Share these talks and lectures with your colleagues
Invite colleaguesPractice paper
Brand iconisation in the social media era
Journal of Brand Strategy,
10
(2),
171-177
(2021)
Abstract
Branding is the method by which companies create an identity for their products or services, with the aim of forming a deep emotional connection with their consumers, and iconic brands enjoy intensely loyal consumer bases with high emotional attachment levels; however, the rapid proliferation of social media and user-generated content is shifting the way in which consumers, particularly younger consumers, interact with brands. If companies fail to manage this changing paradigm properly, today’s iconic brands may find themselves relegated to the historical archive of failed brand icons — a cautionary tale to those brands seeking to rise to iconic status in the social media era. The goal of this paper is to illuminate the changing paradigm of iconic brand creation in an increasingly socially connected world, and stimulate discussion around understanding the influence of consumer-driven social media activity on iconic brand creation.
Keywords: branding; user-generated social media content; iconic brands; social media; consumer perceptions; emotional brand attachment
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Brian Whelan is an Assistant Professor of Marketing, Western Carolina University Prior to joining Western Carolina University, Dr. Whelan was a Lecturer at the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Prior to joining UNC Charlotte, Dr. Whelan spent over 20 years in the financial services industry, holding senior-level marketing, branding, product management and corporate communications positions at some of the world’s largest investment management firms, including Morgan Stanley, Blackrock, Bank of America and Barings. His most recent industry role prior to entering academia full time was Managing Director & Global Head of Corporate Communications for Barings, a leading international investment management firm with over US$320bn in assets under management and major offices in Charlotte, New York, Boston, London, Hong Kong and Seoul. Dr. Whelan’s research interests include branding, Blockchain, social media, consumer behaviour and consumer psychology. Dr. Whelan earned a doctor of business administration (DBA) degree in Marketing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a master of science (MS) degree in Marketing from West Virginia University and a bachelor of arts (BA) in Sociology from Hofstra University.
