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This paper aims to critically evaluate the definition of the brand concept, support the critique with an empirical study and provide a definition to resolve the problems that have been identified.

This paper combines a conceptual critique with empirical research using a sample of 730 journal papers to analyse the scope and number of brand-related concepts in extant literature.

The brand concept has evolved to become problematic with no clarity of definition. There has been an explosion in the number of brand-related concepts that make the brand concept opaque and unwieldy. Based upon the findings, the authors argue that it is necessary to return to a “label and associations model” of the brand concept to ameliorate these issues.

The empirical research presented examines only 730 papers from a much wider body of brand literature. Nonetheless, it illustrates the fact that researchers and theorists are not talking about the same concept when using the term “brand”.

Practitioners are not being served by academic branding literature because no two researchers appear to be studying the same entity. This prevents a body of research from being built to guide practitioners.

This paper makes an original contribution by combining a conceptual critique and empirical study to examine the problems arising from the absence of an agreed definition of the brand concept and uses this as a foundation for creating a resolution to the problems.

This paper aims to dissect conceptual and semantic issues surrounding the word “brand.” Theoretical, operational and practical concerns resulting from the term’s use and misuse are exposed, some derived managerial problems are highlighted, and alternatives for resolving the confusing and dysfunctional brand nomenclature are offered.

Comprehensive literature review, i.e. review of an entire population of literature, incorporating content analysis.

A large fraction of empirical brand literature is ambiguous because the definition, meaning and therefore measurement of the focal construct, brand, is unclear. In other words, empirical results throughout the brand literature may apply to “brand” – by one definition or another – but there is no way of knowing which brand interpretation is in use.

A large part of the marketing field does not know what the word “brand” means anymore, a lapse that is widely unrecognized. This paper illuminates the lost knowledge condition and proposes resolution. The present state of theoretical and empirical ambiguity is untenable because so many empirical findings throughout the literature are vitiated.

Although emerging literature has discussed different consumer–brand relationships and addictive behavior constructs, to date, it has not explored the brand addiction phenomenon. This study aims to undertake a conceptual inspection to better understand the nature of the brand addiction phenomenon, thereby providing a clear and concise conceptual definition.

To develop a concise definition of brand addiction, the researcher applies a conceptual development procedure, which identifies potential attributes of brand addiction by assembling a descriptive set of definitions, collecting the construct’s key attributes, generating a preliminary definition of brand addiction, identifying unique and shared attributes of brand addiction with other constructs in related areas and, finally, refining the conceptual definition based on a set of guidelines.

This study defines brand addiction as a psychological state that entails an emotional attachment to a particular brand, driven by compulsive urges that generally provide pleasure. This involves dependence, habit formation, loss of control, failure to withstand impulses and tension before starting the behavior related to the addicted brand. In addition, some of the following attributes might also characterize brand addiction: social, mental and behavioral preoccupation with the brand, tolerance development, frequent engagement in activities related to the brand, restlessness or irritability when unable to engage in activities/behaviors related to the addicting brand, repeated efforts to stop the behavior and dismissal of occupational, social and recreational activities to engage in activities related to the addicting brand.

Since the concept of brand addiction has not been empirically tested, this paper has the potential to append a compulsory conceptual understanding of the concept of brand addiction by developing an accurate definition that serves in discriminating the focal concept from other constructs in related areas, and helps advance subsequent work for theory development.

The marketing literature uses five different experience terms that are supposed to represent different streams of research. Many papers do not provide a definition, most of the used definitions are unclear, the different experience terms have similar dimensionality and are regularly used interchangeably or have the same meaning. In addition, the existing definitions are not adequately informed from other disciplines that have engaged with experience. This paper aims to build a comprehensive conceptual framework of experience in marketing informed by related disciplines aiming to provide a more holistic definition of the term.

This research follows previously established procedures by conducting a systematic literature review of experience. From the approximately 5,000 sources identified in three disciplines, 267 sources were selected, marketing (148), philosophy (90) and psychology (29). To address definitional issues the analysis focused on enlightening four premises.

This paper posits that the term brand experience can be used in all marketing-related experiences and proposes four premises that may resolve the vagaries associated with the term’s conceptualization. The four premises address the what, who, how and when of brand experience and aim to rectify conceptual issues. Brand experience is introduced as a multi-level phenomenon.

The suggested singular term, brand experience, captures all experiences in marketing. The identified additional elements of brand experience, such as the levels of experience and the revision of emotions within brand experience as a continuum, tempered by repetition, should be considered in future research.

The multi-level conceptualization may provide a greater scope for dynamic approaches to brand experience design thus providing greater opportunities for managers to create sustainable competitive advantages and differentiation from competitors.

This paper completes a systematic literature review of brand experience across marketing, philosophy and psychology which delineates and enlightens the conceptualization of brand experience and presents brand experience in a multi-level conceptualization, opening the possibility for further theoretical, methodological and interdisciplinary promise.

This paper's objectives are first to analyse the patterns of research on international brands and branding so far, secondly to provide a definition for international branding based on these previous studies in the field, and finally to suggest fruitful paths for future research in this area.

Content analysis of academic papers published in major marketing, advertising and international business journals.

The field of international branding is broad and has developed in the course of the last 30 years in different directions and with different understandings of what the term refers to. This paper gives an overview of these directions, of the different understandings of the term found in the literature, proposes a definition of international branding, and finally suggests paths for future research.

As with all literature reviews, this paper is limited to analysing works in a selection of the top academic journals in the field. However, a careful choice of the most important journals has been made, providing a good reflection of the knowledge in the area.

This appears to be the first literature review in the field of international branding and also the first to discuss the different interpretations of the term international branding that have developed over time. The authors also believe it is the first to offer a definition of the term in itself as well as in relation to international marketing.

This article assumes that brands should be managed as valuable, long‐term corporate assets. It is proposed that for a true brand asset mindset to be achieved, the relationship between brand loyalty and brand value needs to be recognised within the management accounting system. It is also suggested that strategic brand management is achieved by having a multi‐disciplinary focus, which is facilitated by a common vocabulary. This article seeks to establish the relationships between the constructs and concepts of branding, and to provide a framework and vocabulary that aids effective communication between the functions of accounting and marketing. Performance measures for brand management are also considered, and a model for the management of brand equity is provided.

This paper aims to critically review the most cited literature published from 2000 to 2020 in 24 top-ranked marketing journals on the three most studied branding concepts of the 21st century – brand equity, brand loyalty and brand image – to explore how in these papers they have been defined, measured and examined, and propose how they should move forward in an era where brands are expected to be “socially and socio-politically conscious.”

For each concept a systematic literature review is conducted. In doing so, the definitions, antecedents, outcomes and measures for each concept were accessed and synthesized.

The systematic literature reviews provide a “state-of-the-art” snapshot of each concept and collectively demonstrate there is no consensus on the independence and interdependence of these dynamic multidimensional concepts. Based on the recommended process in the measurement literature, an evolved definition of each concept is proposed. In addition to the corresponding research directions presented in the moving forward sections of each systematic literature review, common research avenues emerged.

This paper acknowledges these three branding concepts as dynamic (i.e. evolving over time), systemically reviews and synthesizes the extant literature, and provides a path forward to defining, measuring and exploring brand equity, brand loyalty and brand image in the present era where brands are expected to be socially and socio-politically conscious with responsibilities to the planet, people and profit.

This paper examines the boundary within which the recognition of an asset currently takes place. It proposes the establishment of a new boundary based upon “separability” which would allow internally created or home‐grown assets to be recognised on the balance sheet. It provides a new definition of brand assets so that, whether purchased separately or as part of goodwill or internally created by a business, brands can be recognised as assets within a new boundary.

This paper aims to provide an integrated model of nation branding, propose a comprehensive definition of this concept and differentiate between nation branding and other related constructs.

To analyze nation branding academic literature, this paper used a systematic literature review approach to investigate academic studies related to nation and country branding. All relevant studies on the nation and country branding between 1996 and mid-2021 were extracted from six selected databases, including Elsevier’s Science Direct, Emerald, Sage, Wiley, Springer and Jstor, by using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis process. The reviewed papers were coded and analyzed to extract themes and concepts.

The results of this paper show that nation branding is influenced by six main factors, namely, business and marketing, political, social and cultural, economic and labor, international and environmental factors; it comprises one key component, that is, nation branding; it results in five major consequences, including social, economic and financial, business, international and political consequences, and is moderated mainly by socio-demographic variables. Additional contributions of this paper are the proposal of a comprehensive definition of nation branding based on the extant literature and identifying nation branding differences with other constructs that sometimes have been previously used interchangeably with nation branding. This paper concludes with suggestions for future research in the field.

This paper uses the themes and concepts uncovered by the analysis to conceptualize nation branding, provides an integrated model of nation branding and distinguishes it from other related branding concepts. This paper also summarizes what nation branding is versus what it is not.

Although many scholars have acknowledged inconsistencies in the use of the retail brand term within the existing empirical literature, no one has conducted a systematic study to clarify the confusion of terms. Aiming at unifying the use of terms, this study aims to explore the terms that best express each retail brand concept, and discusses the definitions of proposed terms that can distinguish the connotation of different retail brand concepts.

Through a systematic review, 463 articles were obtained, from which retail brand terms and their definitions were further extracted. Semantic analysis and content analysis were adopted to analyze terms and definitions, respectively.

Semantically, the terms that best express four levels of retail brand concepts are own product brand, store brand, platform brand and retailer brand. Six key elements to distinguish different levels of a retail brand are identified through the content analysis of definitions, and on this basis, four proposed terms are defined.

Noting that no study focuses on the conceptual confusion of retail brands in recent decades, the findings are expected to clarify the confusion of terms and unify the use of terms, hence facilitating the communication between scholars and the sharing of research results.