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

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.