Correspondence: George Christodoulides, The Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, University House, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)121 414 8343; Fax: +44 (0)121 414 7791; E-mail: G.Christodoulides@bham.ac.uk

¹is a lecturer in Marketing at Birmingham Business School. He recently received his PhD in Brand Marketing from the University of Birmingham. His doctoral research involved the development and validation of an equity scale for brands operating in electronic markets. This was funded by the Chartered Institute of Marketing through the 2002 Research Initiative on E-Marketing. He has published in European and American scholarly journals such as the Journal of Marketing Management, Service Industries Journal and Journal of Product & Brand Management.His current research focuses on brand equity measurement, interactive branding and brand relationships. Dr Christodoulides is co-editor with Professor de Chernatony of a forthcoming special issue of the European Journal of Marketing on Brand Management.

Received 20 October 2007; Revised 20 October 2007; Published online 16 November 2007.

Abstract

The paper aims to inform readers of the themes that emerged at the 2007 Thought Leaders International Conference on Brand Management and challenges academics and practitioners to rethink the basics of branding. The paper encourages academics and practitioners to escape from the continued confines of industrial age branding and the 'influencing' mindset and embrace the age of openness and co-creation. It is argued that we need to evolve from the industrial age paradigm of branding that informed brand management for decades and adjust practice and research accordingly.