ABSTRACT
In contemporary culture, brands play important relational roles, linking consumers to others and serving as relational partners. This chapter provides a cultural understanding of the relational roles of brands to illuminate why and how consumers connect with brands and how those connections enable consumers to relate to each other. Moving away from an economic conceptualization of marketing relationships as exchange based, it provides a more nuanced understanding of consumer-brand bonds and highlights the core processes that drive customer relationship development. In providing a cultural approach to customer relationship management, the chapter encourages managers to negotiate relationships with consumers, rather than focusing on managing their customer relationships. It also provides an anthropological understanding of how consumers connect with brands and how those connections enable consumers to relate to each other. Consumers often buy products not for what they do, but to use the meanings they convey. The symbolic value of brands goes beyond their functional or utilitarian value to consumers.
