branding isn’t about starting from scratch. It’s about ensuring your brand reflects the organisation you’ve become and supports where you're going next. It needs to connect your internal culture with your external message, give your people clarity, and give your customers confidence.

A huge part of what we do at OurCreative. is helping businesses rethink what corporate branding really means and – more importantly – we help them get it right.

So, what is corporate branding?

Corporate branding is the strategic and creative process of shaping how your company is perceived, both internally and externally. Yes, it includes your visual identity - like your logo, your colour palette, your typography - but it also includes your brand positioning, your messaging frameworks, your tone of voice, and the values you live by as a business. Done well, it informs everything from how your team answers the phone to how you attract new hires or pitch to investors.

It’s not just about brand polish. It’s about brand performance too. Corporate branding provides the consistency, structure and meaning needed to align teams, engage customers, and support business strategy.

When we worked with Oakland – a long-standing data consultancy – the goal wasn’t to reinvent them. It was to reflect the business they’d become. With 20+ years of experience in business consulting and a move into data and analytics, they had the credibility but not the clarity. 

We helped them articulate their key services, introduce a new tone of voice, and create a visual identity that reflected their real differentiator: the human experience behind the data. Real photography of real team members reinforced the fact that clients deal with experts, not avatars. The result was a brand that felt confident, modern and genuine.

Why corporate branding matters

In today’s world, where AI can generate visual assets in seconds and brand trust is more fragile than ever, clarity and authenticity count. Corporate branding gives your organisation the tools to cut through the noise, stay recognisable across channels, and build lasting credibility.

Strong corporate branding gives you internal alignment as well as market presence. It ensures everyone in your business, from leadership to new starters, knows what the brand stands for and how to represent it. That clarity shows up everywhere: in sales conversations, recruitment campaigns, customer service interactions and boardroom decisions.

Group55 is a great example of this in action. As a private label manufacturer with products ranging from baby care to cleaning supplies, their scale was impressive, but their brand didn’t reflect it. We worked with them to build a brand system that worked just as well in a lab coat as it did on LinkedIn. 

It brought coherence to a business with multiple sites and teams, helping to connect factory workers, head office staff and customers with one clear brand message. As they prepare to move into their new HQ, their brand will be reflected through the physical space with branded signage, interiors and team touchpoints.

Corporate Brand vs Company Brand vs Product Brand

Let’s clear this one up. A corporate brand is the overarching identity of the business. It’s what people think and feel when they hear your name. Think of it as the parent brand that informs everything else you do.

A company brand is often used interchangeably with corporate brand, especially for smaller or mid-sized businesses. However, it typically focuses on how the company presents itself day-to-day.

A product brand, on the other hand, is what sits beneath. These are the customer-facing identities of specific products or ranges, like a shampoo brand owned by a manufacturer, or a sub-label within a drinks portfolio.

Corporate branding defines the umbrella. It’s what gives cohesion to your offer, structure to your communications, and credibility to your business model.

How we approach corporate branding at OurCreative.

We treat corporate branding as a strategic, people-first process. It always starts with clarity. What’s the business goal? What’s the perception gap? Where are the brand inconsistencies showing up? Through discovery sessions, stakeholder interviews and internal audits, we uncover where the brand stands and where it needs to go.

From there, we build out the foundations, from brand strategy and messaging to positioning and values. That’s followed by identity development, which includes visual systems, tone of voice, logo refinement and colour palette. Once the creative framework is established, we focus on how to roll it out with brand books, toolkits, internal communications assets and guidelines that are built to scale.

It’s a process built on insight, not assumptions, and it’s always designed with longevity in mind.

Is it time to strengthen your corporate brand?

If your brand doesn’t reflect your business anymore – or if you’re growing, evolving, or struggling to connect – corporate branding could be the key to your next phase.

At OurCreative., we help brands bridge the gap between who they are and how they’re seen. From strategy to rollout, we create corporate brand systems that work just as well behind the scenes as they do in the spotlight.

Got a brand challenge, let’s solve it together.

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