FASHION
1. Brand attributes, including semiotics that convey fashion to consumers.
2. User-generated content in fashion and how it showcases brand attributes.
3. Brand personality of fashion products that resonate with consumers.
4. Celebrity endorsers and how they corroborate the brand personality of fashion products.
5. Consumer motivations and desire for fashion brands.
6. Pre-loved fashion brands and what drives their purchase.
7. fashion products and their fulfillment of consumer happiness.
8. Hedonic and eudaimonic appeals of fashion brands.
9. New concepts of pursuing satisfaction or happiness in acquiring fashion brands.
10. Contemporary approaches to the ethical consumption of fashion products.
SOCIAL MARKETING
BRAND INCLUSIVITY
1. How can brands become more inclusive for diverse groups of consumers and other
stakeholders?
2. Which are the dimensions of brand inclusivity? How can one operationalize brand
inclusivity?
3. What are the most appropriate theoretical lenses and methods to study the concept of
brand inclusivity?
4. Which are the steps and the process for designing a brand to be more inclusive?
5. How can brand managers strategize to increase consumer perceptions of equality,
diversity and inclusivity in the marketplace?
6. Inclusivity as the new exclusivity and the role of brand inclusivity in a luxury context.
7. How can luxury brands balance and strategize between becoming more inclusive while
maintaining their rarity / exclusivity?
8. The role of digital ownership in making brands more accessible to consumers and
creating digital brand inclusivity. Does owning digital assets make consumers feel closer
to the brand and as part of the brand community?
9. The intersections of cocreation and inclusivity – How do different cocreation practices
and strategies with various stakeholders affect brands’ perceived inclusivity among
consumers?
10. How does brand inclusivity affect consumer-based brand equity and brand meaning?
11. The relationship between brand personality and brand inclusivity – How does brand
personality affect consumers’ perceptions of inclusivity?
12. Brand inclusivity and brand communities – What role do brand communities play in
promoting or, on the contrary, obstructing brands’ efforts towards inclusivity?
13. Which are the reputational and financial risks for brands that are becoming more
inclusive?
-List of Topic Areas
The special issue will cover the following topic areas:
1. Conceptualizing and operationalizing brand inclusivity, its nature and dimensions.
2. Understanding the steps and process for brands to become more inclusive for a diverse
group of consumers as well as risks and challenges from brand inclusivity.
3. Exploring the interplay between inclusivity and exclusivity/rarity for luxury brands.
4. Different cocreation strategies and brand inclusivity.
5. The relationship between brand inclusivity and brand personality, consumer-based brand
equity and brand meaning in B2B and B2c markets.
6. Brand communities and brand inclusivity.
INTERPRETIVE APPROACHES TO BRANDING
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.
1. Algorithmic branding: branded service platforms and algorithms (Carah 2017; Kozinets
2022)
2. Branding at the bottom of the pyramid (Arnould and Press 2019; Gisler and Veresiu
2014; Cova, Barès, and Nemani 2021)
3. The social life of brands (Molander, Ostberg, and Peñaloza 2023; Närvänen and Goulding
2016; O'Sullivan, Richardson, and Collins 2011)
4. Diasporas and brand hijacks (Cova 2022; Cova and Paranaque 2016; Rokka and
Canniford 2016)
5. Brands at the theater/TV (Takhar, Maclaran, and Stevens 2012; Cooper, Schembri, and
Miller 2010; Burgess and Joones 2023)
6. Brand hate and brand repulsion (Østergaard, Hermansen, and Fitchett 2015; Sharma, Jain,
and Behl 2022; Holt 2002)
7. Cultural branding and beyond (Vredeveld and Coulter 2019; Wilson and Kiu 2011)
8. Brand activism and cause co-optation (Milfeld and Flint 2021; Sobande 2020)
9. Global, local, glocal (Kashif and Udunuwara 2023; Schmidt-Devlin, Özsomer, and
Newmeyer 2022)
10. Brands and young consumers (Thomas, White, and Samuel 2021; Hémar-Nicolas and
Rodhain 2017)
11. Celebrity and personal branding (Kerrigan, Brownlie, Hewer, and Daza-LeTouze 2011;
Eagar, Lindridge, and Martin 2022; Eagar and Dann 2016)