The brand, the persona and the algorithm: How datafication is reconfiguring marketing work☆

Evidence suggests that datafication is bringing a potentially profound yet poorly understood transformation of marketing work. Most companies still struggle to adapt to the data deluge, which challenges the role of marketing inside an organization. This research uses a single case study to analyze how datafication is reshaping marketing work through the lens of sociomateriality and affordance theory. The findings shed light on the agency and imbrication of the persona, the brand and the algorithm together with managers and consumers. They reveal two actualized affordances obtained through datafication: fragmented consumer tracking and organic branding. This research contributes to sociomateriality and affordance theory by introducing a new type of agent, namely, agents of fiction, which are characterized by a symbolic and immaterial nature. This research also contributes to the marketing-as-practice perspective by providing an in-depth understanding of marketing work as a result of dynamic imbrications between human and nonhuman agents.