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Special issue: 6th International Conference of the SIG on Brand, Identity, and Corporate Reputation of the Academy of Marketing
Edited by Oriol Iglesias, Jatinder J. Singh and Mònica Casabayó
Introduction
As businesses currently face the challenge of keeping up with rapid change in areas such as technology, the brand has become one of the few resources to provide long-term competitive advantage ([43] Lindemann, 2003). One way of dealing with the environmental turbulence is to accentuate historical elements and thereby convey stability and confidence. It has become trendy for consumers to seek consolation in the past, and brands with an image including elements such as authenticity, heritage and stability are gaining in popularity ([17] Brown et al. , 2003; [44] Loveland et al. , 2010). It has also been argued that symbolic and emotional attachment between a brand and a consumer is more probable with brands that connect heritage and authenticity to their image ([7] Ballantyne et al. , 2006).
Coincident with its current attraction to marketers, heritage is acknowledged as a key organisational resource imparting long-lasting strategic value: companies are unique in terms of their heritage, and the heritage can provide the basis for superior performance ([8] Balmer, 2009; [9] Balmer and Gray, 2003). Unlocking the potential hidden value of a brand's heritage may be one way of harnessing the past and the present in order to safeguard the future ([57] Urde et al. , 2007). Managers today face the challenge of marketing a brand's heritage in a way that brings out its historical reliability but does not make it appear out-dated. Indeed, it is argued that this will be the key to building successful brands in the future: due to the abundance of choice, today's marketing environment demands strong brand identities and decries imitation ([1] Aaker, 1996; [7] Ballantyne et al. , 2006).
Coincident with the extensive research interest in brands in general is a growing fascination with nostalgia and retro brands (cf. [15] Boutlis, 2000; [16] Brown, 2001; [17] Brown et al. , 2003; [38] Kessous and Roux, 2008; [44] Loveland et al. , 2010). However, research from the conceptual perspective of brand heritage is still scarce (e.g. [42] Liebrenz-Himes et al. , 2007). The studies conducted by [57] Urde et al....