IBM and GE - How to Brand Like the Big BoysBy [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Doug_Dvorak]Doug Dvorak
Started in 1880 as Computing Tabulating- Recording Company (C-T-R), IBM has been rolling out one innovative machine after another every few years. It has been involved in the invention of the first computer for space programs. From helping the US government in calculating the census and to launching space shuttles, IBM has been doing a yeoman service for the country where brand promotion through advertising is not required much.
IBM still remains the world's largest provider of computer services. Yet the first manufacturer of computers needs to spend $632 millions a year (in 2006) on advertisements to beat out the competition from its closest rival Microsoft.
GE
'We bring good things to life' is a very familiar slogan that any American can easily recall. The slogan has been recently replaced by the slogan 'imagination at work'. GE has remodeled its logo and given a new direction to its business. It has launched an "Ecoimagination" initiative to project itself as an eco-friendly and 'green' company.
Thomas Alva Edison, the founder of GE, invented nearly a thousand products. Out of them the incandescent electric lamp is the most prominent one. Today the company manufactures jet engines and generates wind energy. GE has stayed in business because of a series of innovations and the invention of a number of products over the years. If it was a dynamo and an electric fan back in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, it's the light VCD to detect health defects faster, which GE has come up with recently. There are a myriad of products that GE has given to the world in addition to these.
Right from day one, even before the company had a logo, GE advertised for its products in the print media. It was in 1892 that the logo 'ge' was created. The company regularly promoted its brand in the print and visual media. Now its ad copies have a lot of white space signifying the company's openness and accessibility.
Doug Dvorak is the CEO of DMG Inc., a worldwide organization that assists clients with productivity training, corporate humor and workshops, as well as other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak's clients are characterized as Fortune 1000 companies, small to medium businesses, civic organizations and service businesses. Mr. Dvorak has earned an international reputation for his powerful educational methods and motivational techniques, as well as his experience in all levels of business, corporate education and success training - http://www.dougdvorak.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doug_Dvorak http://EzineArticles.com/?IBM-and-GE---How-to-Brand-Like-the-Big-Boys&id=987161