ABSTRACT
This final chapter highlights that the future of branding has arrived through the concept of building a shared form of value through the co-creation of experiences between consumers and brands. Sport brands are particularly well placed to take advantage of this paradigmatic shift given that they have historically created value connections to ‘fans,’ and can easily and readily co-opt highly identified consumers into creating favourable, unique, and strong associations. Just how many of these types of consumers will remain is a complex question. However, the ‘postmobile’ world of constant digital connections threatens to reshape brand relationships to one where high selectivity and dynamic discretion are dominant. The chapter demonstrates how brands can navigate these concerns, what support services exist to best manage the communication process, and how the changing structure of media needs to be understood and adopted. The chapter’s concluding notes reinforces that sport brands reside at the intersection of consumers’ thoughts and market forces – an intangible but powerful transformation from the individual content of minds to collective commercial value.
