A view of Muslim consumer-based brand equity: the elephant in the room

AlMakrami, Ali H. and Wilson, Jonathan A.J. (2010) A view of Muslim consumer-based brand equity: the elephant in the room. In: 1st International Conference on Islamic Marketing and Branding: Exploring Issues and Challenges, 29-30 Nov 2010, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

It could be argued that in the wake of a tsunami of global events, which have catapulted Muslims into the spotlight, it is inevitable that more and more aspects of their existence will generate interest. In the field of Branding and Marketing, a new school of thought has emerged which suggests that Muslims are representative of a significant homogeneous consumer segment. They have been glibly dubbed in some quarters as the “New Hispanics”. The elephant in the room here is that historically, this has seldom been discussed within mainstream marketing, until now. However, perhaps more worryingly, the question arises why not? - as common sense should prevail in observing that this segment has existed as long as Islam has been on the planet. Therefore the significant argument presented in this paper is not so much concerned with establishing existence of this segment - rather, are existing theoretical brand frameworks robust enough to withstand their application to the same degree to a Muslim segment, in the light of new knowledge.

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