Two sides of a coin: Connecting corporate brand heritage to consumers’ corporate image heritage

This article connects consumers’ corporate image heritage to a company’s corporate brand heritage and sheds further light on the role of consumer understanding in corporate brand heritage. As a theoretical contribution, we propose consumers’ corporate image heritage as an additional dimension in Urde et al’s corporate heritage model. The qualitative data is two-folded: corporate brand heritage pertain to the company Piaggio and its Vespa brand’s communications, and consumers’ corporate image heritage to in-depth interviews and observation data from Vespa brand community members. The research reveals that community members’ corporate image heritage differs from the company’s view of its corporate heritage brand and important dimensions therein. Considering the key role of consumers’ corporate image heritage in their corporate image construction processes, corporate brand heritage management should hence involve systematic efforts to identify key dimensions of consumers’ corporate image heritage. As instrumental insights, we introduce a tool for analysing the intersection of an organisation’s corporate heritage and consumers’ image heritage to optimise the balance between these elements. The proposed analytical tool may be used as part of a company’s corporate heritage marketing and corporate heritage communication approach.