Corporate Identity, from Allegorical Discourse to Storytelling. An Approach in terms of Discursive Models

Abstract

In this paper, we examine two discursive models that an organization may use to build and promote its identity image, namely the signature-discourse and the storytelling-discourse. Our aim is to specify the place and role of each of these two models, as well as the important function that the storytelling-discourse performs in the understanding of the signature-discourse and in revealing symbolic meanings and the ways to access them.

The starting point of our study is the finding, which occurred in the teaching process, that first the perception and then the deciphering of the meaning of the signature-discourse involves a higher degree of difficulty. We believe that the association the two discursive approaches proves its usefulness, since storytelling corroborates the semantic interpretation of the signature-discourse and thereby the identification and assimilation of certain theoretical landmarks related to the construction of such a discourse. Another aspect that is worth mentioning is the achievement, in time, of continuity and coherence of the organization’s identity image.

Our approach is based on investigation tools specific to communication sciences: elements of discourse analysis, and analysis of visual communication, which we use especially with the text but we will also discuss the construction of the visual message.