ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out the history of the GDF Suez brand and how it has evolved into Engie, one of Europe’s largest utilities. The chapter argues that the energy business is increasingly becoming a service business, where “brand symbols are especially important as they help to make the abstract nature of services more concrete”.” Traditionally, in the energy sector there are long term contracts, which, at a certain point, shift corporate focus from communication to fulfilment. In the services sector there are frequent points of sale, even with the same customer. Hence, the business is not being judged on price alone. The conceptual framework for understanding these differences is based on Lynn Shostack’s spectrum of intangible dominant to tangible dominant, first set out in her 1977 article Breaking Free From Product Marketing. In the context of establishing corporate purpose, the importance of the ‘“why’ why” question is discussed, with an exposition of the value of branding as contrasted to the value of developing products.
