Low involvement brands: is the brand manager to blame?

States that poor brand management has been held responsible for brands with which consumers have low levels of involvement, that is, consumers do not consider them important in decision‐making terms, and in consequence appear unthinking and even uncaring about their choices. Argues that if this is the case, then arguably the vast amounts of effort and expenditure invested in brands within many grocery and fast‐moving consumer goods is potentially misplaced. Discusses the nature of high and low level involvement decision making for brands. Presents research which shows that the level of involvement is largely determined at the category level not the brand level. It is therefore beyond the scope of brand management to alter these involvement perceptions, unless they are able to create new categories or sub‐categories for their brands. Argues that this is the real challenge of brand management.