The Evolution of Strategic Brand Management in the Age of Digital Disintermediation

Citation: Daria Malykina, "The Evolution of Strategic Brand Management in the Age of Digital Disintermediation", Universal Library of Business and Economics, Volume 02, Issue 03.

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of strategic brand management under the influence of digital disintermediation. The importance of this study arises from the transformation of market conditions driven by the rapid spread of digital disintermediation, which redefines institutional relationships between brand producers and their audiences. The departure from traditional intermediary structures has given rise to new direct-to-consumer engagement models, necessitating a reevaluation of the fundamental principles of strategic brand management. The objective of the research is to identify and analyze the key paradigmatic shifts in brand management caused by the abandonment of classical distribution channels, and to develop a conceptual model enabling companies to adapt to the realities of direct access. The methodological foundation of the study consists of a review of recent scholarly publications on digital transformation, the application of artificial intelligence in marketing, the development of direct-to-consumer (D2C) models, and the evolution of customer experience (CX). The analysis demonstrates that brands are increasingly moving away from channel-centric strategies in favor of a creative-engineering approach to orchestrating multidimensional brand ecosystems. Consequently, to ensure sustainable growth and competitiveness in the era of disintermediation, brands must establish flexible, technology-rich, and customer-centric strategies. The insights presented here will be of interest to researchers in strategic brand management and the digital economy, as well as to senior executives and marketing consultants tasked with developing brand governance models for the contemporary context.

Keywords: Digital Disintermediation, Strategic Brand Management, Artificial Intelligence, D2C, Customer Experience, Brand Ecosystem, Phygital, Data-Driven Branding, Hyper-Personalization, Brand Loyalty.

https://doi.org/10.70315/uloap.ulbec.2025.0203020