Industry Brands and Enchantment: How Disenchantment of the Mental Health App Industry Brand Influences Companies Within the Industry

Abstract

Enchantment is at the heart of most marketing and branding operations, therefore, there is reason to believe it is part of the broader picture of the more unexplored concept of industry brands. To study how enchantment discourses of industry brands influence companies, we employ the rich context of an industry brand that has received mixed reviews in terms of its ability to appeal to consumers, namely mental health apps. We utilise the real life case of the mental health app (MHA) Learning to Sleep (LTS) and uncover elements of disenchantment with the industry brand of mental health apps. This context serves as an epistemological window into how perceptions of the industry brand of MHA shape consumers’ desire to use the apps. Despite the importance of branding operations in promoting industries, research on industry brands is still scarce. Adding to literature that exists within the field of industry brands and enchantment we analyse the occurrence of enchantment, or disenchantment, through a discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews. Three main themes of disenchantment emerge 1) Lack of Effectiveness of MHA, 2) Stressors of Technology, and 3) Relations to Mental Health. In turn, we find possibilities of re-enchantment by creating awareness of disenchanting elements within an industry brand. We suggest four subcomponents of industry brands: trustworthiness, self-connection, lifestyle resonance, and myth, highlighting how industry brands can be understood.