Dr James Freund
Lecturer
Marketing
Charles Carter BuildingLancaster University
Bailrigg
Lancaster
LA1 4YX
Profile
Before returning to Lancaster in October 2007, I spent nine years at BT as Head of Brand Strategy. Whilst at BT, I conducted the global research programme behind the creation of the O2 brand and played a central role in the development of the O2 name and identity. I was responsible for naming new products and services at BT, and played a major part in BT’s switch from the BT Piper logo to the current BT Connected World mark.
From 1987-1991 I worked at the advertising agency FCB.
Research Interests
My research uses psychoanalytic theory to explore how stakeholders relate to brands, and how brands develop and evolve. This Brand Psychoanalytic approach investigates conscious and unconscious aspects of brands. Unconscious aspects can surface in 'Doppelgänger' brands i.e. anti-brand images created by critical stakeholders. With my PhD student, Erik Jacobi, I have written a paper describing how Goldman Sachs and its critics have struggled to control the public image of the bank. I am also researching the role brands and consumer culture play in helping and hindering appropriate organizational responses to global warming.
Prospective PhD students who are interested in researching cultural and psychological aspects of brands and markets, for example via an ethnography of a corporation, a think tank, a PR, lobbying, or market research agency, or a new social movement, should email me.
Professional Role
Marketing Department Undergraduate Admissions Tutor
Director of BA Advertising and Marketing (N501)
Qualifications
BSc Psychology (Hull), MA Creative Writing (Lancaster), PhD Creative Writing (Lancaster)
Current Teaching
Undergraduate
MKTG101 Ad Majors Video Project
MKTG232 Advertising
MKTG331 Advertising Research
MKTG334 Integrated Communications
Postgraduate
MSc in Advanced Marketing Management
MKTG405 Brand Communications
MKTG409 MSc Dissertations
PhD
My PhD student, Erik Jacobi, is using actor network theory to study the process of market-making. He has completed an ethnography in the planning department of a London advertising agency.
Recent publications
- Revenge of the brand monsters: how Goldman Sachs doppelganger turned monstrous
Freund, J. & Jacobi, E. 2013 In: Journal of Marketing Management. 29, 1-2, p. 175-194. 20 p.
Journal article - Personal Eschatologies: How Consumers Relate to Macro-Structural Entities
Freund, J. & Jacobi, E. 08/2012
Conference paper - Sustainable consumption: opportunities for consumer research and public policy
Prothero, A., Dobscha, S., Freund, J., Kilbourne, W E., Luchs, M., Ozanne, L. & Thogersen, J. 2011 In: Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. 30, 1, p. 31-38. 8 p.
Journal article - How research into consumer brand attitudes led to the creation of the O2 brand
Freund, J. 2009 In: Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective. London and New York : Pearson Higher Education p. 361-366. 6 p.
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