From logo-centrism to corporate branding?: the (r)evolution in organisational identity

When the archaeologists of the next millennium dig down into the landfills of the past 100 years, in between the mountains of perfectly preserved disposable diapers and other detritus of our instant civilisation, they will find mounds of unused business cards, envelopes, and letterheads. These costly rejects of corporate revamps litter the last decade of the millennium as the fall-out of countless restructuring exercises. It is not surprising that cynicism about the point of all this frenetic activity is widespread. Consultants grow fatter as corporations get leaner and meaner (but with mare up-market typefaces). In this paper, I explore the various historical phases of organisational identity work and consider what direction it might take in the future.