Corporate brands and social brands: co-branding GM-free and UK supermarkets

摘要

In this paper, we introduce the concept of 'social brands' and examine the potential for co-branding between corporate brands and social brands to enhance or damage the value of corporate brands. Co-branding has been theorized in terms of the relationship between the brands of organizations, products, and services. However, from a discourse perspective, issues may also be understood to function as what we term 'social brands' that may be incorporated in a co-branding strategy. We deploy Leitch and Richardson's (2003) brand web model to analyze the potential benefits and dangers of forming co-branded relationships with social brands. We draw on the case of co-branding between UK supermarket brands and the GM-free social brand to investigate this relationship in practice.