Brand and communication corporate environment of the ULMA Group.

The ULMA Group Brand and Communication Area began in 1993 under the need of implementing in the Group the Corporate Identity and Image Project that meant the unification of the new ULMA Brand in all the Cooperatives and Businesses that existed then. At the same time, the commercial names of the Business were also unified on the basis of the ULMA acronym. The current regulation of our Brand started from that period, halfway through the nineties, with the transformations that the typical evolution and track record the Group has had, and was consolidated in the Corporate Identity Manual. Also, then the first corporate supports and contents that would strengthen the brand image and support the positioning of our Businesses in their respective markets arose.

The ULMA Group Communication and Brand Area are formed by the Committee of Communication, with representatives from all the Businesses, and by the Manager the Group Communication and Brand who acts as coordinator of the Committee.

COMMITTEE OF COMMUNICATION / BRAND AND COMMUNICATION AREA

At Communication Committee level, work is being done in the field of decision referring to the ULMA brand, its regulation and use through the Manual of Corporate Visual Identity, and its protection through the administration of intangible assets of Intellectual Property. Currently, the Grupo ULMA. Coop, owner of the ULMA Brand, keeps the brand registered in more than 60 countries.

The analysis of communication profile in the media and the design of new digital contents are two of the aspects being worked on for the next year.

In the communication committee, work is being done in the coordination of internal actions and mechanisms that promote our image of unity and joint action. In the most operational plan, we use the following tools: Begira and its online version as corporate magazines and Portalde as Corporate Intranet. Likewise, support is given to the Euskera committee for the launch of the Lekaixo leaflet. In addition, the social marketing actions aimed at our partners and workers are coordinated in order to increase cohesion and the feeling of belonging to a team. Some of these initiatives are centred on the painting competition for children of partners and workers, the photographic competition used for the corporate calendar, trips for enjoying sports events, etc.

At external image and communication level, the design, start-up and execution of all the messages and corporate contents of the Group is being coordinated. Currently, the supports that the Grupo ULMA has are the corporate presentations, the corporate leaflet and catalogue, the corporate video, the corporate and the Fundación ULMA websites and our space ULMA50. Currently, and prepared for 2014, in the committee work is being done in the defining of a new framework of corporate contents and messages that offer some meaning more in accord to the time we are living in. Likewise, in external communication, the coordination of actions in Means of Communication is a task framed within the responsibility of the Communication and Brand Area.

The initiatives and actions that the Fundación ULMA also develops are coordinated from the Communication and Brand Area of the Group and are proposals from the communication committee endorsed by the patronage of the Fundacion ULMA. Over the last years, diverse types of activities aimed at different groups; ULMA pensioners, ULMA partners and workers and their families, nearby environment, etc., have been carried out.

In addition, the Digital Marketing practices are coordinated at communication committee level. On one hand, from this area, the mentioned practices are regulated and on the offer, a service is offered to the Businesses at assessment and knowledge level. Currently, the Group and the Foundation have digital presence in the Social Networks and, recently, the Manual of Digital Style of the ULMA Group has been defined and approved and it is already a Good Practice validated by the Mondragon Corporation.

CARLOS SARABIA. Director of Communication and Brand Area of the ULMA Group and Coordinator of the Communication Committee.

"Facing the year 2014 and within the three-yearly plan approved by the body, we have several main work axis on the communication committee.

The design, definition and execution of the new contents and corporate messages we expect to see light throughout next year, the analysis of our Media communication profile is also on the table, the proposal about the operations of the Fundacion ULMA and its activities, the digital strategy with the design of the new Digital Content and the Plan of Internal Communication, among others, will make the year 2014 and intensive year for our Area of responsibility. In other words, we expect that the change and transformation offered by our visual and graphic corporate image strengthens and facilitates the work of our Businesses."