Troll Proof Branding in the Age of Doppelgangers

by Gaurav Sood

Fake news, Hacktivism, Internet trolls and Culture jamming are rampant pop culture phenomena in the age of consumerism. Clever strategies such as emotional and cultural branding can only help your brand go as far as one little slip from grace. In the blink of an eye, your brand’s image can be tarnished by its monstrous doppelganger. Tweets by angry fans along with memes about your brand can become your worst nightmare. Troll Proof Branding in the Age of Doppelgangers captures the evolution of the brand alter ego, also known as brand doppelganger image created by consumers, anti-brand activists, competitors, opinion leaders, media and the public. It aids you in developing strategies to counter the impact of your brand doppelgangers. Arm yourself with strategies that promote brand positivity to fight trollers and hacktivists.

270 pages, Paperback

Published September 19, 2023

Reviews

[Gaurav Sood]

This book analyses various forms of consumer backlash and anti-brand activism and how culture jamming, fake news, trolling, and hacktivism create the brand doppelgänger imagery and try to destroy the cultural ideology and reputation of the brand both offline and online. With this book, I offer insights to marketers, readers, and management students on how the brand doppelgänger imagery can be created, measured, and managed by learning through various instances and case studies of top global brands. For instance, the types of trolls and fake news emerging in the digital era are at an all-time high but all trolls and their attacks are not the same. For the layman, I detail out their categories in the book such as the persistent debate troll, grammar and spell check troll, forever offended troll, blabbermouth troll, exaggeration, off-topic, and greedy spammer troll. A must read for marketers, management students and brand lovers!