Brand Disruption: Decoding the Contingency of Clashing Stakeholders

The present research project aims to overcome conventional branding theories assuming brand meanings to be under exclusive control by the legal brand owners. Due to the utilization of a practice-theoretical perspective systematic understanding on how and why unintended brand meanings emerge is pursued. The two distinct brand cases Birkenstock and NewBalance are investigated to study the contingency of brand meaning co-optation and contestation. Marketers should be encouraged to detect and prevent momentous brand disruptions.