Abstract

The relationship between marketing and design has a long heritage (see, e.g. Bloch, 1995 and Kotler and Rath, 1984). Research studies demonstrate that visual design stimuli are well-established drivers of consumer behavior (Giese et al., 2014 and Raz et al., 2008). Notwithstanding the centrality of design to the practical world of marketing, two decades ago Bloch asserted that “empirical studies of design issues are rare in marketing journals” (Bloch, 1995). Luchs and Swan repeated that assertion in 2011 (Luchs & Swan, 2011). Design “determines marketplace success, [but] its prominence continues to lag in the domain of academic marketing” (Bloch, 2011). For the convenience of researchers, consumer preference and the design of products are usually addressed separately, whereas for optimal (marketing-orientated) decisions they need to be brought together (Michalek, Feinberg, & Papalambros, 2005). Integrating design and marketing should lead to competitive advantages (Kang, Kim, & Park, 2007).

Published research tends to focus on the marketing implications of specific aspects of design such as product (e.g. Seva, Duh, & Helander, 2007) and product line design (Luo, 2011). Studies on other aspects such as experience design (e.g. Alcántara, Artacho, Martínez, & Zamo, 2014); urban design (e.g. De Nisco & Warnaby, 2014); and website design (e.g. Rosen & Purinton, 2004) are rarer and research into broader aspects of the links between design and marketing is sparse (Giese et al., 2014 and Park et al., 2013).

The guest editors hosted the inaugural 1st International Colloquium on Global Design and Marketing in Lincoln, UK in December 2011, aiming to address important research gaps. Following the symposium, authors further developed their research and this special issue comprises the best papers. The symposium and this special issue include a number of papers in which researchers attempt to bring together design, marketing and branding approaches. In particular, authors explore a wide range of questions concerning how design influences consumer behavior and corporate branding.