COLLABORATIVE BRAND ATTACKS IN SOCIAL MEDIA: EXPLORING THE ANTECEDENTS, CHARACTERISTICS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF A NEW FORM OF BRAND CRISES

Recently, a new challenge has emerged for brand management. Large numbers of Internet users attack brands on social media collaboratively, a phenomenon that we refer to as collaborative brand attacks (CBAs). Yet despite the frequency and the relevance of CBAs, little is known about why and how they develop. In this research, we apply a Delphi study followed by a qualitative analysis of multiple CBA cases in order to develop a framework that explains the triggers, the amplifiers, as well as the reaction strategies to CBAs. These findings highlight the conceptual differences between CBAs and traditional brand crises.