Brands as Hyper-Organic Beings — Introducing a Sociological Gestalt To Brand Metaphor Discourse

The absence of a widely accepted definition of the term “brand” is seriously hindering the future development of research in this area (e.g. Balmer 2001; Barnett et al. 2006; Brown et al. 2006; Dobni and Zinkhan 1990; Giesler and Venkatesh 2005; Jevons and Gabbott 2008). It is also impeding the future development of marketing and brand management practice (e.g. Abratt 1989; Ambler 2000; Burmann and Riley 2008; de Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley 1998a, 1998b). Metaphors are helpful for expressing ideas about brands and therefore advancing our understanding of them.(de Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley 1997, 1998b).Yet, research on brand metaphors (Davies and Chun 2003; Fournier 1998; Hanby 1999; Stern 2006) is still very limited.