Brand­sociology

Alexander Deichsel, founder of Brandsociology, becomes professor at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Hamburg.

Deichsel lectures for the first time on the subject of brands as an economic sociological task at the Sociologists' Day in Zurich. Also in 1984, the renowned advertising expert Dr. Klaus Brandmeyer becomes a lecturer at the Institute of Sociology in Hamburg. 

The 1990s are marked by a comprehensive examination of the brand. Lectures, publications and debates by Alexander Deichsel dealt with the phenomenon of the brand. Deichsel's student Dr. Thomas Otte devotes himself to the principles of brand-evolutionary self-similarity and makes them manageable for brand management.

In 1992, Thomas Otte obtained his doctorate under Alexander Deichsel with a thesis entitled "Die Bewegungsgesetze der Produktmarke“ („The dynamics of product-brands“)  (published in 1993 under the title "Marke als System" at the Hans Domizlaff-Arbeitsstelle at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Hamburg) and analysed similarities between natural and market processes. The concept of "self-similarity" becomes part of Brandsociological theory.

In 1994, the "Institut für Markentechnik" is founded in Geneva by manager Manfred Schmidt. Shortly afterwards, Alexander Deichsel and Klaus Brandmeyer become members of the board of directors. It is the first private consulting institute in Europe to deal exclusively with brand management on a scientific basis. 

From 1995 to 2012, the "Jahrbuch Markentechnik"  ("Yearbook of Brand Technique") is published every two years, in which experts from practice and science explore the topic of brands as a long-term oriented value creation system from different perspectives and the respective current state of brand research is presented. A total of eight volumes will be published by 2012. In 1997, the "Internationale Markentechnikum" is held for the first time in Geneva with 200 guests; overall, it becomes the tone-setting series of events in the field of operative brand management until 2011.  

In this year, Timm Homann, a long-standing student of Deichsel and doctoral candidate, writes the book "Die Marke als Instanz der strategischen Unternehmensführung" (The Brand as an Instance of Strategic Corporate Management), which continues to substantiate the importance and conceptual approach of brandsociology in the corporate world today. Homann teaches as Professor of Strategic Management at the School of International Business at Bremen University of Applied Sciences.

In the 2000s, former students and graduates of the Institut for Brand Technique founded their own consulting companies and continued the brandsociological research and practical application as scientists and consultants, e.g. Brandmeyer Markenberatung in Hamburg in 2003. The consultancy makes a name for itself, among other things, by carrying out numerous successful projects in the DACH region in the field of city and regional brand management. 

In 2003, Brandmeyer founded the Brandmeyer-Markenberatung together with his former students Peter Pirck and Andreas Pogoda. Today, the consultancy is an authority in the field of empirical brand management. In addition to the development of strong brands, the company has built up a national and international reputation, particularly in the field of city brand management.

Deichsel publishes the fundamental work "Marken­soziologie". This book summarises for the first time the findings and the scientific foundation of the young discipline. In total, Alexander Deichsel publishes more than 30 books and 300 articles on Brandsociology. 

Deichsel becomes emeritus professor. Until 2018, however, he regularly continues the brand debate at the University of Hamburg, together with his students Arnd Zschiesche and Oliver Errichiello.

The Büro für Markenentwicklung is founded in Hamburg by Oliver Errichiello and Arnd Zschiesche. Alexander Deichsel lets the young Brandsociologists take the lead and continues to provide strong support from the background as founder and scientific associate of Brandsociology at the Büro für Markenentwicklung to this day. The brand consultancy explicitly based on Brandsociological findings and exclusively applying the "Genetic Code of the Brand". By 2023, the Büro für Markenentwicklung advises more than 200 companies on brand issues. Lecture tours take the Brandsociologists to Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and China. 

Since 2012, Oliver Errichiello and Arnd Zschiesche have been lecturers in brand management and Brandsociology at the Lucerne School of Business (HSLU Wirtschaft), where they have trained people with brand responsibility in Brandsociology management theory in more than 20 courses in the area of adult continuing education and supervised numerous master's theses that analyse brands on this scientific basis. 

In 2016, Marius Wernke meets Prof. Dr. Oliver Errichiello and Prof. Dr. Arnd Zschiesche as a student. What begins with a bachelor's thesis and then a sometimes heated exchange on the subject of branding leads to ongoing support as a strategic assistant in a variety of companies and projects. Since 2022, Marius Wernke has officially been a Brandsociologist at the Office for Brand Development in Hamburg, marking the beginning of a third generation of Brandsociologists. 

Oliver Errichiello and Arnd Zschiesche, together with Alexander Deichsel, completely revised his basic work, which had been sold out for years in its second edition. The book "Grundlagen der Markensoziologie. Die sozialen Prinzipien von Markenbildung und -führung in Theorie und Praxis". 

Further since 2017, the Privatissimés has been taking place every year, where a small circle of experts and friends of all around the world come together to exchange ideas about the topic of brands.

Oliver Errichiello is appointed the world's only honorary professor for Brandsociology and brand management at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences. 

2021 Arnd Zschiesche becomes Professor of Marketing at the West Coast University of Applied Sciences in Heide and Scientific Director of the regioMAR Institute based there to build a new generation of practically oriented brand managers. 

So far Erchiello and Zschiesche have published more than 20 specialist and non-fiction books with different brand sociological focuses in German and English. Further they have spoken worldwide in over 13 countries  to explain the phenomenon of brand and how to manage it in daily business.