The Illusion of Brand Control: An Integrative Review

In today’s hyperconnected environments, stakeholders have gained great power in shaping brands. In light of the stakeholder-empowered contexts, managers seem to have to accept ceding control over the brand to stakeholders. The proposed integrative review is aimed to provide a conceptualization of the illusion of brand control, which can be defined as a misconception that managers are the only “master of the game” in brand management. The proposed conceptualization can hopefully be a starting point to guide further research on branding, towards formalizing branding strategies that can be implemented by brand managers in response to gradual stakeholder takeover of the brand. In this regard, the paper will provide managerial implications and suggestions for future research.