Gestalt as a Determinant of Brand Management – A Sociological Perspective on Branding in German-Speaking Discourse

Abstract For almost 40 years, a specific form of brand management with scientific and practical resonance has been evolving in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland – along with a multitude of microeconomic schools and authors. This form of brand management goes by the term “Brand Sociology” and sees the brand as a Gestalt system of alliances. Brand Sociology fills a gap in the classical economic approach and makes it possible to understand the central target variables of brand management as social dynamics and to direct them in a targeted manner. The following article traces for the first time the foundations and history of a Gestalt sociological approach to brand research and relates its contribution in the field of interplay between Gestalt research, sociology, and identity-based brand economics.