Evolution of Branding Theory and Its Relevance to the Independent Retail sector

We are living in an age of branding. Branding has developed from FMCGs to encompass services, non-for-profit organizations and even places. This success is not always favourably received, for example the New Economics Foundation has recently argued that branding is having a negative impact on our towns and cities; the so-called "clone town phenomena" with high streets across the UK dominated by the same retail brands. This raises an interesting question for marketing academics: Is the branding literature applicable to only large organizations, such as multiple retailers, or does it apply to small and family run organizations? Could the development of branding theory be used to counteract the increasing homogeneity of the UK's urban retail landscape? This study uses new software, in particular ENDNOTE and REFVIZ to explore the development of the branding literature. This is a first stage of research project which will progress by assessing the relevance of branding theory to the independent retail sector with the aim of developing relevant theory for this sector.