Corporate-slogans of corporations operating in Greater China

• Published in: Corporate communications Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 58 - 74
• Main Authors: Lee, Miranda Y.P., So, Daniel W.C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.01.2007
• Subjects: Analogies; Artefacts; Bearing; Bilingualism; Branding; Brands; Business communications; China; Chinese People's Republic; Commonality; Communication; Companies; Corporate image; Diaspora; Empirical analysis; Identification methods; Information communication; Language; Languages; Linguistics; Names; Personality; Personality traits; Public relations; Slogans; Studies; Translations; Websites; China; Hong Kong China; Singapore; Macao; Taiwan; Personality; Languages; Brand image; Corporate identity; China
• ISSN: 1356-3289; 1758-6046
• DOI: 10.1108/13563280710723750

Purpose - This paper aims to identify between polity similarities and differences of "brand-personality traits" projected by corporate-slogans of corporations operating in Greater China (CGCs) to see if Greater China is a cultural unit, and to examine CGC bilingual corporate-slogans to see if patterns are in evidence and if certain ways of crafting the slogans are more effective.Design methodology approach - Corporate-slogans are collected from web sites of major CGCs. The sample is analysed using Aaker's Brand Personality Scale and relevant rhetorical concepts.Findings - The sample shares more commonalities than differences, suggesting Great China is a cultural unit; and the majority of the slogans are crafted by direct translation and parallel drafting, and the latter is deemed more effective.Research limitations implications - This is a heuristic and hypothesis-generating study and is entirely based on linguistic data. Studies with an empirical design are required to see if the findings have psychological validity.Practical implications - If Greater China is a cultural unit, it should have bearing on corporate-communication professionals in CGCs in terms of the adoption of corporate-slogans, corporate names and artefacts related to corporate identity and image.Originality value - Hitherto studies of corporate-slogans are mostly based on corporations operating in the West. This is the first study of CGC corporate-slogans that cover four polities that succeeds in identifying patterns in methods of bilingual corporate-slogan crafting and in "brand-personality traits" projected by these slogans. The latter indicates that CGCs are operating not simply in a region, but in a cultural region.