Advancing a Citizenship Approach to Corporate Branding: A Societal View

Abstract: Citizenship approach to corporate branding challenges the corporate brand to evolve from being a self-referential corporate asset embodying a company-centred attitude, toward being an asset that is socially inspired and that in the essence of its promise expresses the citizenship status of the corporation in society. In this article, we name this view of corporate branding (CB) as “societal CB.” By societal CB we refer to the humanistic tension of a company to use the corporate brand as an enabler of social discourses and actions through which the company, in enacting its corporate citizenship (CC), carries out quasi-governmental interventions in favor of society. The aim is to elaborate the view of the corporate brand as a relational asset nurtured by business and society encounters, by elucidating the conceptual seeds that pave the way to societal CB, to then illustrate and critically discuss anecdotes of quasi-governmental actions carried out by companies in their CB efforts. In doing that, we attempt to open an arena for debate on societal CB as a contemporary humanistic expression of CC. We conceive this contribution as an incubator of ideas for the advancement of CC through the societal CB view.