Co-creating brands: Brand management from a co-creative

We are pleased to announce a keynote address for the 15th Global Brand Conference. Professor Nicholas Ind and Pofessor Holger J Schmidt will deliver a talk entitled Co-creating brands: Brand management from a co-creative

Biographies of Keynote Speakers

Nicholas Ind is Professor of Brand Management at Kristiania University College in Oslo. He is the author of twelve books, among them “Living the Brand”, and one of the leading experts in brand co-creation.

Holger J. Schmidt is Professor of Marketing at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences in Germany. His main interests are in the areas of brand ambassadorship, brand orientation, and purposeful brands. Together with Nicholas, he wrote the book ‘Co- Creating Brands’, published by Bloomsbury in 2020.

Professor Nicholas Ind Photo: Mats Bakken / www.matsbakken.com

Overview of the Keynote Address

The traditional perspective in classic marketing texts is that a brand identity is stable and enduring. The identity is determined by managers who then control its expression over time. This idea has been accepted because managers focus on what is actual and observable, which tends to be fixed, rather than on the dynamic processes that lie beneath it. In this keynote, Nicholas Ind and Holger Schmidt will argue that, while indeed some elements of the brand identity endure, brands exist in the world and are subject to the influence of all stakeholders as they assume new shapes. The brand identity is constantly negotiated between what is intended by the organisation and what is experienced by stakeholders. In other words, the brand identity is co-created. Drawing on material from their new (co-created) work, Ind and Schmidt are convinced that a co-creation perspective will determine the future success or failure of brands.

Professor Holger J Schmidt