Branding in B2B markets: insights from the service‐dominant logic of marketing

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how the service‐dominant (S‐D) logic of marketing proposed by Vargo and Lusch impacts on business‐to‐business branding concepts and practice. Design/methodology/approach: Vargo and Lusch argue that service interaction comes from goods‐in‐use as well as from interactions between a buyer and a supplier. Their key concepts are examined and the branding literature critically compared. Findings: Goods become service appliances. Buyer judgments about the value‐in‐use of goods extends the time‐logic of marketing. The exchange concept is no longer transaction bound. Service‐ability (the capability to serve) becomes the essence of a firm's value propositions. Service experience becomes paramount in developing and sustaining the life of a brand. Research limitations/implications: S‐D logic highlights the need for rigour and clarity in the use of the term “brand”. It also opens up for consideration a variety of previously unexplored contact points in the customer service cycle, expanded to include customer assessments of value‐in‐use. Practical implications: S‐D logic encourages extending brand strategies into a wider variety of communicative interaction modes. Originality/value: Some of the issues raised are not new but currently compete for attention in the shadow of media‐dominant approaches to branding.