Headless brands challenge the very idea that a brand is centralised, and our assumptions about what a brand is and how it works. Headless brands refer to community-driven brand dynamics, without a centralised managerial body. In this panel, we illustrate the various stages of a possible headless brand's life cycle; look at the wider context of evolving brand-consumer relationships; and explore how fandom, communities, cryptocurrencies, and decentralisation are transforming the very nature of what a brand can be.
Context: Central brand identities are being disrupted. Blockchain-based decentralised organisations incentivise users to spread their own personal brand narratives, with Bitcoin as the first headless brand.