Interpretive Approaches to Branding

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Introduction

Brands have acquired an increasing significance in the landscape of marketing and consumer behavior as they impact individuals’ lives and the society at large. Brands are not merely “labels” for products and services; they represent a complex web of meanings, sentiments, beliefs, and cultural connections that influence consumer choices, loyalty, and identity formation. Traditional quantitative research methods have provided valuable insights into various aspects of branding, but they often fall short in capturing the subjective and dynamic nature of brand experiences, as well as the social and cultural intricacies that emerge from the social media discourses. To unravel the intricate tapestry of brands and their interactions with consumers, scholars have increasingly turned to interpretive approaches to branding research. 
This special issue is dedicated to exploring the interpretive approaches that shed light on the multifaceted world of brands and their role in shaping consumer perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and relationships. See Weidner, Bal, Rains, and Leeds (2016) and Cova and Cova (2019) as examples. The interpretive approach recognizes that branding is a socially constructed phenomenon, where meanings are co-created through individual experiences, social interactions, institutional arrangements, and cultural contexts. Interpretive approaches cast branding in a different light by examining it from the standpoint of the consumers’ life world, the web of communal relationships in which they are suspended. By embracing qualitative research methods and emphasizing the richness of narratives and stories associated with brands, interpretive approaches offer unique insights into the deeper layers of consumer-brand relationships. 
Through methods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and textual analysis, interpretive researchers seek to unravel the intricate interplay of symbolic representations, cultural influences, and personal narratives that shape brand perceptions and relationships. This shift in research paradigms opened up new opportunities for investigating the social and cultural dimensions of branding and their implications for individual identity trajectories. Understanding the stories associated with brands allows researchers to delve into the deep-seated meanings and expectations that drive consumer-brand relationships. As brand narratives are constantly evolving in response to cultural shifts and societal changes, interpretive approaches offer a dynamic and flexible framework for capturing these fluid dynamics.
Branding is not a one-way street; it involves a reciprocal relationship between consumers and brands. Consumers often integrate brands into their self-identities and social identities, using them to express their values, aspirations, and affiliations. Interpretive research delves into how individuals construct their identities in relation to brands, exploring the motivations behind brand affiliations and the role of brands in shaping collective identities within consumption communities. 
Culture permeates every aspect of human life, and branding is no exception. Brands operate within cultural contexts, and their meanings are deeply entwined with the cultural symbols and norms of the societies they inhabit. Interpretive approaches to branding research provide a nuanced understanding of how culture influences brand perceptions, preferences, and adoption.

List of Topic Areas

Researchers using this approach analyze the cultural symbols and narratives associated with brands and how they resonate with different cultural groups. Hereafter, some possible topic areas with related literature are presented, but scholars are free to present papers that do not necessarily fits with them, though substantially grounded in interpretive branding research (Elliott 1994):

• Algorithmic branding: branded service platforms and algorithms (Carah 2017; Kozinets 2022) 
• Branding at the bottom of the pyramid (Arnould and Press 2019; Gisler and Veresiu 2014; Cova, Barès, and Nemani 2021) 
• The social life of brands (Molander, Ostberg, and Peñaloza 2023; Närvänen and Goulding 2016; O'Sullivan, Richardson, and Collins 2011) 
• Diasporas and brand hijacks (Cova 2022; Cova and Paranque 2016; Rokka and Canniford 2016) 
• Brands at the theater/TV (Takhar, Maclaran, and Stevens 2012; Cooper, Schembri, and Miller 2010; Burgess and Joones 2023) 
• Brand hate and brand repulsion (Østergaard, Hermansen, and Fitchett 2015; Sharma, Jain, and Behl 2022; Holt 2002) 
• Cultural branding and beyond (Vredeveld and Coulter 2019; Wilson and Kiu 2011)
•  Brand activism and cause co-optation (Milfeld and Flint 2021; Sobande 2020)
•  Global, local, glocal (Kashif and Udunuwara 2023; Schmidt-Devlin, Özsomer, and Newmeyer 2022) 
• Brands and young consumers (Thomas, White, and Samuel 2021; Hémar-Nicolas and Rodhain 2017)
• Celebrity and personal branding (Kerrigan, Brownlie, Hewer, and Daza-LeTouze 2011; Eagar, Lindridge, and Martin 2022; Eagar and Dann 2016)

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”. 
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 30/03/2024 
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 30/06/2024

Guest Editors

Bernard Cova, Kedge Business School, France, [email protected]
Daniele Dalli, Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Italy, [email protected]

References

Elliott, R. (1994). Exploring the symbolic meaning of brands. British journal of Management, 5, S13-S19. 
Weidner, K., Bal, A., Rains, S. and Leeds, C. (2016). Tattooing and brand sponsorship: how far is too far? Journal of Product & Brand Management, 25 (4), 387-393. 
Cova, V., & Cova, B. (2019). Experience copycats: the Compostela case. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 28(6), 720-732. 
Carah, N. (2017). Algorithmic brands: A decade of brand experiments with mobile and social media. New Media & Society, 19(3), 384-400. 
Kozinets, R. V. (2022). Algorithmic branding through platform assemblages: core conceptions and research directions for a new era of marketing and service management. Journal of Service Management, 33(3), 437-452. 
Arnould, E., & Press, M. (2019). Systemic small-player market exclusion in an east African context. Consumption Markets & Culture, 22(5-6), 508-527. 
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Cova, B., Barès, F., & Nemani, A. (2021). Creating a brand community at the bottom of the pyramid: the case of a Cameroonian music platform. Journal of Marketing Management, 37(9-10), 887-913. 
Molander, S., Ostberg, J., & Peñaloza, L. (2023). Brand morphogenesis: The role of heterogeneous consumer sub-assemblages in the change and continuity of a brand. Journal of Consumer Research, 49(5), 762-785. 
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Milfeld, T., & Flint, D. J. (2021). When brands take a stand: the nature of consumers’ polarized reactions to social narrative videos. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 30(4), 532-548. 
Sobande F. (2020). Woke-washing: “intersectional” femvertising and branding “woke” bravery. European Journal of Marketing,54 (11), 2723-2745. 
Kashif M., Udunuwara M. (2023). Redefining brand globalness: an interpretive inquiry. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 
Schmidt-Devlin E., Özsomer A., Newmeyer C.E. (2022). How to Go GloCal: Omni-Brand Orientation Framework. Journal of International Marketing,30 (4), 1-20. 
Thomas R.J., White G.R.T., Samuel A. (2021). Exploring the motivations to participate in an online brand community: a study of 7–11-year-old children. European Journal of Marketing,55 (8), 2308-2343. 
Hémar-Nicolas V., Rodhain A. (2017). Brands as cultural resources in children’s peer culture. Consumption Markets and Culture,20 (3), 193-214. 
Kerrigan F., Brownlie D., Hewer P., Daza-LeTouze C. (2011). 'Spinning' Warhol: Celebrity brand theoretics and the logic of the celebrity brand. Journal of Marketing Management,27 (13-14), 1504-1524.
Eagar T., Lindridge A., Martin D.M. (2022). Ch‐Ch‐changes: the geology of artist brand evolutions. European Journal of Marketing,56 (12), 3617-3651.
Eagar T., Dann S. (2016). Classifying the narrated #selfie: genre typing human-branding activity. European Journal of Marketing,50 (45208), 1835-1857.