Advances in Branding Research Cluster (ABRC)
The Advances in Branding Research Cluster (ABRC) connects thought leaders in branding research and advances the branding discipline within and beyond Copenhagen Business School.
About ABRC
The Advances in Branding Research Cluster (ABRC) is guided by a clear mission and vision that centre on connecting branding researchers and advancing the branding discipline.
Mission
Connecting thought leaders in branding research to jointly advance the discipline.
Vision
The Cluster aims to be a hub that attracts and connects branding researchers within the Department, across Copenhagen Business School, and across institutional and disciplinary borders nationally and internationally.
By connecting thought leaders in the discipline, the Cluster facilitates international research discourse and stimulates state-of-the-art branding research. The Cluster welcomes diverse ontological, epistemological, and methodological perspectives as long as they contribute to advancing the branding discipline.
The Cluster builds on existing approaches to branding research while transcending conventional assumptions. The aim is to contribute new insights and critical reflections that advance branding theory and help understand and address the new realities facing branding practice.
Focal areas of research interest and activity
Co-creation of Brand Tangibles and Intangibles
Research on co-creation of brand tangibles and intangibles focuses on the co-construction and co-destruction of tangible and intangible brand assets in collaborative efforts between multiple stakeholders.
The co-creation perspective challenges the existing hegemony in the brand management literature, which sees brands and their meanings as the prerogative of brand managers and their agencies.
The research conducted in the Cluster investigates how the co-construction and co-destruction of brands and their meanings take place through dynamic processes and relationships within the stakeholder eco-system.
Co-creation processes influence both brands and stakeholders and unfold within social, cultural, political, and economic contexts.
The emerging nature of this research area is reflected in its representation in top marketing journals such as Journal of Academy of Marketing Science and Journal of Business Research, and in related work in consumer behaviour published in Journal Citations Report and co-creation studies published in Journal of Marketing.
Influencer Branding
Research on influencer branding examines the emerging branding phenomenon in which humans brand themselves within new types of eco-systems.
Influencer marketing and branding draw on notions of human and person branding, where self-presentation and consumer–brand relations are important elements of this field.
Cluster research approaches influencer branding as a practice that challenges conventional branding, since individuals function as brands in their own right.
The research track studies how this practice emerges and what consequences it has for understanding branding work.
The novel and current nature of this research is reflected in publications in Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Journal of Marketing.
The Brand Strategy–Consumer Interface
Research on the brand strategy–consumer interface investigates how consumers respond to different brand strategies, including brand communications, use of personal information, and crises caused by algorithmic versus human error.
The research adopts multiple methods, including experimental approaches and analyses of secondary data.
Related studies have been published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, and Psychology & Marketing.
Brand Ethicality
Research on brand ethicality examines the antecedents and consequences of customer perceptions of brand ethicality across service industries such as banking, insurance, and financial services.
Cluster work also studies ethical implications of brand co-creation processes, including the co-creation of brand offerings and brand identity.
Further research examines ethicality in influencer contexts.
The area adopts both qualitative and quantitative methods, and related studies are published in Journal of Business Ethics.
Research at ABRC
Research focus (Panel content)
High-quality research is central to the Cluster’s work. ABRC publishes in leading journals, participates in international conferences, and engages in joint research projects with international collaborators. The research environment is open and international.
The Cluster balances publication in AJG 4 and 4* journals with impact in journals with high h-scores. Research findings are also disseminated to practitioners through practitioner-oriented outlets.
The Cluster engages the international research community through joint publications and research fora and involves selected partners in funding applications that support research teams, including early-career researchers.
Research from ABRC has appeared in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and Psychology & Marketing.
Collaboration (Panel content)
Internal collaboration and engagement with academic and business communities are central to the Cluster’s ambition. Research areas link to networks of international scholars in branding and related fields, to other research clusters at the Department, and to industry partners.
Seminars, network events, brown-bag meetings, and book projects support research dialogue, practitioner involvement, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Long-term relationships are sustained across CBS and with external partners.
PhD environment (Panel content)
The Cluster provides a supportive environment for Ph.D. students and has a strong supervision track record. International research networks support Ph.D. exchanges and welcome visiting Ph.D. students at CBS.
Activities include internal brown-bag meetings, facilitation of the Brand Meaning Research Network, identification of collaboration partners, and hosting academic visitors at all levels.
The Cluster contributes to new research-education initiatives, including developing a Ph.D. course in branding at CBS together with international partners.
Publications (Panel content)
This tab presents top publications related to the Cluster’s research and reflects contributions to branding, consumer behaviour, business ethics, industrial marketing, and related fields.
- Beverland, M.B., Lindgreen, A., & Vink, M.W. (2008). Projecting authenticity through advertising: consumer judgment of advertisers’ claims. Journal of Advertising, 37(1), 5–15. Lead article.
- Beverland, M.B., Napoli, J., & Lindgreen, A. (2007). Industrial global brand leadership: a capabilities view. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(8), 1084–1093.
- Braun, E., Eshuis, J., Klijn, E. H., & Zenker, S. (2018). Improving place reputation: Do an open place brand process and an identity-image match pay off?. Cities, 80, 22-28.
- Dickinson–Delaporte, S., Beverland, M.B., & Lindgreen, A. (2010). Building corporate reputation with stakeholders: exploring the role of message ambiguity for social marketers. European Journal of Marketing, 44(11/12), 1856–1874.
- Erfgen, C., Zenker, S., & Sattler, H. (2015). The vampire effect: When do celebrity endorsers harm brand recall? International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32(2), 155-163.
- Erz, A. & Heeris Christensen, A.-B. (2018). Transforming consumers into brands: tracing transformation processes of the practice of blogging. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 43(3), 69–82.
- Gyrd-Jones, R.I. & Kornum, N. (2013). Managing the co-created brand: value and cultural complementarity in online and offline multi-stakeholder ecosystems. Journal of Business Research, 66(9), 1484–1493.
- Gyrd-Jones, R.I., Helm, C., & Munk, J. (2013). Exploring the impact of silos in achieving brand orientation. Journal of Marketing Management, 9(9–10), 1056–1078.
- Gyrd-Jones, R.I., Merrilees, B., & Miller, D. (2013). Revisiting the complexities of corporate branding: issues, paradoxes and solutions. Journal of Brand Management, 20, 571–589.
- Iglesias, O., Markovic, S., Bagherzadeh, M., & Singh, J.J. (2020). Co-creation: a key link between corporate social responsibility, customer trust, and customer loyalty. Journal of Business Ethics, 163(1), 151–166.
- Jiménez-Barreto, J., Loureiro, S., Braun, E., Erose, S., & Zenker, S. (2021). Use numbers not words! Communicating hotels’ cleaning programs for COVID-19 from the brand perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 102872.
- Koch, C. & Gyrd-Jones, R.I. (2019). Corporate brand positioning in complex industrial firms: introducing a dynamic, process approach to positioning. Industrial Marketing Management, 81. 40–53.
- Koll, O. & von Wallpach, S. (2014). Intended brand associations: do they really drive consumer response? Journal of Business Research, 67(7), 1501–1507.
- Koll, O., von Wallpach, S., & Kreuzer, M. (2010). Multi-method research on consumer-brand associations: comparing free associations, storytelling, and collages. Psychology & Marketing, 27(6), 584–602. Award winning!
- Kornum, N., Gyrd-Jones, R., Al Zagir, N., & Brandis, K.A. (2017). Interplay between intended brand identity and identities in a Nike related brand community: co-existing synergies and tensions in a nested system. Journal of Business Research, 70, 432–440.
- Kreuzer, M., Mühlbacher, H., & von Wallpach, S. (2018). Home in the re-making: immigrants' transcultural experiencing of home. Journal of Business Research, 91 (October), 334–341. Award winning!
- Leban, M., Uth Thomsen, T., von Wallpach, S., & Voyer, B.G. (forthcoming). Constructing personas: how high-net-worth social media influencers reconcile ethicality and living a luxury lifestyle. Journal of Business Ethics.
- Lindgreen, A., Beverland, M.B., & Farrelly, F. (2010). From strategy to tactics: building, implementing, and managing brand equity in business markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(8), 1223–1225.
- Lindgreen, A., Xu, Y., Maon, F., & Wilcock, J. (2012). Corporate social responsibility brand leadership: a multiple case study. European Journal of Marketing, 46(7/8), 965–993.
- Markovic, S., Jovanovic, M., Bagherzadeh, M., Sancha, C., Sarafinovska, M., & Qiu, Y. (2020). Priorities when selecting business partners for service innovation: the contingency role of product innovation. Industrial Marketing Management, 88, 378–388.
- Markovic, S., Bagherzadeh, M., Dubiel, A., Cheng, J., & Vanhaverbeke, W. (2020). Do not miss the boat to outside-in open innovation: enable your employees. Industrial Marketing Management, 91, 152–161.
- Markovic, S., Iglesias, O., Singh, J.J., & Sierra, V. (2018). How does the perceived ethicality of corporate services brands influence loyalty and positive word-of-mouth? Analyzing the roles of empathy, affective commitment, and perceived quality. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(4), 721–740.
- Nedergaard, N. & Gyrd-Jones, R.I. (2013). Sustainable brand-based innovation: the role of corporate brands in driving sustainable innovation. Journal of Brand Management, 20(9), 762–778.
- Reast, J., Lindgreen, A., Vanhamme, J., & Maon, F. (2010). The Manchester super casino: experience and learning in a cross-sector social partnerships. Journal of Business Ethics, 94(Suppl. 1), 197–218.
- Reast, J., Maon, F., Lindgreen, A., & Vanhamme, J. (2013). Legitimacy-seeking organizational strategies in controversial industries: a case study and a bidimensional model. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(1), 139–153.
- Sarial-Abi, G., Merdin, E., & Gurhan-Canli, Z. (2020). Responses to replica (vs. genuine) touristic experiences. Annals of Tourism Research.
- Sarial-Abi, G., Vohs, K.D., Hamilton, R., & Ulqinaku, A. (2017). Stitching time: vintage consumption connects the past, present, and future. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 27(2), 182–194.
- Sarial-Abi, G., Gürhan-Canli, Z., Kumkale, T., & Yoon, Y. (2016). The effect of self-concept clarity on discretionary spending tendency. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(3), 612–623.
- Sela, A., Wheeler, S.C., & Sarial-Abi, G. (2012). We are not the same as you and I: causal effects of minor language variations on consumers’ attitudes toward brands. Journal of Consumer Research, 39 (October), 629–643.
- Törmälä, M. & Gyrd-Jones, R.I. (2017). Development of new B2B venture corporate brand identity: a narrative performance approach. Industrial Marketing Management, 65, 76–85.
- Ulqinaku, A. & Sarial-Abi, G. (2020). Tourism implications of online response to terrorism. Annals of Tourism Research.
- Vallaster, C. & Lindgreen, A. (2011). Corporate brand strategy formation: brand actors and the situational context for a business-to-business brand. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(7), 1133–1143.
- Vallaster, C. & Lindgreen, A. (2013). The role of social interactions in building internal corporate brands: implications for sustainability. Journal of World Business, 48(3), 297–310.
- Vallaster, C. & von Wallpach, S. (2013). An online discursive inquiry into the social dynamics of multi-stakeholder brand meaning co-creation. Journal of Business Research, 66(9), 1505–1515.
- Vallaster, C. & von Wallpach, S. (2018). Brand strategy co-creation in a nonprofit context: a strategy-as-practice approach. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 47(5), 984–1006.
- Vallaster, C., von Wallpach, S., & Zenker, S. (2018). The interplay between urban policies and grassroots city brand co-creation and co-destruction during the refugee crisis: insights from the city brand Munich (Germany). Cities, 80(10), 53–60.
- Vallaster, C., von Wallpach, S., & Zenker, S. (2018). The interplay between urban policies and grassroots city brand co-creation and co-destruction during the refugee crisis: Insights from the city brand Munich (Germany). Cities, 80, 53-60.
- von Wallpach, S. & Kreuzer, M. (2013). Multi-sensory sculpting (MSS): eliciting embodied brand knowledge via multi-sensory metaphors. Journal of Business Research, 66(9), 1325–1331. Award winning!
- von Wallpach, S., Hemetsberger, A., & Espersen, P. (2017). Performing identities: processes of brand and stakeholder identity co-construction. Journal of Business Research, 70C, 443–452.
- von Wallpach, S., Voyer, B., Kastanakis, M., & Mühlbacher, H. (2017). Co-creating stakeholder and brand identities: introduction to the special section. Journal of Business Research, 70C, 395–398.
- Wider, S., von Wallpach, S., & Mühlbacher, H. (2018). Brand management: unveiling the delusion of control. European Management Journal, 36(3), 301–305.
- Yoon, Y., Sarial-Abi, G., & Gürhan-Canli, Z. (2012). Effect of regulatory focus on selective information processing. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(1), 93–110.
- Zenker, S., von Wallpach, S., Braun, E., & Vallaster, C. (2019). How the refugee crisis impacts the decision structure of tourists: a cross-country scenario study. Tourism Management, 71(April), 197–212.
- Zenker, S. & Braun, E. (2017). Questioning a “one size fits all” city brand: Developing a branded house strategy for place brand management. Journal of Place Management and Development. 10(3), 270-287.
- Zenker, S., Braun, E., & Petersen, S. (2017). Branding the destination versus the place: The effects of brand complexity and identification for residents and visitors. Tourism Management, 58(February), 15-27.
Members at ABRC
Other members
Francisco Escobar, Post Doc
Affiliates
Affiliated members
Ulun Akturan, Professor, Galatasaray Üniversitesi
Cátia Alves, PhD Fellow, Nova School of Business & Economics
Maja Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Associate Professor, University of Sarajevo
Omid Asgari, PhD Fellow, Nova School of Business & Economics
Fabienne Berger-Remy, Associate Professor, IAE Paris (Sorbonne)
Jon Bertilsson, Associate Professor, Lund University
Michael Beverland, Professor, University of Bath
Irene Consiglio, Assistant Professor, Nova School of Business & Economics
Vesna Damnjanovic, Professor, University of Belgrade
Catherine da Silveira, Assistant Professor, Nova School of Business & Economics
Chananan Dechadilok, PhD Fellow, Nova School of Business & Economics
Anna Dubiel, Assistant Professor, King’s Business School
Francisco Guzman, Professor, University of North Texas
Andrea Hemetsberger, Professor, University of Innsbruck
Oriol Iglesias, Associate Professor, ESADE
Nicholas Ind, Professor, Oslo School of Management
Minas Kastanakis, Professor, ESCP Europe
Eric Kennedy, Assistant Professor, Grand Valley State University
George Christodoulides, Professor, American University of Sharjah
Nikolina KoporcicN, Assistant Professor, Nottingham Business School
Sofia Kousi, Assistant Professor, Nova School of Business & Economics
Carmen Lages, Associate Professor, Nova School of Business & Economics
Andrea Lucarelli, Associate Professor, Stockholm University
Hans Mühlbacher, Professor, International University of Monaco
Yuqian Qiu, PhD Fellow, ESADE
Anne Rindell, Associate Professor, Hanken School of Economics
Saila Saraniemi, Professor, Oulu University
Stefan Markovic, Professor, NEOMA Business School
Cláudia Simões, Associate Professor, University of Minho
Mats Urde, Associate Professor, Lund University
Christine Vallaster, Professor, Salzburg University of Applied Science
Benjamin Voyer, Professor, ESCP Europe
Research partners
Zeynep Gürhan-Canli, Professor, Koc University
Jeff Inman, Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Yuri Seo, Associate Professor, University of Auckland
Raji Srinivasan, Professor, University of Texas at Austin
Aulona Ulqinaku, Assistant Professor, Leeds University