Loss of Brand Iconicity: The Alfa Romeo Case

Iconic brands form a core phenomenon to the development of cultural branding (Holt, 2016),that is a marketing approach which emphasizes the ideological role of brands going beyond the market limits to have influence on society.When brand become icons, they develop stronger consumer-brand bonds that better shield them against competitors’ threats (Torelli, 2013) - see the example of Starbucks (Thompson, Rindfleisch, and Arsel 2006), Jack Daniel’s (Holt 2006), Nutella (Cova and D’Antone, 2016). The social conditions that create demand for iconic brands and the branding principles that lead to successful icon building have been already analyzed (Holt, 2004; Heller, 2016).However, we know a few if nothing about the way and iconic brand loses its iconicity and how managers can protect it from this danger (Torelli and Cheng, 2015). This paper is aimed at filling this gap. The case history of Alfa Romeo in Italy during the period 1945-2015 provides a unique opportunity to analyze how iconic brands lose their status as national icons. Ourresults centre onthe timing, reasons and consequences of the loss of brand iconicity