Although we call into question the preeminence of the nation as a
unit of analysis in international marketing and international brand-
ing research, we do not seek to discard it. The nation remains a
powerful structuring framework constructing people as citizens
(Hannerz 1997). In the branding arena, there is plenty of evidence
to suggest that national myths are especially powerful tools for
developing iconic brands (Holt 2004; Lewi 2003). Nevertheless, we
call for a new geographical architecture to produce knowledge
about the relationships between globalization and brands. Thus,
although we agree with Pries (2005, p. 185) that “the national con-
tainer society can no longer be taken for granted as the natural unit
of social analysis,” the challenge involves determining which
spatial-geographic units of analysis are appropriate for which type
of societal phenomenon or social problem, including evolving
preferences for brands associated with different cultural and geo-
graphical registers.