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The purpose of this paper is to explore the managerial challenges of shared brands, defined as arrangements whereby a single brand name acts as the sole or principal identity for the products of two or more firms, and where brand management is governed by an entity independent from a single firm.

An exploratory, theory‐building approach is adopted. The paper draws from the brand equity and institutional economics literatures to develop a conceptualisation of club brands, of which shared brands represent one type. The managerial challenges for the latter are explored with reference to secondary evidence and two cases based in the food sector.

The analysis proposes that the exclusive and non‐rivalrous characteristics of club brands pose specific managerial challenges in the key decision‐making phases of brand identity creation, reputation building and reputation protection. Case exploration of shared brands illustrates these challenges, although some are attributed to the distinct governance structure of shared brands rather than their club characteristics.

Through a focus on shared brands, the paper offers an original exploration of a type of branding arrangement which has been overlooked in the literature, but whose use is growing amongst practitioners. It also offers a novel conceptualisation of brands that highlights the bias towards individualism in mainstream branding theory and its preoccupation with customer‐facing managerial tasks.

This study investigates the personal branding strategies utilized by Iranian professional athletes. It also examines the challenges these athletes face in attempting to create a personal brand. For example, unlike their global counterparts, Iranian athletes’ access to social media is limited to only Instagram, due to a ban in Iran on the use of Facebook and Twitter. This specific situation provides unique opportunities and interactions in the personal branding process.

Utilizing a criterion purposive sample of Iranian professional athletes, the authors conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews to understand the branding strategies and challenges of these athletes.

Two categories (branding strategies and cultural/societal challenges), along with Six themes emerged. The categories were derived based on the literature review and the subsequent research questions.

This paper provides valuable information on challenges and opportunities for athletes' personal branding from international perspectives. Also, the results of the study broaden our understanding of how athletes' personal branding can function in different countries and contexts. Findings will provide governing bodies and sport marketers have a better understanding of athletes' social media usage.

The aim of the present study is to add to the existing research on online city branding by studying how metropolitan cities are internationally positioned using the internet and online branding. The focus is on objectives and strategies, method and expression (including five illustrations), and challenges in online city branding.

The article relies on a single-case study approach, using the Chinese city of Chengdu as a case and illustration. Methods used are interviews, observations and documentation (including online material).

The study illustrates how Chengdu uses online city branding in its international positioning. Chengdu's online branding is influenced by certain imagery, as well as challenges. Collaboration and endorsement crystalize as central elements in Chengdu's online city branding.

This article and study can be seen as an important element in broadening the understanding for online city branding to international audiences.

The study offers insights to practitioners on how online city branding is carried out in a Chinese context and in the city of Chengdu.

The study can be regarded as an important contribution to an area of practice and research which still is fairly new and unexplored, and an area that hitherto has not been well covered in the international literature.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact on brand love of consumption experience at the dimensional level and to determine whether brand love mediates between consumption experience and customer engagement in the context of Generation M.

A sample of 265 Muslim smartphone users responded to a structured questionnaire adapted from existing literature. First, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out, and then data were analyzed through structural equation modeling using MPlus.

The findings indicate that hedonic pleasure and escapism directly, while flow, challenge and learning indirectly affect brand love and that brand love mediates the relationship between consumption experience and customer engagement.

This paper explicates Generation M’s consumption experience, ascertains ways to supplement their love for brand and engage them in gainful relationships and provides suggestions for further investigation. From a managerial perspective, the paper has implications for the management of consumer experience, identifies the most valuable dimensions of consumption experience and proposes that managers can develop customer-engagement strategies via brand love.

The paper validates the mediating role of brand love in the relationship between consumption experience and customer engagement; is the first to investigate the relationship between all dimensions of consumption experience and brand love; is one of few studies to investigate consumption experience, brand love and customer engagement in developing countries; and is one of first investigations to use a sample of Generation M.

The purpose of this article is to look at the challenges and opportunities in building Chinese brands.

The author provides an introduction to branding, describes its strategic importance and analyses the brand challenges for Chinese companies.

This rise of China has implications for branding and some of the new brands will arise from China over the next 10‐15 years.

The most important factor for building strong Asian brands is the mindset of the Asian CEO and boardroom. Branding is a boardroom discipline and successful brands can be built only when the boardroom, led by the chairman and the CEO, understands, appreciates and commits to treating branding as a strategic discipline and devotes the resources at the company's disposal to support the brands in a continuous manner.

Asian brands and the implications of these new brands are generally undervalued by most global businesses. This paper examines what is next from Asia.

This final chapter of the book provides an up-to-date overview of research on B2B branding. The chapter discusses the current academic endeavors and propositions from researchers in the field, while focusing on the discipline of B2B marketing. It furthermore elaborates on the importance of brands and branding for decision-making processes by discussing the role of B2B buyers and sellers. Additionally, branding as part of marketing has been reviewed from its historical background and the first attempts to develop its conceptual background. The chapter then focuses on business buyers and their main characteristics with regard to brand relevance. Finally, the key challenges of developing a strong B2B brand are presented and discussed, after which future research avenues and upcoming trends within the B2B branding context are considered. Digitalization and the digital context are identified as important areas to know in the future, as they are increasingly becoming important stages for marketing activities within the B2B domain. The digital context is a specific platform to explore further. In addition, the intangible aspects of B2B branding that are still unknown to many managers and academics, such as emotions in situations of interaction and sales are explored. From a thematic point of view, sustainability issues will become increasingly important to handle in organizations, which will put pressure on B2B marketers, as sustainability can be communicated through the corporate brand and related branding efforts.

This study aims to analyze Asian branding strategies at the regional level, and provide a map of opportunities and challenges for Asian regional branding.

The study takes, a multi‐sited interpretive approach and interview 22 brand managers throughout the Asian region. The length of interviews was approximately 1.5 hours/respondent. In‐depth case studies of two prominent pan‐Asian brands, Tiger Beer and Zuji, were also conducted. An interpretive analysis to this data set was applied and five themes were developed.

The two major challenges for regional Asian branding are negative country of origin perceptions and regional positioning being inherently fragile. Despite these key challenges, our respondents saw clear opportunities for regional branding initiatives. Brands can achieve a regional positioning by focusing on Asian modernity rather than on common cultural heritage. They can also capitalize on newfound Asian pride and confidence, and finally they can use a Western stamp of approval to signal to Asians the viability of the brand.

The paper extends previous work on the globalization of marketing activities by advancing the region as an important unit of analysis. It helps understand the development of brands in a part of the world that is becoming more important at the economic and political level. The study shows how marketers are shaping culture in the Asian context. Finally, the paper contributes a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with a regional positioning and the development of regional branding strategies.

While there is a growing body of literature about corporate branding, studies of corporate branding in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are limited despite the important role they play in many economies. The purpose of this paper is to explore how managers perceive the significance and challenge of corporate brand building and management within a state-owned organisation.

A qualitative and interpretative research paradigm was used in the form of a case study design. This study focusses on the South African Broadcasting Corporation where executives and managers responsible for corporate branding decisions were interviewed.

Findings highlight the specific purposes, decision making factors, stakeholders and brand portfolio of an SOE corporate brand.

Corporate brands help build brand identity and point out that a SOEs' corporate brand identity is dual in nature. The duality of mission, stakeholders and decision making, triggers brand challenges, namely, unclear corporate identity and fragmented corporate brand strategies, which must be carefully orchestrated over time and across stakeholders.

This study highlights the issues state-run enterprises face in building and managing a corporate brand and proposes an original model for SOEs' corporate brand development process.

The study explores the issue of branding in tourism from the perspective of two processes related to globalization: the expansion of the world market and the use of information and communication technologies. The question addressed is how these processes affect tourism branding. This chapter shows that while the global market expansion in tourism enhances the relevance of brands, the digitalization of the experience made by the tourists and the expansion of virtual communities both represent an unprecedented challenge to the research and practice of tourism branding. The analysis reveals an empowerment of the tourists which may affect the residents, employees, and managers’ roles in branding. The chapter ends with new organizational strategies of brand enhancement which take into consideration the digitalization era.