ABSTRACT

The relational approach is grounded in phenomenology. Phenomenology is a qualitative, constructionist research tradition emphasizing the accessing of an ‘inner reality’ and, as a consequence, the validity of ‘lived experience’. The relational approach also is the first approach relying on purely qualitative research. The relational approach implies a major paradigmatic shift in brand management and can be identified as the one approach leading brand management into the twenty-first century. The relational approach rests upon assumptions regarding the brand–consumer exchange as a ‘dyadic’ and cyclical process resembling a human relationship. Brand meaning is constituted through this process to which both parties contribute equally. The relational approach is linked to the tradition of phenomenology implying an existential view of man. The relational approach implies a major shift in the academic world of brand management for all of these reasons, but also for its implied shift from information to meaning as the underlying premise of brand management.