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The purpose of this paper is to fill a current gap in the literature, through the development of theory concerned with changes that occur over time to the functions and importance of the brand name element of a branded entity.

An initial theoretical conceptualisation was developed from the existing literature. Study participants whose behaviour was found not to conform to this initial conceptualisation were included in subsequent research to obtain greater understanding. The study method used was a series of interviews, with the obtained qualitative data analysed using template analysis. This resulted in the development of a revised theoretical conceptualisation.

Various functions of the brand name element, identified as connotation, denotation, linking and branded entity constancy, are ongoing important providers of brand equity to some consumers for established branded entities. This challenges a position obtained from existing literature that the brand name element of an established branded entity becomes of minimal importance over time.

Value-generating functions of the brand name element that persist over time were identified, leading to the development of a theoretical conceptualisation of the change in the importance of brand name equity over time.

This research tests empirically the level of consumer engagement with a product via a nonbrand-controlled platform. The authors explore how social media influencers and traditional celebrities are using products within their own social media Instagram posts and how well their perceived endorsement of that product engages their network of followers.

A total of 226,881 posts on Instagram were analyzed using the Inception V3 convolutional neural network (CNN) pre-trained on the ImageNet dataset to identify product placement within the Instagram images of 75 of the world's most important social media influencers. The data were used to empirically test the relationships between influencers, product placement and network engagement and efficiency.

Influencers achieved higher network engagement efficiencies than celebrities; however, celebrity reach was important for engagement overall. Specialty influencers, known for their “subject” expertise, achieved better network engagement efficiency for related product categories. The highest level of engagement efficiency was achieved by beauty influencers advocating and promoting cosmetic and beauty products.

To maximize engagement and return on investment, manufacturers, retailers and brands must ensure a close fit between the product type and category of influencer promoting a product within their social media posts.

Most research to date has focused on brand-controlled social media accounts. This study focused on traditional celebrities and social media influencers and product placement within their own Instagram posts to extend understanding of the perception of endorsement and subsequent engagement with followers. The authors extend the theory of network effects to reflect the complexity inherent in the context of social media influencers.

Western consumers are able to take shopping for granted, their major restriction being financial. This study aims to understand motivations to buy fashion items online in the culturally restrictive environment of Saudi Arabia, which imposes considerable fashion and behavioural restrictions, particularly on women.

Qualitative research was conducted with a sample of 34 Saudi women in their home country providing a deep insight into the restrictions that women face when shopping and how they react to these restrictions. Two theoretical lenses, psychological reactance and system justification theories are invoked to understand and explain consumer behaviour.

Motives for online shopping are quite different in a restrictive society. The definition of utilitarian motivations in online shopping is developed to reflect the drivers to overcome cultural restrictions or to align one’s shopping behaviour with them. Similarly, hedonic reasons for online purchases are expanded to incorporate nuances found only in such societies, where hedonic motivations include enjoying the breaking of societal restrictions.

This study is conducted is focussed on a country in which little academic marketing research has taken place due to considerable restrictions on movement and access. Western texts on consumer behaviour are not fully appropriate for understanding such a society.

Storytelling is claimed to be an effective way of communicating corporate strategy within organisations. However, previous studies have tended to focus holistically on storytelling in organisations rather than investigating how different groups may use and be influenced by stories. The purpose of this paper is to address these gaps in the literature by investigating how storytelling in internal communication can either support or subvert corporate strategy.

A qualitative study was conducted into storytelling in two large companies in the UK energy industry. Data were collected through 70 semi-structured interviews, documentary research, and observation research. Impression management theory was used to analyse how stories supported or subverted corporate strategy.

Storytelling by employees in the corporate and customer service areas of the organisations showed the greatest support for corporate strategy. There was more subversive storytelling in the operational areas, particularly by lower level employees. Stories subverted corporate strategy by recounting incidents and encouraging behaviour that contradicted the organisation’s vision/goals and values.

The study shows the important contribution of employees to the collective sensemaking process in organisations, by narrating supportive or subversive stories. Engaging employees in storytelling can enhance support for corporate strategy, however, managers should also see subversive stories as an opportunity to identify and address problems in the organisation.

A recent area of academic interest within corporate branding and reputation is the use of storytelling in order to differentiate the corporate brand, however there is little empirical research exploring the contents of corporate stories, and how they are used by organisations to build the corporate brand. This paper aims to utilise impression management theory to bring insight into the potential role of corporate stories in shaping the corporate brand.

Corporate stories were identified from the web sites of 99 organisations in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, and content analysis conducted on the stories, using a deductive approach to identify the story elements present in the stories.

There are wide variations in the inclusion of different elements in the stories, indicating that organisations place greater importance on the inclusion of some elements in their corporate stories than others.

The paper highlights the point that while organisations are using corporate stories, they are not sufficiently leveraging them to build their corporate brand. There is a gap between storytelling theory and practice, in that the literature emphasises the importance of including benefits for stakeholders, emotion, and aspects of the corporate strategy in stories, whereas organisations frequently neglect these aspects and instead focus mainly on their accomplishments.

This study has found impression management theory to be a useful perspective on exploring corporate storytelling, and identifies links between the elements of stories and impression management strategies and behaviours. This indicates that the corporate story could influence the impressions that audiences form of the organisation and therefore build the corporate brand.

The purpose of this paper is to consider whether the affective components of brand association influence the key stakeholders of business‐to‐business (B2B) brands. The aim is to demonstrate the importance of branding to organisations involved only in B2B markets by testing three hypotheses: that the customer's affective brand associations predict satisfaction with the company; that customer and employee affective brand associations correlate, and; that the better the training employees believe they receive, the stronger their affective brand associations and the higher their satisfaction with the organisation.

The paper uses a survey of the customers (280) and employees (367) of two construction companies involved only in B2B markets using a multidimensional measure of corporate brand personality. Structural equation modelling and regression are used to test the hypotheses.

Customer satisfaction is predicted by corporate brand personality. The customer view correlates significantly with the employee view. The quality of training in turn helps predict the employee view and their satisfaction.

Building affective associations with a pure B2B brand is an effective way to increase customer satisfaction. This in turn appears to depend on the employee view which depends, inter alia, on their view of the quality of training they receive. Further work is required to identify other factors that may influence the employee view of a B2B brand and how the employee view influences the customer view.

Few studies in B2B marketing are of companies involved only in B2B markets, despite the large number of firms and the volume of business that is conducted in this sector. The study demonstrates both the influence of a strong brand image in B2B marketing but also how customers might acquire such an image.

The paper aims to highlight the importance of corporate rebranding in branding practice, which is neglected in theoretical treatment, so an extended theory is to be developed.

From the literature, the existing state of the theory of corporate rebranding is articulated. That theory is extended by the development of six principles and by case research. The principles are illustrated in the case of a Canadian leather goods retailer which has implemented a major corporate rebranding strategy. The paper demonstrates the value of organisational single case studies as a precursor to further research.

The single case enables a more in‐depth analysis of how branding principles were applied to corporate rebranding. All six principles were supported, indicating the need for maintaining core values and cultivating the brand, linking the existing brand with the revised brand, targeting new segments, getting stakeholder “buy‐in”, achieving alignment of brand elements and the importance of promotion in awareness building.

Although corporate rebranding is often used narrowly in practice as renaming, this paper redresses the limited attempts to build theory in this area of marketing. It attempts to build a more sophisticated and substantial theory of corporate rebranding.