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Sylvia von Wall­pach

Professor mso

Subjects
Branding Consumer behaviour Marketing Social responsibility Well-being Qualitative methods

Primary research areas

Brand co-cre­ation & so­ci­ety
Brands are no longer cre­ated by com­pan­ies. In in­ter­con­nec­ted busi­ness and in­sti­tu­tion­al en­vir­on­ments, brands are co-cre­ated through the joint ef­forts of a mul­ti­tude of stake­hold­ers. Brands thus be­come part of a broad­er so­ci­et­al dis­course. How do brand co-cre­ation pro­cesses in­volving mul­tiple so­ci­et­al act­ors un­fold and how can they be re­spons­ibly man­aged?
So­cially re­spons­ible brand­ing 
Cor­por­ate brands are not only im­port­ant play­ers in the mar­ket­place, but also in so­ci­ety at large. Through their ac­tions, they can sig­nal sup­port for cer­tain pub­lic causes, and im­pact so­ci­ety by in­tro­du­cing new forms of be­ha­vi­or, be­liefs, and val­ues. With power comes respons­ibility: How can brands con­trib­ute to de­sir­able so­ci­et­al change?
Con­sumer well­being & brand re­la­tion­ships
In an ever-ac­cel­er­ated world char­ac­ter­ized by over­con­sump­tion, mean­ing­ful con­sump­tion ex­per­i­ences are dif­fi­cult to achieve, and con­sumer well­being is of­ten com­prom­ised. How do con­sumers cope with this new real­ity - even­tu­ally sup­por­ted by their brand re­la­tion­ships?
Ex­per­i­en­tial lux­ury & brands
Lux­ury ex­per­i­ences are now the key drivers of lux­ury mar­ket growth. Con­ven­tion­al un­der­stand­ings of lux­ury as status con­sump­tion of tan­gible goods no longer do justice to this new real­ity. In­stead, we need to un­der­stand how con­sumers may ex­per­i­ence, give, pro­duce, or share lux­ury (brands); and how these ex­per­i­ences cre­ate mean­ing for con­sumers.

Brand­ing for a bet­ter world

I’m motivated by the transformative potential of brands — not as mere commercial entities, but as cultural agents. I believe that when brands act responsibly and engage authentically with societal issues, they can be powerful vehicles for positive change.  

My research thus sheds light on the evolving role of brands in shaping societal values, identities, and behaviors. By exploring themes like brand co-creation, socially responsible branding, and consumer wellbeing, I aim to foster more ethical, inclusive, and meaningful brand and consumption practices. 

Ultimately, my vision is to help redefine the role of branding in a way that integrates commercial success with social good. 

Publications

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2025

Innehalten

Practices of Routinizing Consumer Deceleration

Andrea Hemetsberger

Katharina C. Husemann

Syl­via von Wall­pach, Professor mso

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2024

Business Education in the 21st Century

Developing Discipline Competences and Transformation Capabilities

Eleri Rosier

Adam Lind­gre­en, Professor

An­to­nia Erz, Associate Professor

Ben Marder

Syl­via von Wall­pach, Professor mso

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Recent research projects

Di­git­al af­ter­life

Di­git­al af­ter­life prac­tices carry sig­ni­fic­ant im­plic­a­tions for in­di­vidu­als and so­ci­ety at large. This re­search aims to ini­ti­ate an eth­ic­al dis­cus­sion about the com­mer­cial­iz­a­tion of di­git­al af­ter­life.
Funding from the Inge Lehmann Program 2023

Con­sumer de­cel­er­a­tion

How do con­sumers prac­tice de­cel­er­a­tion in an ever-ac­cel­er­ated world, char­ac­ter­ized by cease­less ac­cel­er­a­tion and prob­lem­at­ic over­con­sump­tion?

Per­spect­ives on brand co-cre­ation

This pro­ject brings to­geth­er dif­fer­ent the­or­et­ic­al per­spect­ives on brand co-cre­ation and dis­cusses their prac­tic­al ap­plic­ab­il­ity and eth­ic­al im­plic­a­tions.
Research Handbook on Brand Co-Creation

Con­cep­tu­al­iz­ing un­con­ven­tion­al lux­ury

This spe­cial is­sue moves bey­ond the clas­sic­al idea of lux­ury as con­sump­tion of con­spicu­ous products and brands, and in­cludes a fo­cus on how con­sumers ex­per­i­ence, give, pro­duce, or share lux­ury.
Special issue on Conceptualizing unconventional luxury