Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.

In this episode, Elena and Rob explore how brands have lost their cultural authority and face growing consumer resistance. They discuss why authenticity matters more than ever and what it means for marketing strategy.

Topics covered:   

• [01:00] "Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding"
• [02:00] How brand influence has shifted from top-down to consumer-driven
• [04:00] Cultural engineering and its downfall
• [05:00] The rise of postmodern consumer culture
• [08:00] Strategies for authentic brand engagement
• [09:30] Moving beyond calculated authenticity 

 





To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast 
 

Resources: 
Holt, Douglas B. "Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding." Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 29, no. 1, June 2002, pp. 70-90. Oxford University Press. Available on JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/339922.  
 

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