Branding in the automotive industry: A systematic literature review and future research agenda
(A2023-114315)

AUTHORS

Robin Herbert, Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics (USBE), Umeå University; Galina Biedenbach, Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics, Umeå University; Johan Jansson, Umeå University

ABSTRACT

In turbulent times of unprecedented global challenges, many companies face rapid transformations of their industries. While marketing managers in the automotive industry work proactively with developing branding strategies addressing the turbulent global environment, prior research provides relatively limited insights about branding in this industry, especially in relation to the ongoing electrification and digitalisation. The main purpose of this literature review is to conduct a systematic examination of previous branding studies focusing on the automotive industry and to point to further necessary research in this context. Based on the analysis of 150 articles, we identify four central themes, which are (1) branding through advertising, (2) brand communities and brand co-creation, (3) negative manifestations of branding phenomena, and (4) branding of vehicles with emerging technologies, and propose the avenues for future research.