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Corporate Image

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 208, “Corporate Image.”

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 208. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

If you visit our website at eslpod.com, you’ll find the Learning Guide for this podcast that contains all of the definitions, additional terms that we don’t discuss on the podcast, as well as a complete transcript of this episode.

Today’s episode is about the image of a company, the “Corporate Image.” Let’s start.

[Start of story]

Adam: With our expansion into these new areas of business, I think we need to think seriously about changing our corporate image. We’re much more than just a paper company now.

Eva: I think you’re right. Our brand has changed, and if we want to keep brand loyalty, we need to think about protecting and improving our product image.

Adam: I agree that that’s a key issue as we reposition ourselves in the industry.

We can never lose sight of our end-users.

Eva: And, even though we have registered trademarks on some of the new prestige products, we need to have a plan if we want to turn these new products into household names.

Adam: I suggest we think about hiring a public relations firm. They may be able to help us update our corporate image and logo, and to shape our new corporate identity.

Eva: Why don’t I contact a few PR firms and set up some meetings?

Adam: Yes, do that. That seems like the logical next step.

[End of story]

Our podcast today is called, “Corporate Image.” Corporate, “corporate,” refers to a corporation. A corporation is a large company that has registered with the government for a specific kind of organization, business organization usually.

So, corporate, as an adjective, describes something related to a large company or a corporation. Image, in this case, means how people view you, how people think about you. So, the corporate image would be what people see as your company, what it is like, what does it do and so forth.

We have a dialogue between Adam and Eva. Adam says, “With our expansion into these new areas of business, I think we need to think seriously about changing our corporate image.” An expansion, “expansion,” is a noun that comes from the verb to expand, “expand.” To expand means to get bigger, to grow larger. So, an expansion, as a noun, is when a company or a business decides to grow, decides to become bigger. Adam is saying that because their business is growing - because of their expansion into new areas for their business, new things for their business - he thinks that the company should think about changing its corporate image. “We’re much more than just a paper company now,” Adam says, meaning that we do more just, I guess, make paper.

Eva says, “I think you’re right. Our brand has changed, and if we want to keep brand loyalty, we need to think about” improving, protecting rather, “and improving our product image.” Brand, “brand,” refers to the name of a product or a series of products made by a company. For example, I have an Apple computer. That is the brand. That’s the company that makes it. Usually the brand is the same name of the company, but it is not always the case.

Sometimes companies will choose different names for their products or types of products. A brand usually has more than one kind of product, however, so Apple, as a brand for computers, has many different kinds of computers.

Eva says that “if we want to keep” our “brand loyalty,” loyalty, “loyalty,” means the same as support. So, someone who is loyal to you is someone who supports you or someone who is faithful to you. To be faithful, “faithful,” means that you don’t do anything against that person, you stay with that person. Brand loyalty then, is the idea that people who buy your products - your customers - will continue to buy your products in the future, the things that you make.

Eva says that “we need to think about protecting and improving,” or making better, “our product image.” A product is something that a company makes and sells to other people. Product image then, would be what people think of the particular thing they sell.

Adam says, “I agree that that is a key issue as we reposition ourselves in the industry.” Key, “key,” issue means important issue. When we say something is key, we mean it is very important. We might also say it is vital, “vital,” it’s very important. To reposition, “reposition,” means to change your position, to change your place, to change where you are. It is a verb that you sometimes hear in business. When businesses talk about repositioning themselves, they’re talking about changing what they do, changing how people perceive them, or see them, changing what they do in terms of what they make and what they do. The prefix re, “re,” in front of a verb in English usually means to do it again, and so to reposition would mean to position, or place yourself again.

Adam says that the company “can never lose sight of” its “end-users.” To lose sight, “sight,” means to forget about, to not pay attention to. Someone may say, “Don’t lose sight of your goal,” or “of your objective,” what you are trying to do, don’t forget about that. An end-user, “end-user,” is the person that actually uses your product, uses what you are selling. It may be the same person as the customer - the person who buys it - but not always. For example, in a company, the company may be the customer. They may buy some new computers, but the end-users are the individual employees, the individual workers in the company.

They are the end-users.

Eva says, “Even though we have registered trademarks on some of the new prestige products, we need to have a plan if we want to turn” those “products into household names.” A trademark, “trademark,” is a word or a name or even a sign or a symbol that represents a company or represents a particular product, and a trademark - a registered trademark - is something that you do with the government. In the United States, the federal government has an office where you can register your trademark so no one else steals it, so no one else tries to use it and say it’s theirs. So, that is a registered trademark. Usually if someone has a registered trademark, you’ll see the letter “R” in a small circle next to name.

For example, on the TOEFL Podcast there’s a little “R” next to the word TOEFL.

That means it is a registered trademark of a particular company.

Eva says that they “have registered trademarks on some of the new prestige products.” Prestige, “prestige,” is an adjective to describe something that people admire, something that people like, something that, if you have it, it’s considered to be an important sign or symbol of how important you are or how rich you are.

So, a prestige product might be, in the United States, a Mercedes Benz, or a BMW, or a similar expensive car - that might be considered a prestige product.

Eva says that, “we need to have a plan if we want to turn these new products into household names.” To turn something into the something else means to change them into something else, to change them so that they are different. Eva’s suggesting that the company needs to make changes if it wants “to turn these products into household names.” A household, “household,” all one word, usually refers to the people who live in a house or an apartment. Everyone who lives there is part of the household. But, the expression, a household name, means that everyone in the country knows about it. It is very popular. A household name could be a product; it could also be a person. For example, Brad Pitt, who looks just like me, is a household name. Everyone who lives in the United States, or almost everyone, knows who he is.

Adam says that the company should “think about hiring a public relations firm,” or a public relations company. These are people who work on advertising, for example, or helping people change their image, what people think of them. That public relations firm, which we would often just say PR firm, if someone says PR firm they mean it’s a public relations firm, this PR firm may be able to help the company update their corporate image. To update, “update,” means to change something so that it is more current, more modern. They want to update their corporate image and their logo. A logo, “logo,” is a sign or a symbol of a company. For ESL Podcast, if you go to our website, in the top left corner you’ll see our logo that says, “ESL Pod,” with a little picture.

Adam says he hopes the PR firm can “shape” their “new corporate identity.” To shape, “shape,” means to change, to influence, to control. If someone shapes the plans that means they influence the plans, they have some control over them.

Corporate identity is a larger name that’s similar to corporate image. It’s how a company sees itself, how they identify themselves, what people think of when they think of the company.

Well, Eva says that she will “contact a few PR firms,” and Adam says, “Yes. That seems like the logical next step.” A step, “step,” is the next part of a plan or next part of a process that you are doing. So, when we say something is the logical next step, we mean it’s the most reasonable, it’s the most intelligent next thing that you should do.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a native of rate of speech.

[Start of story]

Adam: With our expansion into these new areas of business, I think we need to think seriously about changing our corporate image. We’re much more than just a paper company now.

Eva: I think you’re right. Our brand has changed, and if we want to keep brand loyalty, we need to think about protecting and improving our product image.

Adam: I agree that that’s a key issue as we reposition ourselves in the industry.

We can never lose sight of our end-users.

Eva: And, even though we have registered trademarks on some of the new prestige products, we need to have a plan if we want to turn these new products into household names.

Adam: I suggest we think about hiring a public relations firm. They may be able to help us update our corporate image and logo, and to shape our new corporate identity.

Eva: Why don’t I contact a few PR firms and set up some meetings?

Adam: Yes, do that. That seems like the logical next step.

[End of story]

The script for today’s podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse. Remember, you can email us at eslpod@eslpod.com if you have a question, comment or suggestion about our podcast.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006