The Symbolic Meaning of Brands

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.

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 a narrative 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 Possessions can also be part of a process of symbolic selfcompletion 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 means to 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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