Brand transformation: a performative approach to brand regeneration

Abstract

Traditional brand management literature largely implies that the brand regeneration process is linear, atomistic and rather harmonic, thus reducing the complexity of the process to individual parts that can be managed rationally and logically in sequence. By ontologically as well as epistemologically adopting a performative approach where brands are seen as loose performative assemblages, the present article suggests instead that the brand regeneration process is truly processual, multiple and political. A specific brand regeneration process should be seen as relationally spatial and as only one of several possible ‘realities’. The argument is based on an analysis of a 5-year-long case study of the branding of Stockholm, inspired by a Latourian hybrid fieldwork approach. Based on the analysis, the novel concept ‘brand transformation’ is suggested to frame the characteristics and complexities of the brand regeneration process.

Keywords:

• brand regeneration
• brand transformation
• political
• processual
• multiple
• relational space
• performativity
• assemblage

Notes

¹ www.wired.cu.uk/magazine/archive/2013/11/european-startups/stockholm, Retrieved November 2013

² https://twitter.com/CityofSthlm, Retrieved June 2012

³ http://www.lostinsweden.com/showthread.php?t=7230, retrieved November 2011

⁴ www. alarmsthm.com, retrieved October 2011

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrea Lucarelli

Andrea Lucarelli is a PhD candidate at Stockholm University (Sweden). Whereas conceptually, his interest is located at the intersection between notion of space, time and politics, his main empirical research interest is related to the analysis of the consumption patterns and branding practices of territorial entities (regions and cities) and public and political entities (political parties and public administrations). Andrea adopts an interpretivist approach, and in his work, he is inspired by political and socio-spatial theories to conceptualise, explore and understand actual sociocultural and economic and political phenomena.

Anette Hallin

Anette Hallin (M.Ed., Ph.D.) is Associate Professor in Business Administration at Mälardalen University, Sweden. Her research interests lie in how organising takes place on a micro-level, through various forms of initiatives, for example brands. Key concepts in her work are performativity and materiality, and she is profoundly interested in the theoretical as well as methodological consequences of having a process philosophical view of the world. Empirically, her curiosity spans over a vast range of phenomena, from city branding, guided tours, temporary organizations (projects), eGovernment, entrepreneurship as well as the conditions for doing academic work.