Reverse Marketing, Consumer Value Networks and the New Brand Intermediaries

Abstract

This conceptual paper presents an approach to consumer brand management that challenges current practice in the light of sustained criticism of marketing. We propose a reverse market concept that defines markets and marketing activities from an explicitly consumer value perspective. We describe how reverse market brands are able to create new forms of mutual value by organizing consumer demand and by supporting their lifestyles, need sets and complete consumption experiences. A simple framework is proposed through which brand management can review and respond to the unmet, complex and increasingly non-material drivers of consumer value. It outlines the benefits and the barriers that await brand management wishing to develop reverse marketing practices and concludes by evaluating the validity of the reverse market logic.Key wordsReverse marketingConsumer value networksBrand transformation