Rethinking brand management within sport: advancing towards the integrative sport brand ecosystem (ISBE)

Research Question
Current research increasingly takes a multi-actor-dominant logic and situates sport brands within ecosystems. However, the multi-actor-dominant logic has not been captured in a holistic concept yet. We aim to advance current thinking of sport brands and therefore conceptualise the integrative sport brand ecosystem (ISBE), emerging around a single sport brand.

Research Methods
We adopt a qualitative single case study approach to the German football club brand FC St. Pauli. Semi-structured interviews with multiple actors (N = 26) and secondary data (N = 35) inform our conceptualisation of the ISBE. Following an abductive approach, the ISBE evolved simultaneously through theoretical and empirical work.

Results and Findings
The ISBE comprises all actors interested in a sport brand. Actors engage on institutional and emergent brand engagement platforms to co-create the sport brand. As the focal actor within the ISBE, the brand conductor develops and communicates a first brand identity and facilitates brand meaning co-creation processes. Brand identity needs to be constantly adapted and reinforced by the brand conductor.

Implications
This article provides a holistic perspective on brand co-creation among multiple actors and the role of the brand conductor. We examine the organisational brand management perspective, the network of actors actively co-creating sport brands, and the underlying structures of brand co-creation within the context of sport brands and the multi-actor-dominant logic. This opens new directions for research on sport brands, but also encourages sport practitioners to rethink their brand management.