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Abstract
In this paper a holistic model for internal brand management is presented. It is based on the identity-based brand management approach according to which a brand - just like a person - needs to have a consistent and continuous identity in order to be trusted. Focusing on the role of employees in ensuring consistency of the brand identity, two new behavioural constructs are developed. The first construct - brand citizenship behaviour - outlines what it means for employees to 'live the brand'. The second construct - brand commitment - explains the psychological processes that lead employees to show brand citizenship behaviour. Three key levers for generating brand commitment (brand-centred human resources management, brand communication and brand leadership) and four context factors (culture fit, structure fit, employee know-how and disposable resources) are illustrated as building blocks of internal brand management. The theoretical insights are complemented by many real-life examples extracted from in-depth interviews with brand managers and experts.
INTRODUCTION
When it comes to brand management, most people (practitioners and scientists alike) think of conducting market research, taking decisions about brand architecture or brand positioning, and managing advertising and media agencies. All this - if it is well done - will lead to high brand awareness among target customers and a compelling brand promise that target customers might even identify with. This is not enough, however, to generate customer trust or even loyalty towards the brand. Michael Maskus, Head of Group Marketing of the international financial services provider Allianz Group states 'You have to deliver what you promise.'
If the promise made in the brands advertising is not consistently kept in the customer brand experience along all customer-brand touch points, the credibility and the overall strength of the brand will suffer. This lack of consistency led the discount fashion retail brand C&A into a crisis. Their UK television ads asked viewers to 'discover the difference at C&A today'. Yet only a negative difference could be found: badly designed stores, low-quality unfashionable products and unfriendly personnel. As a result, disappointed customers denigrated the brand name C&A to 'cheap & awful'. In 2000, C&A closed all of its 130 stores in Great Britain. Similarly, in Germany where C&A made fancy cinema ads to target the young audience,...