The Future of Brands and Branding: An Essay on Multiplicity, Heterogeneity, and Integration

Abstract Brands come in many forms and perform multiple roles and functions for a variety of different types of individuals and organizations. Focusing on companies or non-profits marketing to consumers, this essay speculates on the future of branding in five main areas: brand elements, brand drivers, brand meaning, consumer heterogeneity, and consumer insights. Across these five areas, the main theme that emerges is that branding is increasingly being defined both by multiplicity, in terms of what marketers can do, and by heterogeneity, in terms of the consumers being marketed to. Successful brand marketers going forward will be those who can find integrative branding solutions that balance and blend multiplicity and heterogeneity.