2020 Volume 39 Issue 3 Pages 7-20
This article aims to pursue the following two questions: (1) What is imagination related to brand? (2) How can we build a new research paradigm based on brand and imagination? Based on a review of the literature in various fields, we found that while imagination is regarded as a critical concept in understanding human conduct, consistent and firm theories have not yet been established. We also found some commonalities on the concept of imagination. Imagination is considered to be a concept that overlaps with thought, emotion, perception, and memory. It was also pointed out that imagination functions as a force of integration of these concepts. As recent neuro-brain studies have suggested, recursion is a notion that contributes significantly to understanding the essential part of imagination. Based on these theoretical explorations, we advance a new definition of brand, adding the element of imagination and propose a new research paradigm with a consumer behavior model that includes imagination and brand as key variables, and is further expected to be empirically examined.