How do brand managers conceptualise brands? An investigation in the age of the internet-based democratisation of brand management

Brand management has been undergoing radical changes in a world of internet- empowered individuals, groups and organisations. These changes have led to an internet-based democratisation of brand management. Subsequently, the co-creation of brands has been increasingly emphasised in brand management practice as well as theory, especially the co-creation between an organisation’s internal and external brand stakeholders. However, no brand conceptualisation has yet been developed which fully addresses these technological and managerial changes. The purpose of this research is therefore to investigate empirically this research gap – how the term brand is conceptualised by brand managers in the current age of the internet-based democratisation of brand management. Interviews with 20 UK-based brand managers across a range of industries and types of organisation have been conducted, following a social constructivist grounded theory methodology. The key finding of four core components and four core processes which brand managers use as integral parts of their brand conceptualisations led to two contributions: (1) a new conceptual framework and (2) a new brand definition both of which fully integrate the phenomenon of brand co-creation between an organisation’s internal and external brand stakeholders. Together they can be used as a foundation for the development of a new co-creative brand management paradigm which integrates the brand management-related activities initiated not only by internal but also by external brand stakeholders. Two more contributions could be made. Firstly, the identification of the different key developments which led to the internet-based democratisation of brand management can help brand managers to better understand the challenges they are facing in current brand management practice, particularly, due to the evolution of social media. Secondly, the identification of the key brand conceptualisation approaches in the literature makes a contribution by providing evidence that stakeholder-oriented brand conceptualisations are more diverse than identified in current literature. Overall, these contributions all help to move brand definition discourse forward

The multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management ☆

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o The evolution of the internet, including developments such as Web 2.0, has led to new relationship realities between organizations and their stakeholders. One manifestation of these complex new realities has been the emergence of an internet-based democratization of brand management. Research about this phenomenon has so far mainly focused on investigating just one or more individual themes and thereby disregarded the inherent multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management as a holistic, socio-technological phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to address this limitation through an investigation of the various socio-technological democratization developments of the phenomenon. To achieve this aim, a balanced and stakeholder-oriented perspective on brand management has been adopted to conduct an integrative literature review. The review reveals three key developments, which together form the essential parts of the phenomenon: (I) the democratization of internet technology, (II) the democratization of information, and (III) the democratization of social capital. The insights gained help to clarify the basic structures of the multi-layered phenomenon. The findings contribute also to the substantiation of a call for a new brand management paradigm: one that takes not only company-initiated but also stakeholder-initiated brand management activities into account

The multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management

The evolution of the internet, including developments such as Web 2.0, has led to new relationship realities between organizations and their stakeholders. One manifestation of these complex new realities has been the emergence of an internet-based democratization of brand management. Research about this phenomenon has so far mainly focused on investigating just one or more individual themes and thereby disregarded the inherent multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management as a holistic, socio-technological phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to address this limitation through an investigation of the various socio-technological democratization developments of the phenomenon. To achieve this aim, a balanced and stakeholder-oriented perspective on brand management has been adopted to conduct an integrative literature review. The review reveals three key developments, which together form the essential parts of the phenomenon: (I) the democratization of internet technology, (II) the democratization of information, and (III) the democratization of social capital. The insights gained help to clarify the basic structures of the multi-layered phenomenon. The findings contribute also to the substantiation of a call for a new brand management paradigm: one that takes not only company-initiated but also stakeholder-initiated brand management activities into accoun