Millennials in (re)construction. How young consumers relate with their brands

Despite Consumer-brand relationships (CBR) currently represent a lively research field, little is known on how millennial consumers – the generational cohort born between approximately 1980 and 2000 – conceive and develop strong attachment to brands. This paper develops a narrative approach based on the collection and interpretation of consumers’ diaries to understand how Millennials enter and maintain close relationships with brands to expand their self and their capability to use brands as constructive resources to face the current climate of uncertainty, insecurity, and discontinuity. Preliminary findings underline that young consumers cherish a crepuscular and heroic connection with their branded objects, which represent material and concrete repositories of eudaimonia.