Identidad e imagen corporativas. Relación entre los perfiles de identidad e imagen de la Feria de Loja/Corporative Identity and image. Relation between the profiles of identity and image of the Feria de Lola

Abstract

Resumen

La Feria de Loja es un evento comercial tradicional de la ciudad de Loja y de la región sur de Ecuador, que se ha desarrollado ininterrumpidamente por 189 años.  Desde 2016, la administración y gestión del evento está a cargo de la Corporación de Ferias de Loja, buscando potenciar el emprendimiento, la innovación y la cultura como sus ejes estratégicos. El estudio investiga y relaciona los perfiles de identidad e imagen de la Feria de Loja, a partir del análisis de su visión estratégica y de las percepciones de sus principales públicos.  Se aplicó una entrevista especializada al director ejecutivo de la Corporación de Ferias de Loja y se realizaron grupos focales con tres grupos de stakeholders del evento: medios de comunicación, empleados-colaboradores y estudiantes de segundo año de bachillerato de los colegios de la ciudad. Los resultados muestran el perfil de identidad del evento, especificando los atributos de personalidad, institucionales y competitivos, así como priorizándolos como principales, secundarios y periféricos.  Por otra parte, se exponen los perfiles de imagen corporativa por público estudiado y el perfil general de imagen.  Finalmente, se hace una relación de los perfiles de identidad e imagen, para detectar las brechas entre la identidad y la imagen proyectada de la Feria de Loja en sus públicos estratégicos, que a su vez representan insumos de planificación de la comunicación de identidad del evento.

Palabras Clave: Relaciones públicas, identidad, imagen, Feria, Loja.

Abstract

Corporate identity and image are concepts that are intertwined and sometimes confused and distorted. Identity is what the organization is, represents its character and is shaped by its central, distinctive and lasting characteristics, according to the criteria of Gioia, Schultz & Corley (2000). The image, according to Terkla & Pagano (cited by Oliva & Prieto, 2015,117), is the public perception of an organization, is how people imagine and believe it as an institution or company. Therefore, the organization can manage its identity because it is built inside, but not its image because it is formed in the minds of its public and has no control over it. The present study investigates the values and corporate beliefs of the members and executive management of the Feria de Loja, a commercial and traditional event in the southern region of Ecuador, which has been continuously developed for 189 year, since the Liberator Simón Bolívar decreed it in 1829. Based on the research, the identity profile of the Loja Fair is established, recognizing the main, secondary and peripheral attributes. The Feria de Loja was managed by the Standing Committee of Fairs, but since 2016 the Loja Fairs Corporation was set up. Among its management objectives, it proposed to change the concept of the event, going from a purely comercial fair to promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and culture. Therefore, entrepreneurship is the core attribute of the Loja Fair, highlighting also the characteristics of tradition and fun. Likewise, the image profile of the Feria de Loja is presented, through research through focus groups to three types key element: media, employees- collaborators and second-year high school students from the city´s schools. The first ones were analyzed because according to the Communication Plan they are considered as strategies to focus the communication of the event according to the new concept, the second group becomes important because it is the closest to the event, in charge of operational management and therefore of being in contact with visitors and exhibitors. Also because for some authors the image has mainly a conception in the internal public, as mentioned by Berstein (1984).  And the third group is important because in the preliminary research of the Strategic Communication Plan, it was identified that young people between 15 and 18 years old represent less than 10% of the visitors, so in the following editions events and communicative actions were organized to relate and attract this group of people, also becoming a public priority. The perceptions of each of the groups are very heterogeneous, with entrepreneurship being the most recognized attribute by the media, but with little visibility in the internal public and almost nonexistent for young external audiences. Fun is the main feature of the fair in the minds of young people but it is not representative in the media. While for employees and collaborators, work (generation of employment) is the main attribute of the event. Finally, the graphic relationship of the identity profiles and corporate image of the Loja Fair is analyzed, to know the differences presented, which is an important input for the planning of the management of their identity.

Keywords: Public Relations, Identity, Image, Fair, Loja.