Exploring the Power of Brand Heroes: A Systematic Literature Review on the Role, Meaning, and Influence in Marketing

This study aims to clarify the concept of Brand Hero, in the existing marketing literature, the constructs that have emerged and their characteristics through a systematic literature review. We identified different constructs: Consumer Heroes, Entrepreneur Heroes, Celebrity Heroes and Hero Characters The results allowed us to create an initial theoretical framework on the brand heroization process. Heroic mythmaking involves transmitting values of the hero archetype, structuring a heroic story, and detailing heroic actions. Heroic storytelling is used to emotionally engage individuals with brands and impact their self-identity and inspire concrete actions. This appears to be the first literature review on this topic and represents an initial guide for researchers to develop further qualitative and quantitative research.