Brands Over Heels: Understanding the Consumer-Brand Relationship in the Hyperconnected Environment

The relationship metaphor still dominates contemporary marketing research. However, despite two decades of attention, the brand relationship theory is still in its early stages. The dynamic environment driven by technological advances and the rising role of the consumer as co-contributor to brand construction demand rethinking this perspective. By using an interpretive approach based on a total of 41 interviews, this thesis seeks to revise the established conceptualization of the brand-consumer relationship and propose the relational construct as dynamic and created over time among different actors. As studying relationships requires understanding the meanings that the relationship provides to the person who engages it, a meaning-based perspective will guide the analysis. Five different consumption meanings and three instruments of meaning transfer emerge from the interviews. The findings suggest that the brand-consumer relationship in the hyperconnected landscape is no longer a dyad, as previously theorized, but is co-created among three entities, namely managers, consumers, and digital media. Important implications both for theory and practice are outlined in the conclusion.