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We explore how marketers can manage brand meaning through the use of celebrity endorsements. We theorize that consumers look to celebrity endorsements for brand symbolism, which they appropriate to construct and communicate their self-concepts by forming self-brand connections (SBC).

This research employs an experimental paradigm, with two empirical studies examining whether marketers can create meaning for their brands through the use of celebrity endorsements.

Study 1 finds that celebrity endorsement enhances SBC when consumers aspire to be like the celebrity, but harms them when consumers do not; furthermore, this effect is more pronounced when the brand image is congruent with the celebrity’s image. The effect is further moderated by the degree to which a brand communicates something about the user, with more symbolic brands having stronger effects than less symbolic brands. Study 2 finds that the effect of celebrity endorsement on SBC is augmented when consumers’ self-esteem is threatened. Consumers self-enhance by building connections to celebrities with favorable images or distancing themselves from those with unfavorable images.

These findings can help marketers’ decisions regarding when and whom to use as a celebrity endorsers by taking into account how consumers use meaning appropriated from celebrities when constructing the self.

We propose that brands with strong associations and dedicated customers may be vulnerable if customers perceive them as exploiting their relationship.

We start by reviewing the literature on brand meaning, brand attachment, brand relationships, and brand transgressions. The extant literature implies that as a result of their willingness to sustain their brand relationship, highly attached consumers will either discount negative information about a brand or attribute the responsibility for the negative information to some external factors. We propose, on the other hand, that when negative information dilutes the reason for brand attachment, the norm of the consumer–brand relationship is violated (brand transgression). Then we argue that highly attached consumers of that brand will react more negatively (when compared to consumers not feeling highly attached) toward the brand.

We introduce a typology of brand transgressions against the (1) expressive, (2) exclusive, (3) expert, and (4) empathic nature of brands. We discuss the possible effects of attachment levels on consumers’ reactions after such brand transgressions. Additionally, we articulate the moderating effects of four consumer motives (need for self-enhancement, need for uniqueness, need for risk avoidance, and need for justice) on consumer reactions.

Our reasoning counters the literature suggesting that highly attached consumers of a brand will engage in relationship-sustaining behaviors. We contribute to the brand-transgression literature by providing a more structured and detailed definition of brand transgressions by classifying them under four distinct types.

The chapter examined the consumer meanings of product placements embedded in social games in different cultural contexts.

The theoretical perspective guiding the study is phenomenology, and the essay assignment and in-depth interviews were used to collect data.

The chapter was based on two qualitative research projects. Findings revealed that consumers in both countries appreciated certain characteristics of product placement in the context of social game, such as subtleness (naturalness) and unobtrusiveness (users’ freedom of choice and proactive choice); consumers’ real-world consumption in both countries seems to be more or less influenced by the product placement in social games; and while the young American consumers didn’t construct specific meanings for Facebook, the Chinese white-collar consumers actively created meanings for the Chinese social-network site.

The chapter offered some thick descriptions and in-depth analyses of product placements in social games in different cultural contexts from consumers’ experiential perspectives to enrich our theoretical understanding of product placement in the new media environment as well as to add valuable insights to the research literature on new advertising formats in general.

No study to date has been conducted to explore the product placement in social games in different cultural contexts. The study fills the research gap by exploring US college-aged consumers’ and Chinese white-collar consumers’ interpretations of product placements in the context of social games.

This paper argues for the following sensitizing proposition. At its core, much of consumer behavior that involves brand meanings is an attempt to influence, or symbolically mark, interpersonal relationships.

This paper presents a conceptual argument based on a literature review.

First, I argue that our pervasive concern with other people is a basic genetic component of human beings, and discuss some possible evolutionary pressures that may have led to this result. Then I discuss how this pervasive concern influences consumer behavior related to brand meanings. This discussion is structured around two aspects of social relationships: interpersonal closeness and social status. Relationship closeness is discussed with regard to brand communities, gifts, special possessions and brand love, and the often hidden ways that social relationships permeate everyday consumer behavior. Social status is discussed with reference to materialism. Materialism is sometimes misunderstood as an obsession with physical object, or as occurring when people care more about products than they do about people. In contrast, I argue that materialism is better understood as a style of relating to people.

This paper integrates a range of disparate findings in support of a broadly applicable generalization that nothing matters more to people than other people. This generalization can function as a sensitizing proposition that managers and researchers can bear in mind as they seek to interpret and understand how brand meaning influences consumer behavior.

The point of departure for this chapter is a notion that firms at times find it difficult to develop their solution-oriented businesses and to have a broader understanding in their organizations of what this changed orientation really means.

The author looks into prevailing perspectives on marketing as such and creates a “map” that organizes marketing logics into a dynamic whole for value creation and change based on theoretical points of departure. Supported by this map, she tailors out a missing perspective based on a sense-making view that could be fruitful for companies to apply. It is basically to create a stronger awareness of and influence from a branding perspective (also in B2B). Based on an empirical example she points at barriers and enablers in implementing such a change of marketing perspective. She also addresses the implications of such a change on organizing and not least the connections between sales and marketing.

This chapter points forward as a way to release energy and to find direction for the development toward a solution-oriented business.

Concepts equip the mind with thought, provide our theories with ideas, and assign variables for testing our hypotheses. Much of contemporary research deals with narrowly circumscribed concepts, termed simple concepts herein, which are the grist for much empirical inquiry in the field. In contrast to simple concepts, which exhibit a kind of unity, complex concepts are structures of simple concepts, and in certain instances unveil meaning going beyond simple concepts or their aggregation. When expressed in hylomorphic structures, complex concepts achieve unique ontological status and serve particular explanatory capabilities. We develop the philosophical foundation for hylomorphic structures and show how they are rooted in dispositions, dispositional causality, and various mind–body trade-offs. Examples are provided for this emerging perspective on “Big concepts” or “Big Ideas.”

Brand management in industrial markets is an important subject. The relative youth of this interest implies gaps in the understanding of the phenomenon, though. With regard to the emphasis on brands in today's competitive markets, improving the understanding of brand meaning and impact in diverse industrial situations and organizations is valuable to both management and theory. This paper adds to the expansion of such insights by applying the notion of brands to subcontractors; their market offer and situation. An overview of the brand concept and brand research in industrial markets directs the discussion. The chapter reports on a qualitative study with the aim to support better comprehension of the meaning and impact of brands in a subcontractor context. The study focuses on buyers' decision-making processes. Customers, although they ultimately focus on product price and quality, rely on corporate brand image for making decisions at several stages of purchasing. Buyers normally face a situation where they must choose among a number of potential suppliers, where they perceive uncertainty and limits regarding time and information. In the process of finding and selecting suitable suppliers, subcontractor corporate brands therefore revolve around proxies for expertise and reliability. A focus on subcontractor brand management can render benefits to individual suppliers concerning the amount of potential clients and signed contracts. Also, paying more attention to corporate brand meaning and content can improve the efficiency of matching buyers with supplier.