Subhadip Royis a faculty of Marketing at Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (India) since 2013, with an overall teaching experience of more than 7 years. He is interested in research areas like brand management, celebrity endorsements and qualitative research. Soumya Sarkaris a faculty of Marketing at Indian Institute of Management Ranchi (India) before which he has taught in IIM Udaipur. A Fellow of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, he has worked in the industry as a marketing practitioner for around 14 years. He is interested in research areas like B2B branding, strategic marketing, popular Indian culture.ABSTRACT In the present study, we intend to contribute to the rebranding literature by investigating: (a) the relative change in customer based brand equity (CBBE) of a brand before and post an evolutionary rebranding announcement; (b) the relative change in CBBE with respect to the market position of the brand (leader/follower) in case of evolutionary rebranding; and (c) the relative effect of a specific type of change in brand element (logo and/or slogan) on the consumer attitudes and CBBE. We use cue utilization theory and information integration theory along with rebranding literature to establish our hypotheses. We test our hypotheses using a 2×2 (with repeat measures) and a 2×3 full factorial design in succession. We find the CBBE of an established brand to diminish following rebranding news while that of a less-established brand to be enhanced. We also find a differential effect of the rebranding types on the consumer attitudes and CBBE that is subject to the relative brand position in the market. The academic implications of the study lie in the exploration of the effects of rebranding on consumers. The practitioner implications include suggestions for the effective use of rebranding as a strategy.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study practices associated with corporate brand alignment enacted by marketing managers in an emerging business to business market.Design/methodology/approachThe “Marketing-as-practice” perspective is used to examine brand alignment-related practices. A five months fieldwork was undertaken wherein primary data were collected using in-depth interviews of 30 managers representing steel, mining, energy, engineering consulting and Information Technology/Information Technology-Enabled Services' sectors along with observational data from event sites and industry meets. Secondary data stemmed from marketing plans and events' rosters. Data were analysed adopting the practice turn.FindingsThe constitution of three practices concerning brand alignment is unearthed: (1) practice of identifying key stakeholders, (2) practice of narrativization of brand promises and (3) practice of engaging key stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThis study highlights the dynamic nature of corporate brand alignment requiring a continuous gap analysis to verify coherency between internal and external brand elements. It also highlights the elicited relation between alignment, authenticity and advocacy. Suggestions for further research are provided.Practical implicationsThis study elucidates managers' role as intrapreneurs in the process of alignment and provides a possible solution to the new marketing myopia which impairs stakeholder management.Originality/valueThis research identifies that brand alignment is not an abstract concept but a set of practices that help convert the symbolic capital held in brands into cultural and social capital.

Purpose This study aims to delve into the influence of corporate social responsibility on the corporate brand performance of Indian business-to-business (B2B) companies. Design/methodology/approach The corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices have been measured through CSR disclosure index (CDI), generated by surveying annual reports/CSR reports/websites of 131 Indian B2B firms. The same was mapped to corporate brand performance of these firms, measured as customer-based corporate brand equity, which was measured through a questionnaire-survey of purchasing managers and users working in firms that are customers to the above-mentioned firms. Findings The result reveals the positive influence of CSR practices in shoring up corporate brand performance. Research limitations/implications CDI has been developed based on CSR reporting across the stakeholder groups. However, the impact has been mapped onto one stakeholder category, the customer. The sample period was only one year, and the data is cross-sectional. Future studies may investigate the long-term effect of CSR using longitudinal data on larger data sets. Practical implications This study will encourage Indian B2B firms to practice CSR not only for conforming to the regulatory requirements but also as a strategic tool in strengthening the competitive advantage. Originality/value It is the first study of its kind to evaluate the imprint of corporate social responsibility, measured based on CSR reporting by firms, on corporate brand performance. It looks into the return earned by firms from the resources invested in CSR activities.

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