Abstract
The Call for Papers of this Special Issue introduced its theme by saying that: ‘Increasing consumer power, accelerated by the meteoric rise of social media, threatens the foundations of branding’. This article examines the intellectual and operational conditions that created modern theories of marketing and branding to show that developments such as increasing consumer empowerment are not a threat to the foundations of branding. They are a threat to the foundations of an outdated and incoherent theory of branding: the persuasion paradigm, defined broadly here as the quest for the skills needed to ‘make the customer do what suits the interests of the business’. The article shows how, far from helping build brands, the persuasion paradigm has led marketers to misallocate resources, undermine customer trust and fail to recognise far-reaching changes in the marketing environment – especially the rise of a new and separate market for decision-support services; the market for ‘better decisions’ as well as ‘better products and services’. By discarding the persuasion paradigm and reorienting brands as information services, marketers can regain the high ground of consumer trust and value.
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Mitchell, A. McKitterick's Conundrum. J Brand Manag 20, 80–95 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2012.52
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2012.52