Brand Society: How Brands Transform Management and Lifestyle
Cambridge University Press, 1/21/2010
EAN 9780521726900, ISBN10: 0521726905
Paperback, 330 pages, 24.7 x 17.4 x 1.5 cm
Language: English
Brands are a fait accompli: they represent a mountain range of evidence in search of a theory. They are much exploited, but little explored. In this book, Martin Kornberger sets out to rectify the ratio between exploiting and exploring through sketching out a theory of the Brand Society. Most attempts to explain the role of brands focus on brands either as marketing and management tools (business perspective) or a symptoms of consumerism (sociological perspective). Brand Society combines these perspectives to show how brands have the power to transform both the organizations that develop them and the lifestyles of the individuals who consume them. This holistic approach shows how brands function as a medium between producers and consumers in a way that is rapidly transforming our economy and society. That's the bottom line of the Brand Society: brands are a new way of organizing production and managing consumption. Using an array of practical case studies from a diverse set of organizations, this book provides a fascinating account of the way in which brands influence the lives of individuals and the organizations they work in.
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Part I. Brands and Branding
1. Introduction
2. Making sense of brands
3. The making of brands
Part II. How Brands Transform Management
4. Identity
5. Culture
6. Innovation
Part III. How Brands Transform Lifestyle
7. Politics
8. Ethics
9. Aesthetics
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.
'This is a stupendous piece of work. It's both academic and pragmatic. It ranges from forbidding high theory to easy-reading case studies. It's great. Without question, it'll go down as a landmark study of brands and branding.' Stephen Brown, University of Ulster