BBA Hospitality: IHG Luxury Brand Identity and Communication

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) luxury brand, focusing on its brand identity and marketing communications. It begins with an overview of IHG, followed by an in-depth examination of its brand identity using Kapferer's Brand Identity Prism, analyzing brand physique, personality, culture, relationship, reflection, and self-image. The report then explores how IHG expresses its brand identity through marketing communications, including advertising, social media, personal selling, and sales promotion. It also addresses the challenges and failures faced by IHG, such as cyber-attack risks. The analysis extends to how the brand manages the "dream equation" to create luxurious experiences and maintain its brand value. The report concludes with recommendations for IHG's management on leveraging media and communication to build its brand identity, luxury credentials, and communicate the dream effectively.

Specialization in Luxury Brand Management in Hospitality
10/17/2019
InterContinental Hotels Group

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the company............................................................................................................2
Brand identity..................................................................................................................................3
Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism..................................................................................................3
Brand Physique........................................................................................................................4
Personality...............................................................................................................................5
Culture.....................................................................................................................................6
Relationship.............................................................................................................................6
Reflection.................................................................................................................................7
Self-image................................................................................................................................7
The brand expresses its brand identity through its marketing communications..............................7
Challenges and failures of IHG.......................................................................................................9
The brand manages “dream equation............................................................................................10
Conclusions and recommendations...............................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The aim of this research-based paper is to evaluate issues of maintaining brand identity and
marketing communications for the luxury hospitality brand. The brand that has been selected
includes InterContinental Hotels Group. The report includes evaluating how brand leads to brand
identity to life through its marketing communication. The brand identity is analysed with
assistance of Kapferer’s brand identity prism as well as brand visual identity with use of brand
signatures. The report shows the critical analysis of the media and communication. The
communication can take place with the help of different tools that include off and on-line
including the digital strategy to generate awareness about the brand identity in the market. Along
with this, the report shows the ways through which the brand manages the dream equation. This
paper offers the conclusion and recommendations to the management of the brand and the ways
it uses communication and media that is a link to form the identity in the market. Along with
this, it contributes to form the luxury credentials and communicating as well as maintaining the
dream.
Overview of the company
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is one of British multinational hospitality businesses with
the head office in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. The business came into existence from
year 1777 when William Bass started the brewery in Burton-on-Trent, UK (IHG, 2019). The
company offers a miscellaneous collection of distinguished brands is well known and loved by
millions of clients across world. IHG has right hotel brand for both the owners and guest
considering their needs in the market.

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Brand identity
The brand identity is mentioned to as visible elements of the brand like colour, design, and logo
that contributes in determining and distinguishes the brand in the mind of consumers. The
identity of the brand is considered as image of brand. InterContinental Hotels Group recently set
up a worldwide brand management leadership teams with the motive to drive brand development
across world. The global brand management leadership structure will majorly emphasis on focus
for combining the universal policy of the brand, discover the actual consume visions as well as
turning them into the everyday marketing activities. IHG is trying to enhance the awareness of
the corporate brand among the clients that are presently more acquainted with consumer brand
(Allchin, 2012).
IHG Company also needs to form a strong brand identity and they have a strong image in the
market. The below given is the analysis of the brand identity of IHG with the support of
Kapferer’s brand identity prism 2012.
Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism
The model of Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism works as a instrument for the executives of the
brand to measure identity of brand present in market. The model contains six different surfaces
that include personality, connection, culture, physique, likeness, and self-image (Andreea, 2018).

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(Source: Kapferer, J-N. & V. Bastien, 2012)
As per Kapferer, entire strong brands are talented enough of interlacing all the features into an
actual entire with the motive to from the concise, clear, and appeal the brand identity. The brand
considers its position among company (sender) and client (recipient) and back again. The major
ranges that this prism describes among these point series from the internal to external (Luxton,
Reid & Mavondo, 2015). The internal elements include subjective, emotional and implied along
with with this the external element include objective, defined and tangible which shape the prism
that makes it clear that many paths can be drawn to join them up.
Brand Physique
The physique element of brand identity prism shows the physical features and iconography of
brand. The physical element of IHG includes the hotels, suites, and resorts that are available on

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top locations. The logo of the brand shows the physical presence as well as identity. The logo of
the brand is presented below which shows the brand logo due to which customers recognise the
brand. This logo shows the physical presence of the brand in the market that indicates the
signature of brand due to which people can recognise the brand (IHG, 2019).
(Source: IHG, 2019)
The design of the brand is visible which shows that they have a unique set of designs that include
patterns of the hotel's rooms and accommodation facility. Along with this, the entire design of
the hotel shows the physical identity of the brand. In the research, this has been witnessed that
every customer knew about the brand and its logo (IHG, 2019). Besides, the clients of the
company are aware of the location of the brand where the hotels are situated.
Personality
This element of the brand shows the ways through which the brand communicated within the
external environment. The personality of IHG shows that it is one of the luxury hospitality
brands that are clear with the services that they are offering in the market that adds value to the
brand identity of the hotel. In the research, this is witnessed that IHG is world's leading hotel
companies who continue with the excellent services to their customers by offering them
specialised services, worth of money and many other elements (IHG, 2019). The company has
also won a different number of accolades at nation's admired Tourism Accommodation Australia

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(NSW) Awards for Excellence (TAA). Thus, this reflects the personality of the IHG brand in the
market.
Culture
It shows the set of value system and the principles on which the behaviour of the brand is based.
In the research, the brand says that they have pride in being a respectful and diverse culture
company, which is central to our purposes of offering true hospitality among their clients. The
culture of the brand is internationalised, as a global organisation that is performing the business
in more than 100 countries with more than 400,000 colleagues (IHG, 2019). The standards and
policy of our position on social, environmental, and ethical elements are maintained by the
company. The company ensure that their expectation is very clear among all the investors,
colleagues and other people. IHG hotel and communities are present across the world with more
than 400,000 talented as well as the passionate colleagues to offer true hospitality for everyone
daily (IHG, 2019). IHG brand identity is present across the world because of the international
culture that helps them to make the client aware of the services.
Relationship
The prism element relationship reflects the link between the brand and among its customers. This
shows the customer attitude towards the brand, which includes what they are getting from the
brand beyond the actual product or service. IHG Company can form a direct relationship with
their clients who perform the face-to-face conversation whenever any customer visits the hotels
and resorts. This shows the brand identity that they believe in communicating directly which
shows their friendly behaviour towards the clients (IHG, 2019). Thus, this shows the IHG visual
identity as well as a brand signature that it holds in the international market.

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Reflection
The stereotypical user of the brand is likely to have different buyer personas but they have a go-
to subset for their targeted customers. IHG target audience is very clear as it includes the
travellers who visit either for the tourist purpose or for the business purpose. Brand identity is
strong as they have a wide range of travellers in the market. IHG has a wide range of travellers
who visit the hotel always have a different brand image in their mind. In addition to this, another
target audience of IHG brand includes the people who visit for the luxurious holidays, as they are
willing to spend the time with their family members (IHG, 2019). The customers who are aware
of the brand identity always opt for luxurious hotels for excellent services.
Self-image
The customer sees their ideal self. It has been found by understanding the ideal identity of the
customers that how they look and behave. IHG clients believe that they visit the IHG for
accommodation and other facilities that add value to their behaviour. IHG always contribute in
improving the expectation on the basic needs that are expected from the customers. The symbol
status matters a lot for some of the clients who majorly include the travellers so while saying at
IHG offer the self-image of the high-status symbol.
The brand expresses its brand identity through its marketing
communications
In the present market, every brand expresses its brand identity through marketing communication
as it includes different tools such as off- and on-line media, digital strategy and many others.
IHG brand express their brand identity among the people with the help of different tools of
marketing communications. In this research, it is determined different elements and accordingly,

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it can be believed that the brand uses different tools to express themselves in the market (Fill &
Turnbull, 2016). Some of the tools that are used by the brand are given below -
 Advertisement/Social media: - IHG brand uses the social media on which they interact
with the customers through messages and posted comments that include both positive and
negative elements of the brand. The positive comments and posts by the clients for the
company help IHG to reflect the different elements of brands identity and their presence
(Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2015). Experience of the customers for the brand expresses the
identity of the brand due to which it becomes popular in the market. However, there
might be clients who post negative comments for the brand due to which the identity of
the brand will get exploited.
 Personal selling: - Personal selling has high value in the field of hospitality and tourism
industry. IHG focuses on their employees so that they can offer excellent services to their
clients and contribute to improve the personal selling skills that are possible with
effective training. Personal selling is one of the factors through which the brand expresses
its identity. In the hospitality industry, the first and foremost interaction of the client
alternatively, the consumer is with their employees. Thus, the personnel offer value to
their clients that contribute in improving the services. The personnel express the brand
that shows their identity in the market. However, there is a possibility that a person might
not be able to meet the expectation of every client that affects the brand identity and their
presence.
 Sales promotion: - The Sales promotion is done by IHG with the help of personnel
selling, discount offers and to the regular guest. The brand wants to express that they
offer different offers to their guest, which include loyal clients also to whom they value

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the most. IHG also offers different festival offers that help them to remain in the market.
However, sometimes high offers by the IHG brand makes the customer believe that this
is a new way of attracting the clients (IHG, 2019).
Challenges and failures of IHG
Every brand deals with some challenges and failures to form the brand image and luxury
credential and to sustain a dream in the market. Similarly, the IHG brand also deals with
different challenges and failures in the market. Some of them are discussed below –
 Cyber-attacks risk: - The innovation and use of technology have affected the working of
the company because it leads to the risk of cyber-attack. The improvement and
enhancement of technology lead to a high risk for the brand. The rise in the chances of
security threat will lead to an impact on the image of the brand. The customer might get
afraid due to which they do not like to become the guest of IHG hotels (IHG, 2019). This
shows that brand image is essential for the company for managing the operations and
working. Along with this, this shows that they will not be able to maintain luxury
credential and affects the dream.
 Quality standards: - Every hospitality industry tries to put efforts so that they can
manage the quality standards. The expectation of being in a luxury brand might be not
attained by some of the customers. Some customers believe that they are not able to meet
their needs in terms of quality standards. Thus, this affects the brand image as well as the
luxury credential. Along with this, customers see the dream that is associated with a
brand that includes quality services and standards. The brand IHG needs to sustain the
dream for the quality products.

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 Content language: - The brand who deals in the international market finds it important
to provide the local language content critically with the motive to form the strong direct
channels and building the lifetime relationship with their clients. Similar to different
brands, IHG Company has a complex landscape of the guest technologies that include
web and mobile booking platforms and the content management system. There are more
than 5,000 hotels in approx. 100 countries and organisation is required to publish the
content in more than 12 languages (Smartling, 2019). IHG company is at risk of missing
the deadlines for introducing the new language and for broadcasting new content. This
challenge affects the identity of the brand, as customers present in the environment with
different language will not be able to feel the presence of the brand.
The brand manages “dream equation
Dream equation includes knowledge, skills and application+ opportunity capitalization with the
positive human interaction= fulfilment of dreams. In the current environment, every brand
manager puts the efforts to manage the dream equation in which they want to meet the needs of
the customer who visit for the effective luxury services and improved standards. It has been
found that customers make the purchase of luxury products or services with the motive to satisfy
their individual role-playing needs. Every brand forms their unique identities that are based on
physical identity, personal identity and expression identity (Farhana, 2014). In the expression
identity, there are elements like selling the dream, digital and sensory experience. IHG manages
the dream equation as they make use of brand knowledge and skills for applying it to attain the
high opportunities that lead to the positive reaction of the clients. This positive reaction of the
customers shows that the dreams of the customers are fulfilled.

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It is also essential for the company to manage the association of rarity in terms of marketing
communication. IHG brand manages the rarity in which they use the marketing communication
for a certain period that includes peak time. This helps them to attract the maximum customers
towards the brand. IHG brand does not perform the regular marketing of the brand because they
found that this would affect the brand identity (IHG, 2019). Along with this, to manage the rarity
of marketing they decide the period for the advertisement that they will display, they decide the
time duration. The brand identity manages the dream with the help of voice that they use for
offering the services.
Conclusions and recommendations
At the end of the report, this is said that it is essential for every brand to form the brand identity
within the market. InterContinental Hotels Group Company needs to find the brand identity but
with this, they deal with the different issues, which affects the brand identity of luxury
hospitality brand. The evaluation of the brand identity of IHG has been done with the help of
Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism. The brand identity analysis with the help of model includes the
different internal as well as the external elements. Each element has been explained as per the
IHG. This analysis shows the visual identity of the brand along with the brand signature. In
addition to this, the analysis of brand marketing communication and the way they use media is
discussed in the report. It is found that the brand uses different platforms that include
advertisement through traditional approach and social media. In the analysis, it has been found
that the brand expresses its brand identity with the help of marketing communication. It has been
determined that some different challenges and failures are faced by the brand while forming the
identity. Every brand tries to manage the dream equation so that they can meet the needs of the

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customers present within the environment. The brand needs to bring some changes that can
improve its operations in the market.
It is recommended to the company to adopt Smartling Translation Management System as this
helps the brand to eliminate the dependency among the translation as well as the software
development that allows the continuous improvement in the software (Smartling, 2019). This
software allows continuous improvement among the local language content for the different
number of channels. It is suggested to bring improvement in the marketing communication that
can be done by the company with the help of celebrity endorsement. This endorsement helps the
company to allow the celebrity to take the required steps for promoting the products in the
market. The endorsement helps the business to improve the dream equation and brand luxury
credentials.

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References
Allchin, J. (2012). Case study: InterContinental Hotels Group. Retrieved from:
https://www.marketingweek.com/case-study-intercontinental-hotels-group/
Andreea, C. (2018). Exploring Kapferer’s brand identity prism applicability in theatre. IJAME.
Farhana, M. (2014). Implication of brand identity facets on marketing communication of lifestyle
magazine: case study of a Swedish brand. Journal of Applied Economics and Business
Research, 4(1), 23-41.
Fill, C., & Turnbull, S. L. (2016). Marketing communications: brands, experiences and
participation. Pearson.
IHG. (2019). About Us. Retrieved from: https://www.ihgplc.com/en/about-us
IHG. (2019). IHG focuses on aligning worldwide brand strategy. Retrieved from:
https://www.eyefortravel.com/archive/ihg-focuses-aligning-worldwide-brand-strategy
IHG. (2019). InterContinental Hotels Group People and Facilities Recognised at Prestigious
TAA Awards. Retrieved from: https://www.ihgplc.com/en/news-and-media/news-
releases/2014/intercontinental-hotels-group-people-and-facilities-recognised-at-
prestigious-taa-awards
IHG. (2019). Introducing IHG. Retrieved from:
https://www.ihgplc.com/-/media/ihg/files/pdf/investing-in-ihg-july-2019/introducing-
ihg.pdf?la=en&hash=D58670159B9F1AD95570B4FEDFB27C74

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IHG. (2019). Our culture. Retrieved from: https://www.ihgplc.com/responsible-business/our-
culture
IHG. (2019). Our history. Retrieved from: https://www.ihgplc.com/en/about-us/our-history
IHG. (2019). Our purpose and culture. Retrieved from:
https://www.ihgplc.com/en/about-us/our-purpose-and-culture
Kapferer, J-N. & V. Bastien. (2012). The Luxury Brand Strategy. Kogan Page. 148
Luxton, S., Reid, M., & Mavondo, F. (2015). Integrated marketing communication capability
and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 37-46.
Schivinski, B., & =Dabrowski, D. (2015). The impact of brand communication on brand equity
through Facebook. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 9(1), 31-53.
Smartling. (2019). InterContinental Hotels Group: Leading Global Hotel Operator Has Another
First-Mover Advantage: Agile Translation. Retrieved from:
https://www.smartling.com/resources/case-study/intercontinental-hotels-group/