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Killing brands … softly
Journal of Brand Strategy,
2
(3),
284-299
(2013)
Abstract
Based on ten years of US consumer responses to a commercial online questionnaire (over 1 million individual responses), challenges are raised about how manufacturer product brands can be built and supported in an interactive marketplace. It was found that increases in consumer use of social media are strongly correlated with declines in consumer brand preference and the rise of a stated consumer choice of no brand preference over the period. Evidence of these findings is presented and recommendations are made for new forms of manufacturer product brand development and support. A brand research agenda for the interactive marketplace is also provided.
Keywords: brands; brand preference; brand relationships; marketing communication
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Don E. Schultz is Professor (Emeritus-in-Service) of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. He holds a BBA from the University of Oklahoma, and an MA and PhD from Michigan State University. He is President of Agora, Inc., a global marketing, communication and branding consulting firm. Schultz is author/co-author of 31 books and 150 trade, academic and professional articles.
Martin Block is a Professor in the Integrated Marketing Communications Division of the Medill School at Northwestern University. Martin is co-author of ‘Understanding China’s Digital Generation’, ‘Media Generations: Media Allocation in a Consumer-Controlled Marketplace’, ‘Retail Communities: Customer Driven Retailing’, ‘Analyzing Sales Promotion’, ‘Business-to-Business Market Research’ (both in their 2nd edition) and ‘Cable Advertising: New Ways to New Business’. He has published in many academic research journals and trade publications and has written several book chapters.
