Origination

Origination: The Geographies of Brands and Branding offers innovative theoretical and conceptual frameworks relating to the ways that actors create meaning and value in commodity brands and branding through processes of geographical association.

• Provides innovative conceptualization and theorization to facilitate an understanding of the geographical dimensions of brands and branding
• Challenges current interpretations of brands as vehicles of homogenization in globalization
• Establishes the theoretical and conceptual foundations of a more geographically sensitive approach through rigorous empirical examination of the under-researched geographical differentiation of commodity brands and branding
• Presents innovative new research and analysis of the socio-spatial biographies of the Newcastle Brown Ale, Burberry and Apple brands
• Forges strong new connections between political and cultural economy approaches within geography
• Provides a distinctive and incisive conceptual and theoretical framework capable of engaging other branded commodities and their branding in other times and places

Series Editor Preface viii

Acknowledgements ix

Permissions x

List of Tables xi

List of Figures xii

1 Introduction 1

2 The Geographies of Brands and Branding 23

3 Origination 59

4 ‘Local’ Origination … Newcastle Brown Ale 88

5 ‘National’ Origination … Burberry 112

6 ‘Global’ Origination … Apple 139

7 Territorial Development 171

8 Conclusions 194

References 207

Index 224

“Overall, Origination presents a promising conceptual and research framework capable of revealing the multiple facets of brand geographies.” (Consumption Markets & Culture, 1 December 2015)

Andy Pike is Professor of Local and Regional Development and Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University, UK. He is co-author of Local and Regional Development (2006) (with Andrés Rodríguez-Pose and John Tomaney), editor of Brands and Branding Geographies (2011), and co-editor of Handbook of Local and Regional Development (2011) (with Andrés Rodríguez-Pose and John Tomaney).

From Latin American coffee and Thai silks to Danish furniture and Hollywood films, geographical associations add untold meaning and value to commodities. Yet while social science research has long focused on the ‘country of origin’ and its inextricable links to consumer behaviour, it has failed to develop critical ways of thinking about the geographies of brands and branding that encompass and extend beyond this national frame. Origination: The Geographies of Brands and Branding addresses this gap by introducing the innovative theoretical and conceptual framework of origination to understand how actors involved in commodity brands and branding create meaning and value through processes of geographical association. To illustrate concepts and facilitate understanding, origination is explored through case studies of three widely recognized brands. “Local” origination is explored through an in-depth analysis of Newcastle Brown Ale. “National” origination is addressed by examination of the iconic Burberry brand. And “global” origination is discussed in relation to the Apple brand. Through rigorous research, Origination: The Geographies of Brands and Branding provides innovative insights into the integral role of geographical associations in creating meaning and value in brands and branding in the contemporary international economy.

'Andy Pike has given us a deeply researched and much needed analysis of the ways in which brands and branding are intertwined with space and place. Through a series of revelatory case studies of products and their places of origin, we learn how spatial context matters in the production of branded meaning and value. Origination will be an essential resource for scholars of branding, geography, cultural studies, and the contemporary global economy.'
— Miriam Greenberg, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California Santa Cruz, USA

'The symbolic landscape of late capitalism is cluttered with brands, but this is hardly a featureless, flat earth marked only by free-floating, rootless signs. In Origination, Andy Pike provides the first systematic exploration of the geographies of brands and branding — many of which, of course, are hidden in plain sight — combining creative theorization with compelling case studies. An original!'
— Jamie Peck, Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia, Canada