Ingredient branding: Perspectives and problems of brand development in business to business and enduser relations

Abstract

In the following contribution, we examine ingredient branding as an increasingly widespread form of market communication. Ingredient branding can be defined as “strategic branding for production goods such as components, raw materials, auxiliary materials and substances … which later form part of an end product.” Ingredient branding therefore aims at the “promotion of a brand within a brand to the enduser.” Currently, this is not yet a very common marketing concept, but it is becoming increasingly important. It can be considered as belonging to business-to-business marketing or the consumer goods marketing field. On the basis of the Agency Theory we show that one important prerequisite for a successful implementation of ingredient branding is the appropriate design of the exchange relationships between cooperation partners of consecutive levels in the market and value chain. The point of departure here is mainly the incentive and controlling systems which govern the behavior of companies cooperating in ingredient branding. We demonstrate other prerequisites and success factors for successful ingredient branding concepts with the aid of well-known examples, such as the Intel Inside or the NutraSweet campaigns.

Citation

Theile, K. and Burr, W. (2001), "Ingredient branding: Perspectives and problems of brand development in business to business and enduser relations", Woodside, A.G. (Ed.) Getting Better at Sensemaking (Advances in Business Marketing and Purchasing, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 443-465. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1069-0964(00)09016-5