Brand revitalization of heritage enterprises for cultural sustainability in the digital era: A case study in China

Abstract

Many heritage enterprises have been struggling with severely declining brands in the digital era and are in desperate need of brand revitalization. Resolving the decline of heritage brands is not only a commercial issue but also a cultural sustainability issue because a living heritage brand can be considered an example of the preservation and even inheritance of a certain culture or history. While the prior literature has largely overlooked the cultural dimension of sustainability and the management of heritage enterprises from a brand revitalization perspective, this study investigates how a heritage enterprise achieves brand revitalization for cultural sustainability in the digital era. Using a Chinese heritage enterprise as a case organization, we identify three key processes of brand revitalization (i.e., redefining the heritage brand, communicating the updated image to consumers, and reconstructing the market boundaries of the heritage brand) for achieving cultural sustainability and examine the detailed mechanisms of each process. Our findings suggest that many brand revitalization efforts rely heavily on the use of various digital technologies. Theoretical and practical contributions are also discussed.