Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

complicated work method. The brand manager needs to gain a deep insight into
cultural issues in society and be able to use this insight to perform brand myths
connecting to the most important cultural contradictions of the time.
Insights from this approach can also be used to become aware of the importance
of monitoring if the brand is being subjected to criticism or even ‘culture
jamming’. This can be an early warning sign of a branding strategy losing its
appeal or a pressure towards displaying more corporate social responsibility.
The implications of the citizen-artist brand prospect should also be taken into
consideration by brand managers.

Theory

Managerial

implications

Assumptions

Methods and data

Figure 10.10Managerial implications of the cultural approach

The cultural approach 235

Comments from the ‘founding fathers’ (6)

Cultural branding

Douglas B. Holt, Saïd Business School, Oxford University

I developed the cultural branding model to explain how brand symbolism

works. I’m also concerned with how brand symbolism influences other

dimensions of the brand such as perceived quality, distinctive benefits, and

trust (Holt 2002). Conventional theories of branding do a particularly poor

job of theorizing brand symbolism (Holt 2005). So I’ve spent the last decade

conducting research to address this gap.

Conventional brand theories have yoked brand symbolism to the dominant

psychological models without considering its distinctive qualities. This is a