Iran National Branding Manager of Chery in talk with Khodrocar:
Branding and Marketing are two important factors in car industry and companies growth, yet they are being confused a lot. Edward Singleton defines differences between the two along the nature of corporate social responsibility.
Khodrocar - What are the differences between Branding and Marketing?
Everyone gets so confused about this. Branding is the definition of a company and shows the core values of the brand and what you are trying to express with the definition, whereas the marketing is the shouting out of the definition. So until you have clearly decided what the branding is, there is no point in focusing on marketing because otherwise you are promoting the wrong message for your brand.
With Chery, we have many different core values we try to put forward. To define a core value as part of your brand, you have to have and live that core value. From our core branding of 'International Technology' so many aspects should be considered for example to consider one part - from a safety point of view, Chery has 5 star C-NCAP rating for all of the cars, but this is just the physical side of the brand, the social branding must match the physical side. For safety we invest heavily in road safety and are proud to have reached our 1st anniversary in Chery's Iran Road Safety campaign. Also this year we are really focusing on supporting Iran's students and you can watch the activities grow and develop. Every single physical element of branding has to be backed up with the social side otherwise it would seem shallow when we assess the brand.
With branding things have to be predetermined and accurate otherwise when you put magnifier glass over your brand, if there is any mistakes or inconsistency, your marketing is a complete waste of money.
- Corporate social responsibility is something missing in Iran and companies’ marketing plans. What concept is it trying to pull anyway?
Corporate social responsibility is just starting in Iran, predominantly companies are starting to take responsibility. Whichever industry you are in, you have to take responsibility for the consequences and the outcomes. Not only for the sustainability of your own business but you have to be responsible for everyone in your environment. The environment that your business thrives and grows in.
In the car industry it is exactly the same. We are responsible for road safety, pollution and all the aspects of car manufacturing. This is not some sort of branding game, we have to take responsibility for these so we can have a clean environment where our business can grow and the customers are happy buying our cars, otherwise we are killing it for this and the next generation. Sustainability is the key in any industry.
Road safety and pollution are important fields that all car companies must invest and take initiative in. This is our Corporate Social Responsibility as team members of car industry. Chery already strictly adhere to the Euro 5 Emissions standards, which later hopefully will be compulsory for Iran in order to reduce pollution levels.
- Companies do charity and some one-off activities as part of corporate social responsibility plans. Are these activities considered as a real corporate social responsibility program?
Many companies do one activity and then they stop. They conduct one charity event or something alike and then they publish a repetitive PR story about it and after that you do not hear anything more about the activity, which is more of a gimmick. All CSR and all branding activities have to be continuous and must be part of the genetics and DNA of the brand otherwise people can see that it is just a shallow PR activity and not a continuous plan. Brand Trust is a major part of brand perception, and one off gimmicks lose potential customer trust as they feel the activities do not represent the brand identity. We have extensive and continuous plans for each year, for example our Road Safety campaign grows stronger each month with more and more activities and results. We have supported 100s of weddings providing cars for people's special day at no cost, we always support natural disasters such as recently the earthquake in Kermanshah, and our Olympic champions support is well established where the Olympic winners have been well supported by Chery year after year.
- Is there some kind of force behind companies to do corporate social responsibility activities?
There should be. In another countries there are some bonuses/ tax deductions for those companies active in the field of CSR but here in Iran it is completely company oriented and up to the decisions of company directors whether to take part in CSR activities or not. I hope Chery's efforts will encourage others to do the same, this is one part of Branding where it should be competitive but more importantly, motivational for all companies to take it seriously.
Khodrocar Journalist: Mostafa Anisi
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