A new model for brand leadership and loyalty

Abstract

Brand citizenship is a new, emerging model for marketing and brand development. Sitting at the intersection of brand leadership, loyalty and ethical business practices, it emphasises equally quality product and service delivery, fair value for pricing, and connecting people to larger communities and something more meaningful than themselves. Conveying the learning from Onesixtyfourth's multi-methodology CultureQ research, this paper details the attributes that define brand leadership, loyalty and good corporate citizenship. It demonstrates that a deep faithfulness comes to brands that integrate themselves into consumers’ routines, make daily life easer and more productive, help people achieve their goals and enrich everyday living. It further illustrates how brand citizenship acts as a unifying principle for marketing, communications, product development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Introducing a 360-degree orientation for implementation that includes organisation, product, experience and service, along with examples, the paper ultimately demonstrates how brand citizenship creates a shared sense of responsibility between a corporation, its various stakeholders and consumers. In democratising CSR activities, brand citizenship strengthens reputation, enhances brand equity and increases the return on investment on CSR activities.