Why halal causes brands trouble

The phenomenon of Islamic Marketing and Branding has attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners alike. Its status as a new and separate discipline is not solely due to an identified need and demand generated by consumers; but more importantly because existing schools of brand thought and frameworks appear to have gaps, which necessitate investigation and refinement. The purpose of this paper is to address the challenges which the concept of halal presents - when attempting to understand how halal-conscious consumers behave; and what it takes to maintain a credible and authentic brand proposition. The authors assert that halal-conscious consumers are risk-averse, which drives discerning and high-involvement behavioural traits. Furthermore in the face of this, brand managers are still unclear how far they can push more emotionally led brand messages. Finally, the paper presents a halal decision-making paradigm - as a basis for constructing salient and engaging brands.