On Tuesday 18 October, Professor Charles Cui, Professor of Marketing at the University of Westminster, presented his latest research on brand addiction at the Museum of Brands.
Dr Cui presented with Dr Mona Mrad from the American University of Sharjah. They introduced their recent research on brand addiction as a new concept for understanding close consumer-brand relationships.
The talk also covered what the main features of brand addiction are and how brand managers can help form ethical consumer-brand relationships.
Dr Cui and Dr Mrad are leading scholars on consumer brand addiction, with publications in the Journal of Business Research and the European Journal of Marketing.
Dr Cui said: “It’s important to understand how and why brand addiction can come about and the positive and negative effects it can have. Our research shows that when consumers find a brand that may work as a substitute lifestyle, they cling to it showing an addictive obsession.
“It’s important, especially in today’s world, that brands are promoted in an ethical way, to help consumers benefit from the positive brand addictive experience but also spend within their means too.”
Dr Cui and Dr Mrad also explored how brand addiction manifests itself differently between different brand types, for example fast-fashion and luxury fashion brands.
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