The relational brand model describes a fundamental shift in perspective in brand management. While traditional brand models understand brands as controllable communication systems, the relational brand model shows that brands today emerge through processes of social appropriation.
Many brand strategies still follow a familiar pattern: define positioning, develop messaging, deploy campaigns, and manage touchpoints along a customer journey.
This approach has worked for decades. But reality has changed.
Marken bewegen sich heute nicht mehr in klar steuerbaren Kommunikationsräumen, sondern in hochdynamischen sozialen, medialen und technologischen Ökosystemen. Menschen begegnen Marken nicht entlang linearer Journeys, sondern in fragmentierten, kontextabhängigen Situationen.
The consequence: many traditional brand models explain structure – but they no longer explain how brands actually create impact.
Traditional models implicitly assume a linear cause-and-effect logic: companies send messages → consumers process them → attitudes and behaviors change.
This logic is reflected in:
The problem is not that these models are wrong. The problem is that they simplify reality.
Today, brands are not primarily formed through sequential communication processes. Instead, they emerge through situational meaning-making processes in which individuals actively integrate brand meanings into their everyday lives. Brands are not consumed. Brands are appropriated.
From a systemic perspective, brands can no longer be understood as static communication objects. Instead, they function as relational systems that are constituted through the interaction between individuals, social contexts, and public discourse. Brands gain relevance not through messaging alone, but through:
This perspective shifts the focus from communication to interaction.
Against this backdrop, I developed a brand model entwickelt, das Marken nicht als lineare Wirkungsmechanismen beschreibt, sondern als dynamische Bedeutungsräume.
Das relationale Aneignungs- und Orientierungsmodell geht davon aus, dass Markenwirkung durch Aneignungsprozesse entsteht.
Appropriation does not describe ownership or long-term loyalty. Instead, it refers to the temporary, context-dependent integration of brand meaning into individual self-description and decision-making.
People use brands to:
Brands therefore function less as communication instruments and more as social orientation frameworks.
Sport provides a particularly clear example of how brands emerge today. Professional sports leagues are no longer just competition platforms. They have evolved into complex media, entertainment, and community ecosystems where brand impact emerges through social interaction.
The development of global sports leagues illustrates this shift. Modern league strategies are no longer focused solely on reach or broadcast ratings. Successful organizations increasingly understand their brand as a platform for identification, participation, and cultural relevance.
Fans do not consume sports content passively. They use sports brands to:
The brand of a league or team is therefore not created solely through top-down communication, but through collective meaning production between organizations, athletes, media platforms, and communities.
Especially in international expansion strategies, it becomes visible that brands do not grow through messaging alone. They grow through their ability to connect to new cultural contexts.
If brands operate relationally, brand strategy fundamentally changes. Organizations must focus less on controlling messages and more on enabling meaning spaces. This implies:
Brands emerge within networks of media, platforms, communities, and partnerships.
Narratives are no longer simply broadcast, but co-created.
Reach alone is no longer sufficient. Context, usage situations, and interaction patterns become essential.
Belonging evolves into a central brand value.
The central challenge of modern brand management is no longer to distribute messages efficiently. It is to create environments in which people can actively assign meaning to brands.
The relational brand model therefore understands brands not as controllable systems, but as dynamic social orientation frameworks.
Organizations that adopt this perspective can make brands not only visible, but sustainably relevant.