Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-12-2015
Abstract
Ad spending is expected to reach $545 billion by the end of 2014. Despite the tremendous resources allocated to marketing, brand deaths still occur (e.g., Oldsmobile, Trans World Airlines, Plymouth, and Woolworth Stores). Yet, some brands 60 years and older (e.g., John Deere) have remained relevant across generations of consumers. We call these heritage brands. We define a heritage brand as a brand that (1) is at least 60 years old, (2) is authentic, (3) is trusted, (4) has strong brand recognition, and (5) has the ability to generate brand stories. To date, no literature addresses the behaviors of leaders who influence the emotional connections between brands and consumers. To address this phenomenological gap, we conducted a qualitative inquiry involving semi-structured interviews with 34 executives who are leading or who have led heritage brands from the consumer goods and consumer packaged- goods industries. We found that leaders who exhibited the behaviors of emotional intelligence, hope, and social identity built stronger emotional connections between their brands and consumers, which led to sustainable brand growth. We believe these are important learnings for researchers and practitioners who seek to understand this phenomenon and position their brands for long-term sustainable growth.
Keywords
emotional intelligence, hope, social identity, emotional connections, brands, consumers, sustainable growth
Rights
© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Gifford, Roy, "The Road to 60 Years and Beyond: How the Emotions of a Leader Drive Sustainable Brand Growth" (2015). Student Scholarship. 481.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/481