The death of the brand? Challenges facing international brands in the 21st century - an analysis with examples and recommendations

For better or for worse, we live in what has been called a brandscape - a branded world - today. We are at a time in history when brands go beyond being business platforms to becoming symbols of our times. An increasing proportion of our lives is mediated by brands like McDonald′s, Sony and Budweiser, which often reflect the changing values of our society. Brands are more than just advertising, they are part of our culture. Think of Andy Warhol and Campbell′s Soup and Norman Rockwell and Coca-Cola. Think of the digital brandscape with Google, Facebook and YouTube - brands knowing more about who we are, what we look like, who our friends are and what our dreams and wishes are, than any other brand, organisation or company, ever knew before. Products, people, countries - Britain, for example, tried to become a brand with its "Cool Britannia" slogan - and companies are all racing to turn themselves into brands - to make their image more likeable and understandable. Furthermore, brands dominate our working lives, and corporate logos are now in every civic space, from schools, universities and playgrounds to hospitals and art galleries. And this brandscape can be considered to be global: walk down a street in any city in the world and there will be enough brands to make you feel at home.

At the same time, brands and branding culture represents, among other things, an issue of culture and politics. In some cases, brands have rightly or wrongly become a political battleground. Most recently in 2007, demonstrating left-wing youths in Copenhagen smashed outlets of global food and entertainment chains, over a conflict with the city government that sold their youth centre (Ungdomshuset) to a Christian sect, which tore it down. Thus, to discuss the role and future of (international and global) brands in society has become even more important. The following text examines whether brands as we know them are dead and makes recommendations to brand-owners over and beyond corporate social responsibility (CSR).