The term "brand orientation" was first used in its current context by Urde (1994), who defines it as "an approach in which the processes of the organization revolve around the creation, development, and protection of brand identity in an ongoing interaction with target customers with the aim of achieving lasting competitive advantages" (Urde 1999, p. 117). Brand orientation thus represents the functional or business-unit focus on brands that support strong customer and stakeholder relationships regardless of the brand being at the corporate or product level or being a service or manufactured product (Bridson and Evans 2004), and suggests that an organization has a clear brand vision and identity. This also implies that market-sensing systems have been calibrated to provide insight into managing the relationship between the brand and its main stakeholders.