All the News That’s Fit to Capitalize: Person-brands and the Dynamics of Market Creation in Online Journalism

How do person-brands shape early markets? In an ethnographic study of the early online news market, the authors find that person-brands shape norms, values, and practices in early markets by crafting a unique organizational identity, cultivating founding myths, and building resonance with early followers. While prior research in marketing has noted the social embeddedness of person-brands, the authors show person-brands mobilize their social and cultural capital across the field to structure norms, values, and practices in a market, yielding valuable resources that benefit their firms. These findings yield insights to managers as to how to manage the organizational identity, founding myths, and audience resonance built by person-brands at an early stage in order to carry it forward as the market further develops.