the symbolic meaningof brands

8/12/2019 The Symbolic Meaning of Brands

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The Symbolic Meaning

of Brands

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The postmodern consumer and

symbolic meaning

Consumers do not make consumption choices solely from

products utilities, that is what they actually do, but also from

their symbolic meanings, that is, what they communicate

Symbolic meaning

Self

Social

The meanings of consumer goods are grounded in their social

context and the demand for goods derives more from their

role in cultural practices than from the satisfaction of simple

human needs.

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The postmodern consumer

and identity

Through the socialization process we learn not only to agree on the shared

meanings of some symbols but also to develop individual symbolic

interpretations of our own

Narrative identity theory

in order to make time human and socially shared, we require anarrative identity for our self

Internalexternal dialectic of identification

Self identity must be validated through social interaction

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Identity and self- symbolic

consumption

Symbolic consumption helps us to categorize ourselves in

society

Possessionscan also be part of a process of symbolic self-

completion

There can be different and inconsistent cultural meanings to a

brand depending on the extent to which we share the

collective imagination

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Lived versus mediated experience

Lived experience

Practical activities and face- to- face encounters in our everyday lives

What we see as reality

Mediated experience

The consumption of media products allowing us to experience events

which are spatially and temporally distant from the practical context of

daily life.

Recontextualized experience

Advertising, movies etc...

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Symbolic meaning, advertising, and

brands

Advertising is a potent

source of valued symbolic

meanings

Advertising is both a meansto transfer or create

meanings into culture and a

cultural product itself.

See SuperGa Ad

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Identity and social- symbolic

consumption

The symbolism of consumption is almost always socially

constructed.

Even the meaning of advertising can become socially shared

after discussion with others, See Fig 3.1

Pot Noodle campaign

The process of the consumption of the mediated experience of

brand advertising, the lived experience of the purchase and

usage of brands and the two realms of self- symbolism and

social- symbolism is illustrated in Fig. 3.2

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Pot Noodle campaign

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Figure 3.1

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Figure 3.2

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Some implications for

brand strategy Brands, trust, and fragmentation

Brands offer consistency in an ever- changing world and this

reassurance is a vital element in their added value

Brands and deep meaning

Brands can evoke profound feelings of nostalgia

We have periods in our life of heightened sensitivity

Adolescence, see Levis Ad

Brand rituals

Brandfests

Subcultures

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Levis Ad

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the symbolic meaningof brands

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