Brand Management
People
Course director
Description
Objectives
The Course targets students interested in developing theoretical and practical understanding of brand management from a company’s perspective. As such, it represents an ideal complement for students having attended the research seminar “Consumers and Brands” (Bachelor level), where brands are instead analysed from the perspective of end-users.
Participants will learn two radically distinct approaches to branding. First, a product-plus approach that considers brands as add-ons to products/services/ experiences. Second, a holistic brand approach, which instead considers brands as the cornerstone of a company’s marketing strategy and as its most valuable asset.
This Course aims at:
- Developing multidisciplinary and multi-epistemological understanding of processes behind brand management and consumer interaction with brands.
- Improving students’ ability in designing and fostering brand recognition (brand morphology), brand essence (brand axiology), and brand narratives (brand storytelling).
- Complementing theoretical understanding of branding with in-field practical experience.
Contents
The Course is organized as follows:
PART I. DEFINING AND CONTEXTUALIZING BRANDS
Class 1 A brief history of brands
PART II. THE EFFECTS OF BRANDS
Class 2 A hierarchy of brand effects
Class 3 Socio-affective effects of brands
Class 4 First in-class tutorship
Class 5 Financial effects of brands
PART III. MANAGING BRANDS: STRATEGY AND ACTIVATION
Class 6 Brand morphology: Primary brand elements
Class 7 Brand morphology: Secondary brand elements
Class 8 Brand morphology: The stylistic repertory
Class 9 Second in-class tutorship
Class 10 Brand axiology: The brand contract
Class 11 Brand axiology: Brand ideologies
Class 12 Brand narratology: Functions and effects of brand storytelling
Class 13 Brand narratology: Designing effective brand stories
Class 14 Final presentations
Assessment
Assessment is based on both an individual written exam (50% of the final grade) and group assignments (50%).
Detailed evaluation criteria are set at the beginning of the course.
Peer evaluation will be granted upon request.
References
Articles
- Aaker, Jennifer (1997), Dimensions of brand personality, Journal of Marketing Research, XXXIV, 347-356.
- Aggarwal, Pankaj and Ann L. McGill (2012), When brands seem human, do humans act like brands? Automatic behaviornal priming effects of brand anthropomorphism, Journal of Consumer Research, 39, 307-323.
- Arvidsson, Adam and Alessandro Caliandro (2016), Brand public, Journal of Consumer Research, 42, 727-748.
- Borghini, Stefania et al. (2009), Why are themed brandstores so powerful? Retail brand ideology at American Girl place, Journal of Retailing, 85(3), 363-375.
- Diamond, Nina et al. (2009), American Girl and the brand gestalt: Closing the loop on sociocultural branding research, Journal of Marketing, 73, 118-134.
- Epley, Nicholas, Adam Waytz, and John T. Cacioppo (2007), On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism, Psychological Review, 114(4), 864-886.
- Holt, Douglas B. and Douglas Cameron (2012), Triumph of a better ideology, Market Leader, 1, 24-27.
- Muniz, Albert M. Jr. and Thomas C. O’Guinn (2001), Brand community, Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 412-432.
- Van Laer, Tom et al. (2014), The extended transportation-imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ narrative transportation, Journal of Consumer Research, 40(5), 797-817.
- Van Laer, Tom, Luca M. Visconti, and Stephanie Feiereisen, Need for narrative, Journal of Marketing Management, forthcoming.
Book - Keller, Kevin L. (2012), Strategic Brand Management, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, fourth edition, chapters 1; 2; 3; 4; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11.
- Visconti, Luca M. (forthcoming), Communicating luxury brands through stories,” in Felicitas Morhart, Sandor Czellar, and Keith Wilcox (eds.), Research Handbook on Luxury Branding, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Suggested book
- Holt, Douglas B. (2012), How Brands Become Icons, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, chapters 1 and 2.
Education
- Master of Science in Communication and Economics in Corporate Communication, Elective course, Elective Courses, 2nd year
- Master of Science in Communication and Economics in Marketing (until A.Y. 2017), Elective course, Elective Courses, 2nd year
- Master of Science in Digital Fashion Communication, Core course, Core Course, 1st year
