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2023/2024  KAN-CCMVV1017U  New Frontiers in Branding: From static to dynamic branding approaches (online course)

English Title
New Frontiers in Branding: From static to dynamic branding approaches (online course)

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Second Quarter
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 100
Study board
Study Board for cand.merc. and GMA (CM)
Course coordinator
  • Sylvia von Wallpach - Department of Marketing (Marketing)
Main academic disciplines
  • Communication
  • Marketing
Teaching methods
  • Online teaching
Last updated on 15-02-2023

Relevant links
Learning objectives
The course supports students in understanding the evolution from static to more dynamic branding approaches. Students will learn to understand brands as complex, dynamic phenomena and will be provided with theoretical and methodological input to deal with this complexity. The course helps students (a) to enhance their ability of expressing themselves academically and (b) equips them with relevant deep business knowledge for pursuing a career as “state of the art” marketing manager or communications expert.

At the end of the course, the excellent student should be able to
  • Understand, critically reflect upon and contrast conventional static with dynamic branding approaches based on concepts, models and theories introduced in the course
  • Identify and apply appropriate research methods for studying brands as dynamic phenomena
  • Identify and critically discuss practical implications and limitations of dynamic branding approaches
  • Based on a portfolio of online own contributions, demonstrate the ability to reflect on own activities, interactions and related learnings throughout the course and argue for their substantiveness and relevance for solving the exam case
  • Present a clear and coherent argument for the choice of relevant concepts, theories, and models and follow academic conventions in written presentations
Course prerequisites
Due to overlap the course is closed for cand.merc.BCM students.
Examination
New Frontiers in Branding: From static to dynamic branding approaches:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Assignment type Project
Release of assignment The Assignment is released in Digital Exam (DE) at exam start
Duration 2 weeks to prepare
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Please note that the assessment will partly be made based on the student’s online activities/interactions made throughout the teaching period of the course. It will not be possible to make new online contributions. However, if the student – in accordance with the CBS rules on make-up exams – has documented that illness during the teaching period has resulted in his/her not making any online contributions during the teaching period, the student will be given the opportunity to make online contributions prior to the re-exam.
Description of the exam procedure

Note that online activities and interactions posted on Canvas throughout the course form part of the basis for the assessment, as stated in the learning objectives.

 
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

In today’s business environment brand management is no longer in the position to unilaterally “manage” brands while perceiving consumers and other brand-interested stakeholders (e.g., employees, investors, or suppliers) as passive recipients of brand messages. Empowered by new social media, brand-interested stakeholders actively contribute to brands that affect their personal lives.

 

This course confronts student with this new complex branding reality, in which brands can no longer be “managed” in the conventional sense, and prepares students for successfully operating and competing under these new conditions.

 

The course reviews conventional static branding approaches and supports students in understanding the recent evolution towards a more dynamic, process-oriented understanding of brands. Students will be provided with theoretical input which helps them making sense of brands as complex social phenomena in constant flux. For this purpose, interdisciplinary insights (e.g., from philosophy and organization theory) into process theories will be provided; formerly static brand-related concepts will be discussed from a dynamic perspective (e.g., brand knowledge / meaning, brand identity, brand manifestations, etc.); relevant concepts like multi-stakeholder brand co-creation and social brand discourse will be introduced.

 

Furthermore, this course will provide students with methodological input, which supports them in gaining empirical insights into and a deep understanding of brands as complex social phenomena (e.g., netnographic methods, observation, discourse analysis).

 

The theoretical and methodological discussion will be complemented with input from managers who are confronted with this “new branding reality” on an everyday basis and have developed successful ways to deal with this complexity.
Description of the teaching methods
This is a fully online course. The course will run over 8 weeks. The course will consist of asynchronous and/or synchronous online lectures, asynchronous and/or synchronous online discussions, quizzes and individual and/or group assignments. Research articles on the specific topics will be assigned for reading during the quarter. They will also build the foundation on which we will discuss cases online, and they provide the necessary knowledge to work with home assignments. The lecturer will be available for asynchronous and/or synchronous online discussions throughout the 8 weeks in which the course runs. Note that online activities and interactions posted on Learn throughout the course form part of the basis for the assessment, as stated in the learning objectives. No contributions will be accepted after the 8th week of the course.
Feedback during the teaching period
Students will get the chance to regularly participate in assignments throughout the course and will receive individual or general feedback on these assignments. Furthermore, students can make use of office hours. General feedback regarding the exam will be provided.
Student workload
Preparation 123 hours
Teaching 33 hours
Exam 50 hours
Further Information

Online course
Expected literature

Indicative literature (more literature will be announced upon enrollment):

  1. Aaker, J.L. (1997), Dimensions of Brand Personality, Journal of Marketing Research, 34 (3), pp. 347–356.
  2. Fournier, S. (1998), Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research, 24 (4), pp. 343-353.
  3. Hatch, M.J. and M. Schultz (2010), Toward a Theory of Brand Co-creation with Implications for Brand Governance, Journal of Brand Management, 17 (8), pp. 590-604.
  4. Holt, D.B. (2002), Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectic Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding, Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (1), pp. 70-90.
  5. Keller, K.L. (1993), Conceptualizing, Measuring and Managing Customer-based Brand Equity, Journal of Marketing, 57 (January), pp. 1-22.
  6. Louro M.J. and P.V. Cunha (2001), Brand Management Paradigms, Journal of Marketing Management, 17, pp. 849-875.
  7. Merz, M., He, Y., and S.L. Vargo (2009), The Evolving Brand Logic: A Service-dominant Logic Perspective, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 37 (3), pp. 328-344.
  8. Muñiz Jr., A. M., and T. C. O'Guinn (2001), Brand Community, Journal of Consumer Research, 27 (4), pp. 412-432.
  9. Urde, M. (2013), The Corporate Brand Identity Matrix, Journal of Brand Management, 20 (9), pp. 742-761.
  10. Vallaster, C. and S. von Wallpach (2013), An Online Discursive Inquiry into the Social Dynamics of Multi-stakeholder Brand Meaning Co-creation, Journal of Business Research, Special Issue on Virtual Dialogue, 66 (9), pp. 1505-1515.

  11. von Wallpach, S., Voyer, B., Kastankis, M., and Mühlbacher, H. (2017). Co-creating stakeholder and brand identities: Introduction to the special section. Journal of Business Research, 70 (January), pp. 395 – 398. 
Last updated on 15-02-2023