Managing Brand Demise

This paper challenges the assumptions made by some that brands can and should be immortal and that brand demise is a sign of managerial incompetence. Referring to the literature on product life cycles and brand management and the biological metaphor of ageing, we argue that brand death is a natural part of the developmental process that is an inevitable consequence of market turbulence and consumer dynamics. The notion of brand mortality has significant implications for both managers and scholars.