Emerging metaphors in brand management: towards a relational approach
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe, analyse, and understand the emerging metaphors in brand management in the context of service brands.
Design/methodology/approach
This article takes the form of a conceptual study.
Findings
The silence metaphor illustrates the product paradigm and the monologue metaphor describes the projective paradigm. The listening metaphor demonstrates the adaptive paradigm and finally, the dialogue metaphor depicts the relational paradigm.
Research limitations/implications
The traditional understanding of service branding neglects a key characteristic of services – the fact that services are processes – and this neglect causes the crucial role of dialogue with the customer in service delivery to be relatively overlooked. There is an emerging need to move towards a relational approach in brand management.
Practical implications
Service brands continuously develop as the customer relates to the flow of communication in the form of diverse brand messages. These brand messages come from contact personnel, from physical product elements in the service process, and from various planned and unplanned communication messages.
Originality/value
The importance of creating brands in service offerings has become apparent, and communication issues in branding have become extremely vital for service firms. By creating dialogue in brand relationships, the customer is given an active role in service branding.
Keywords
Citation
Tuominen, P. (2007), "Emerging metaphors in brand management: towards a relational approach", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 182-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/13632540710747398
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited