Brand Management
"Strong brands don't emerge by chance. They emerge when companies understand how people build trust, attribute meaning, and make decisions – and it is precisely this process that we investigate scientifically."
Dr. Bettina Beurer-Züllig, Head of the Brand Management Competence Center
The Center for Brand Management at the ZHAW Institute of Marketing Management conducts research, provides consulting, and offers executive education in strategic brand management, AI-driven communication, and data-based brand measurement. We support companies with scientifically grounded methods and directly actionable insights.
Center for Brand Management
The Center for Brand Management at the ZHAW Institute of Marketing Management combines research, consulting, and executive education around brand management in digital ecosystems. Our focus is on three areas that challenge brands today: AI-generated content, fragmented brand experiences, and trust.
We work with companies, associations, and foundations, from one-off brand studies to multi-year brand tracking. Our analyses are based on validated survey methods and current research in brand psychology and consumer behavior, and are directly transferable to practice.
Our offerings are aimed at companies seeking to collaborate with a university of applied sciences, executives looking to advance their expertise in strategic brand management or digital communication, and anyone looking to apply brand-based approaches concretely within their organization.
What sets us apart from traditional consulting
Traditional consulting firms rely on proven frameworks. We complement this with independent, scientifically grounded evidence that consulting firms can rarely offer.
Our analyses draw on current research in brand psychology, consumer behavior, and communication science. We apply the same methods published in international academic journals and translate them into concrete recommendations for your specific situation, not off-the-shelf solutions, but answers tailored to your starting point.
You also benefit from direct access to our network of researchers, other ZHAW institutes, and funding programs such as Innosuisse, which can help co-finance your project.
Our services: Brand management, research, and consulting
Through research and service projects, we can support you individually based on your needs and questions around brand management.
While standard service projects are implemented directly, research projects also offer the option of applying for co-financing through a funding institution. This is of particular interest for innovation projects.
Possible forms of collaboration include, for example:
- Contract research (e.g., qualitative and quantitative market research, effectiveness measurement of initiatives, customer segmentation, etc.)
- Consulting and service projects (e.g., brand tracking, brand perception, strategic and digital brand management, etc.)
- Funded projects (e.g., Innosuisse-funded innovation projects with companies)
We develop and operate continuous brand tracking systems based on validated scales and representative panel data, allowing you to measure brand awareness, brand image, and purchase intent over time, methodologically sound and comparable.
We advise on the ethical use of AI in brand communication, covering everything from disclosure requirements to effectiveness research to concrete guidelines for the use of generative content. This is grounded in our own research on trust and the perception of AI-generated advertising, as well as ongoing review of internationally published effectiveness studies.
We guide companies from brand analysis through to a clear positioning for digital and physical touchpoints. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we identify positioning gaps and develop differentiating brand strategies.
In addition, we offer various opportunities for personal development through our executive education programs.
Explore our programs (course pages available in German):
Every collaboration starts with a question
Send us your question or tell us about your project idea.
We'll respond within three to four working days and discuss together how we can support you.
Click the button to get in touch with Dr. Bettina Beurer-Zuellig:
Research Focus Areas
Brand trust & AI communication
How does the use of AI change trust in brands? We investigate how people perceive AI-generated advertising content, what role disclosure requirements play, and how ethical guidelines contribute to credible brand communication.
Focus: Trust and ethics in AI advertising, disclosure regulations and perception research.
Brand experience & perception
Digital touchpoints shape brand perception in ways that traditional models can barely capture. We investigate how AI-generated content on platforms influences consumers' self-image and well-being, and what consequences this has for brand management and consumer behavior.
Focus: Impact of digital content, brand perception, influence on self-image and well-being, platform marketing.
Brand identity through digital transformation
Brand identities are under constant pressure to adapt as new platforms emerge, society shifts, and AI increasingly shapes communication processes. We study how companies deliberately evolve their brand identity within digital ecosystems, and the role societal systems play in that evolution.
Focus: Brand identity in digital transformation, platform strategies, societal change, AI as a brand driver.
Brand Lab
The Brand Lab of the ZHAW Institute of Marketing Management is the visible anchor point for applied brand research at ZHAW. As part of the Center for Brand Management, the Lab is being systematically expanded: studies, prototypes and practical projects on brand management, brand experience and digital communication are developed here, in close collaboration with companies and students.
Brands looking to retain trust in an AI-shaped world don't need better promises. They need better evidence on how people attribute meaning and make decisions. That's precisely our field of research.