Title: Sustaining the brand idea in electronic environments
Authors: Tobias Kollmann, Christina Suckow
Addresses: Department of Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitatsstr. 9, 45141 Essen, Germany. ' Department of Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitatsstr. 9, 45141 Essen, Germany
Abstract: In addition to the functional value of a brand, the academic branding literature also emphasises the symbolic function of a brand. The importance of emotional values is often stressed by the necessity to create strong customer-brand relationships for building brand equity. Since the brand is a universal concept regardless of its setting, the need for achieving emotional attachment also holds for e-brands. In the upcoming e-branding literature, however, this aspect of emotional bonding is often neglected. The paper analyses how the electronic environment has an influence on the affectivity of brands to show what challenges companies have to overcome in order to successfully build emotional e-brands.
Keywords: e-branding; emotions; internet; brand equity; electronic branding; emotional values; customer-brand relationships; emotional bonding; emotional e-brands.
International Journal of Business Environment, 2008 Vol.2 No.2, pp.153 - 167
Published online: 14 Jul 2008 *
Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article