Trajectories of brand afterlife

What happens after brands are discontinued? This conceptual article unpacks the afterlife of brands and develops the notions of phantom brands and Frankenbrands. Phantom brands are commercially discontinued brands that still linger on in consumer culture and offer residual value for consumers in a spectrum of functional, and emotional/symbolic/social dimensions. Frankenbrands are relaunched phantom brands that have been subjected to inapt changes which have distorted the brands in such a way that they become defunct, freakish, and monstrous doppelgänger of their former selves. Building on the theory of liminality, a synthesis of extant literature, and phantom and Dr. Frankenstein’s metaphors, we derive a phantom brand typology to offer guidance in evaluating the potential of brands for relaunch and the notion of Frankenbrand to highlight the negative effects of misguided brand changes of relaunched brands. Thus, we conceptualize the trajectories of commercially discontinued brands to derive important implications for marketers and scholars interested in brand revival.