Literature Review and Theoretical Background

Abstract

Brands have a long history in identifying the provenance of a product (e.g., a specific manufacturer or region) and in differentiating one market offering from another. For example, brick-makers in ancient Egypt used to emboss their bricks using unique symbols and members of trade guilds in medieval Europe utilized "trademarks" on their products as a sign of quality for the customers and to claim legal protection of exclusive production rights for specified regional markets. The notion of "brand/-ing" emerged in the 16th century and is said to originate in Whiskey distillers' habit to burn – or brand – the name of the producer onto each barrel in order to identify the producer and to prevent substitution with cheaper products (Farquhar 1990, p.RC-7; see also Esch and Langner 2005, p.575).