Page 175 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

164 • Sport, Media and Society

nineties-style branding different is that it increasingly seeks to take these asso-
ciations out of the representational realm and make them a lived reality. (p. 29)

Along similar lines, Lury (2004: 18) argued that ‘the contemporary brand marks a
new stage in the mediated relationship between producer and consumer.’
Lury (2004) traced the development of the brand back to the maturation of the dis-
cipline of marketing in the 1950s and 1960s. Information technology and the increase
in self-service systems in retail outlets enabled the brand to act as a silent salesman
coordinating selling through promotion and packaging. The view that emerged at
this time saw the relationship between producer and consumer as an exchange, rather
than as stimulus–response. This insight gave rise to so-called creative advertising
in the 1980s and 1990s, which utilised new forms of consumer research to construct
imaginary lifestyles around products.
Another change was the branding of whole product ranges, rather than isolated
products. Lury (2004: 26) described this kind of brand object as having three di-
mensions: width (the number of product lines), depth (the number of products
within each of the lines) and consistency (the degree of relatedness of the product
lines ‘in end use, production requirements and distribution channels’). Branding
organises these connections. For example, the Web site of the sportswear company
Umbro (http://www.umbro.co.uk) presented three product lines: performance,
football and fashion. Each line contained a number of products, for example, the
performance line included SX soccer clothes and boots, the football line included
the official England team kit and the fashion line included the Umbro by Kim

Jones menswear collection. The Umbro brand organised the set of relationships
between these products, differentiating them from competing brands such as Dia-
dora or Hummel.
Changes in contemporary production processes of capitalism have moved away
from mass production, enabling goods to be channelled to rapidly changing, specia-
lised markets (Harvey 1990). Within this environment, brands organise the fl exible
range of products being developed and distributed to the shifting consumer base.
Trademark law protects the role of the brand as a mark to indicate the consistency
of the products. However, test cases have shown that brands can be protected even
when product confusion is unlikely to arise, for example, in the use of a similar brand
name for very different products. For example, Olympic symbols and terminology
are trademarked, which forbids their use on goods, in business names, in advertising
and in myriad circumstances completely unconnected to the Games. The London
2012 Web site explained this prohibition as follows:

If anyone could use the ‘Games’ Marks . . . for free, or otherwise create an asso-
ciation with the Games, sponsors and merchandise licensees would not want to
invest in the Games. Similarly, uncontrolled or free use of the brand could damage
its reputation and prestige. (‘Using the Brand’ 2008: paras 7–8)