Consumers' brand heritage experience: between acceptance and resistance

Rémi Mencarelli (1) , Damien Chaney (2) , Mathilde Pulh (3)

1 IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie
2 Département de marketing [ESC Troyes]
3 CREGO - Centre de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations

The literature dedicated to heritage experience and brand heritage defends the idea that it is a source of significant value creation for consumers and brands. By contrast, the aim of this article is to propose a more complete view of the consequences of the heritage strategy for brands and consumers by exploring how consumers perceive a brand heritage experience and by identifying potential resistances that may emerge during their visits. In consequence, this research examines the features of a brand heritage experience through extended case studies in two brand museums with narratives of 47 visitors. By unpacking a brand heritage experience, the study highlights its acceptance by a majority of visitors as a real heritage experience since they give scientific, authentic and aesthetic values to the industrial and commercial features of the brand. However, some visitors do not accept – partially or totally – the brand as part of the heritage corpus insofar as they exhibit scepticism or even reject the experience.

Mots clés: resistance; heritage; Brand heritage experience; brand museums; branding

Domaines: Gestion et management

Rémi Mencarelli, Damien Chaney, Mathilde Pulh. Consumers' brand heritage experience: between acceptance and resistance. Journal of Marketing Management, 2020, 36 (1-2), pp.30-50. ⟨10.1080/0267257X.2019.1692057⟩. ⟨hal-02380341⟩