Brands relationships: Exploring the Secret Brand Relationship

Abstract: Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and investigate those relationships that occur when customers feel embarrassed of their buying behaviour. Methodology: A qualitative research method has been chosen to conduct this research. Primary data has been collected through two focus groups and three interviews. Secondary data, in the form of literature review and examples of brands with secret brand relationships such as Victoria’s Secret, Playboy, and Durex, has been used. Findings: It has been found that a primitive investigation about brands that have a secret with customers was previously conducted and referred to as a secret affair. The findings of this paper helped to further develop upon this concept, thus, the secret brand relationship was defined. In addition, further recommendations on how to manage brands with secret brand relationships have been discovered. Research limitations: No publications and literature in the area of secret brand relationships have been found. Due to a limited amount of time, scarce samples in the form of participants and companies with secret brand relationships were analysed. The managerial implications derived from the research does not take cultural aspects into consideration, hence our recommendations are hard to generalize. Practical implications: Recognize in the first place if the brand deals with secret brand relationships, secret brand relationships have to be communicated with the use of taboo marketing, it is important to guarantee that customer’s secret would be kept between brand and customer, to finally minimize customer’s feeling of embarrassment. Originality/value: The originality of the paper derives from the lack of empirical research on secret brand relationships, this paper is the first developing this concept. Keywords: Secret brand relationships, Consumer embarrassment, Brand relationship, Sensitive products, Taboo marketing. Paper type: Research paper.