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Reconciling the tension between consistency and relevance: design thinking as a mechanism for brand ambidexterity

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Abstract

In order to sustain and grow brand equity, brand managers are faced with balancing the preservation of existing brand identity through consistency with the need to maintain relevance, which requires change and innovation. In this paper we build upon the concept of organizational ambidexterity (March 1991), arguing that design thinking—the logics and practices associated with designers—can serve as a mechanism which promotes and enables the integration of brand consistency and relevance. Drawing on cases of innovation at firms across a range of industries, we show how design thinking can trigger brand ambidexterity across a three-stage process. We identify eight practices and examine how designers enable brand managers to address enduring consistency-relevance tensions in ways that ensure innovations renew or revitalize the brand without undermining its essence.

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Notes

  1. Defined as “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them which is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and differentiate them from those of competitors” (Keller 1993, p. 2).

  2. Note that we have cloaked the names of both individuals and firms with pseudonyms to insure informant anonymity.

  3. Further examples of changes that threatened or destabilized brand managers’ assumptive frames are provided in Table 2 under the “destabilization” heading.

  4. Approval to identify this product and therefore the firm has been granted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

    Michael B. Beverland

  2. School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

    Michael B. Beverland

  3. School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, Marketing Area, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5, Canada

    Sarah J. S. Wilner

  4. Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Pietro Micheli

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  1. Michael B. Beverland
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  2. Sarah J. S. Wilner
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  3. Pietro Micheli
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Correspondence to Sarah J. S. Wilner.

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Beverland, M.B., Wilner, S.J.S. & Micheli, P. Reconciling the tension between consistency and relevance: design thinking as a mechanism for brand ambidexterity. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 43, 589–609 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-015-0443-8

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