Brand Bonds: Latest Research on Brand Relationships

Introduction

Brand relationships have evolved into one of the most critical areas of brand management, influencing loyalty, advocacy, and long-term success. Beyond transactional exchanges, brands serve as emotional anchors, cultural symbols, and extensions of consumer identity. These relationships can be positive—fostering brand love, passion, and attachment—or negative, leading to brand hate, dissatisfaction, and rejection. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for brands seeking to build meaningful and lasting connections with consumers.

This special issue, in collaboration with the 8th International Consumer Brand Relationship Conference, seeks to explore the latest theoretical and empirical advancements in brand relationships. We specifically are looking for topics related to emotional branding, influencer and AI-driven engagement, brand transgressions, consumer-brand interactions across cultures, and the role of technology in shaping brand connections.

By bringing together cutting-edge research, this issue aims to deepen our understanding of the psychological, social, and technological factors influencing consumer-brand bonds. We invite scholars to contribute insights that will help brands navigate the complexities of modern consumer relationships, fostering more authentic, resilient, and ethically responsible connections in an ever-changing marketplace.

List of topic areas

• Emotional Branding
• Positive Brand Relationships: Brand Love, Brand Passion, Brand Affection, Brand Devotion, Brand Attachment, Brand Satisfaction
• Negative Brand Relationships: Brand Hate, Brand Objection, Brand Dislike Culture in brand relationships
• Brand Cult and Religious Brands
• Brand relationship over time, dynamics of brand relationships
• Brand relationships in different consumer segments (e.g., children, seniors)
• Consumer celebrity relationships (e.g., sports, entertainment, business celebrity)
• Consumer organization relationships (e.g., political party, sports clubs, university, red cross)
• Consumer place relationships (e.g., city branding, country branding)
• Influencer and AI influencer and brand relationships
• Social media and brand relationships
• Virtual reality and augmented reality and brand relationships
• Brand Personality, Brand Forgiveness, Brand Compassion, Brand Communities
• Big data, analytics and brand relationship management
• Brand relationship theories
• Brand relationships scales
• Brand transgressions and recovery strategies
• Sustainability and ethical considerations in brand relationships
• Luxury Branding

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here. 

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here. 

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key deadlines 

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/11/2025

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31/01/2026

Guest Editors

Marc Fetscherin, Rollins College, USA, mfetscherin@rollins.edu 

Cleopatra Veloutsou, University of Glasgow, UK, Cleopatra.Veloutsou@glasgow.ac.uk