BRANDS AND RETAILERS IN AN ERA OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES

9th International Conference on Research on National Brand & Private Label Marketing (NB&PL2021)

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought significant economic, environmental and social challenges in recent times.  While the transition towards normalcy is in progress with a partial resume of pre-pandemic activities, companies and consumers are still facing its consequences. The pandemic has restricted social interactions and changed how consumers interact with other consumers, with employees and with brands. The fear of the Covid-19 contagion, the increased usage of digital applications for communication purposes, the growth of e-commerce and home delivery and the shift towards remote working have re-shaped the in-store customer experience and personal interactions. Brands and retailers are then called to re-design their marketing strategies by considering how consumers have changed preferences and behaviors.

Despite the negative impact of the pandemic, a more optimistic view is that the Covid-19 pandemic will accelerate post-pandemic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) development in the long term. More and more companies are called to realize that it is key to achieving a delicate balance between profitability and sustainability. Sustainability and doing business with a purpose are increasingly regarded as top priority for CEOs and companies are working to assure that such values are more than buzzwords.  Addressing environmental health and climate issues is going to be a very important path to generate long-term competitive advantage. Brands and retailers should then pursue the above challenges by developing new products, new promotions and strategies that are aimed at contributing to a better world.

In this respect, the 2022 edition of the International Conference on Research on National Brand & Private Label Marketing aims to address how brands and retailers can develop approaches, activities, innovations and strategies that could lead to a positive impact towards the environment and/or to the society. Can marketing activities (e.g., the marketing mix, marketing innovations, partnership/channel management, loyalty programs) contribute to the environment? How can brands develop product or marketing innovations that can deliver both economic and environmental performance? How can retailers create partnerships with national brands to develop pro-social and pro-environmental campaigns? What is the role of the private label in enhancing the CSR image of the retailer? What marketing activities can be employed to stimulate consumers to positively contribute to the environment? What is the customer response to pro-social activities carried out by brands and retailers? How can retailers re-design the social dimension of the in-store shopping experience in the “new normal”?

The above questions are only some of the research questions that can be addressed in this edition of the NBPL conference. Diversity in methodological approaches is appreciated and valued. Academics from marketing and related disciplines are invited to submit, as well as interdisciplinary teams of researchers, so to stimulate fruitful exchanges and discussions.

The NBPL conference has a distinctive positioning in organizing sessions in a friendly and interactive atmosphere where participants can share their works and can receive and offer feedback in a constructive manner. The lovely venue of Barcelona and the conference social events can also provide the right setting to take a break from the everyday academic routine and focus on networking and opportunities to cooperate in research projects.