Papers by Gregorio Fuschillo
Saved by a brand: An odyssey of personal deliverance
Marketing Theory
It remains hard to understand the process whereby people claim to have been saved by a brand. How... more It remains hard to understand the process whereby people claim to have been saved by a brand. How can a commercial entity take on religious meanings like salvation? Our research addresses this mystery by diving deep into the lives of individual brand fans. We describe their journey of salvation by a brand in detail, from the key moment of brand revelation, when the brand appears as savior, to the ways in which the brand delivers them from their sufferings. For these fans, the brand becomes a companion that helps them significantly improve their existence. Our findings demonstrate that the religious dimension of brands is not limited to brand communities and their rituals. This dimension also emerges through the efforts of individual consumers who create their own brand religions and find salvation in the process. Religions do not have a monopoly on salvation; brands can be saviors too.
European Journal of Marketing, 2022
Purpose-This paper aims to detail how consumers can harness the power of brands to reconstruct th... more Purpose-This paper aims to detail how consumers can harness the power of brands to reconstruct their lives. Design/methodology/approach-The authors followed five brand devotees over several years, using various data collection methods (long interviews, observations, videos, photographs and secondary data) to study how they reconstructed their lives with a brand. Findings-Consumers transform their existence through a distinctive form of brand appropriation that the authors call brand magnification, which unfolds: materially, narratively and socially. First, brand devotees scatter brand incarnations around themselves to remain in touch with the brand because the brand has become an especially positive dimension of their lives. Second, brand devotees mobilize the brand to craft a completely new life story. Finally, they build a branded clan of family and friends that socially validates their reconstructed identity. Research limitations/implications-The research extends more muted depictions of brands as soothing balms calming consumer anxieties; the authors document the mechanism through which consumers remake their lives with a brand. Practical implications-The research helps rehabilitate the role of brands in contemporary consumer culture. Organizations can use the findings to help stimulate and engage employees by unveiling the brand's life-transforming potential for consumers. Originality/value-The authors characterize a distinctive, extreme and unique form of brand appropriation that positively transforms consumer lives.
Purpose-This paper aims to detail how consumers can harness the power of brands to reconstruct th... more Purpose-This paper aims to detail how consumers can harness the power of brands to reconstruct their lives. Design/methodology/approach-The authors followed five brand devotees over several years, using various data collection methods (long interviews, observations, videos, photographs and secondary data) to study how they reconstructed their lives with a brand. Findings-Consumers transform their existence through a distinctive form of brand appropriation that the authors call brand magnification, which unfolds: materially, narratively and socially. First, brand devotees scatter brand incarnations around themselves to remain in touch with the brand because the brand has become an especially positive dimension of their lives. Second, brand devotees mobilize the brand to craft a completely new life story. Finally, they build a branded clan of family and friends that socially validates their reconstructed identity. Research limitations/implications-The research extends more muted depictions of brands as soothing balms calming consumer anxieties; the authors document the mechanism through which consumers remake their lives with a brand. Practical implications-The research helps rehabilitate the role of brands in contemporary consumer culture. Organizations can use the findings to help stimulate and engage employees by unveiling the brand's life-transforming potential for consumers. Originality/value-The authors characterize a distinctive, extreme and unique form of brand appropriation that positively transforms consumer lives.
Movement Parties as Brand Platforms: The Case of the 5 Star Movement
Political Branding in Turbulent times
Beyond the Market: The Societal Influence of Fandoms
Research in Consumer Behavior, 2016
Zoom sur l'autoproduction du consommateur
Revue Francaise De Gestion, Jul 1, 2013
Zoom sur l'autoproduction du consommateur
Revue Francaise De Gestion, Jul 1, 2013
Prosumerismo ei discorsi di marketing
European Journal of Marketing , 2020
Purpose-Although information technology has been at the centre of attention of political branding... more Purpose-Although information technology has been at the centre of attention of political branding for some time, research has traditionally focused mainly on its role in the facilitation of communication. This paper aims to unpack the role of information technology in the emergence of new cyber political brands. Design/methodology/approach-This research uses a dual case study approach that focuses on the relationship between branding, politics and information technology. The analysis focuses on two successful political cyber brands: the Italian Five Star Movement and the Czech Pirate Party. Data collection covering the time frame between their emergence and their political success occurs through netnographic methods. Findings-Cyber political brands emerge and materialize in different forms. The present analysis allows for a delineation of three conceptual elements that characterize the constitutive interrelationship of information technology in the emergence of cyber political brands. The first conceptual element, organization, refers to how political brands become structured around linked activities. The second conceptual element, orientation, describes how the activities of a political brand are directed to build a specific path and legitimize courses of action. The third conceptual element, operation, delineates the processes that anchor and stabilize the political brands in its "own" culture, establishing specific base activities. Research limitations/implications-Information technology and the techno-culture emerging around the two cyber party brands can be seen as the possible delineations of new "cleavages" in the form of "information technology-culture" which enables potential electoral success. Originality/value-The present study by offering the conceptualization of the cyber political brand shows how political brands can reflect a type of performative cultural branding where they become able, as a networked-medium, to assemble a specific techno-culture. In terms of political brand development, the current analysis offers a framework that allows us to consider the process of political party development in a new fashion.
How cyber political brands emerge: a socio-material analysis of the Italian Five Star Movement and the Czech Pirate Party
European Journal of Marketing, 2020
Although information technology has been at the centre of attention of political branding for som... more Although information technology has been at the centre of attention of political branding for some time, research has traditionally focused mainly on its role in the facilitation of communication. This paper aims to unpack the role of information technology in the emergence of new cyber political brands.
Journal of Consumer Culture
Research in consumer culture focuses on the role of fans in creating social spaces or fandoms in ... more Research in consumer culture focuses on the role of fans in creating social spaces or fandoms in contrast with larger society where new cultural meanings and values are socially negotiated. Drawing on media and cultural studies, this article describes fandoms as a process rooted in the larger phenomenon of fanaticism and its interaction with the current society. The article posits the study of fanaticism as a fruitful lens for a deeper understanding of the role of consumption and brands in today’s consumer societies.
Subverting the market to help other consumers: The ‘la repasse’ phenomenon
Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 2015
ABSTRACT This paper aims to broaden our perspective on Consumer-to-Consumer (C-to-C) interactions... more ABSTRACT This paper aims to broaden our perspective on Consumer-to-Consumer (C-to-C) interactions. Recent studies on consumption have striven to shed light on the grey zone between market economies and moral economies. Our research goes one step further by focusing on C-to-C helping behaviours such as passing on tickets in public places (on the underground, in car parks, during city package tours, etc.). The hermeneutic analysis of these fraudulent practices shows that consumers undertake these microsubversions of the marketplace for the sake of citizenship. They act as contemporary Robin Hoods who turn market materials into flash token gifts for other consumers. In doing so, they daily reshape the boundaries of market/moral economies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Faire cavalier seul ensemble : le « passage de ticket »
Revue du MAUSS, 2014
Zoom sur l’autoproduction du consommateur
Revue française de gestion, 2013
Street marketing as an unconventional marketing approach has rapidly evolved over the last three ... more Street marketing as an unconventional marketing approach has rapidly evolved over the last three decades. We describe how street marketing has transformed during this period – from «sandwich men» to samples distribution during the 80s to the creation of «events» in the street today. Then, we suggest how street marketing will evolve going forward (following the trend of Service Dominant Logic). Specifically, we posit that the street will not merely be a medium of communication, but could become essential «material» of street marketing. We provide examples of how we expect this transformation.
Conference Presentations by Gregorio Fuschillo
Fanaticism is a growing consumption phenomenon. It is commonly defined as a detrimental and destr... more Fanaticism is a growing consumption phenomenon. It is commonly defined as a detrimental and destructive phenomenon in consumer research. This paper shows the existence of the constructive side of fanatical consumption. It highlights how consumer lives have been 'saved' thanks to the brand itself.
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Papers by Gregorio Fuschillo
Conference Presentations by Gregorio Fuschillo