Brand Society
How Brands Transform Management and Lifestyle

A fascinating account of the way in which brands influence the lives of individuals and the organizations they work in.

Martin Kornberger (Author)

9780521726900, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 January 2010

330 pages, 1 b/w illus.
24.6 x 17.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.64 kg

'What a relief. No dreadful pie charts, no appalling corporate speak, very little pretentious academic jargon. An intelligent, well-informed book from someone who understands that brands and branding are intrinsic to the human condition and didn't float over to Europe from the United States on a sea of Procter and Gamble detergent bubbles sometime in the 1960s.' Market Leader

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.

Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA]