To explain holistic market research approach and describe specific techniques how to explore Brandscape, brands identity and brand meanings in cultural context. To explore how brands meanings are created by use of signs and symbols in code systems within discourses. To explain the role of marketing communication in meaning transfer to create successful strong culturally relevant brands.

1. BY LUCIA TREZOVA
InSymbolsResearch.com
2014
Mining the Brandscape
or marketing research in transition

2. We All Are Culture
Depending:
TO EXPRESS OUR
INNER AND UNIQUE
THOUGHTS AND
FEELINGS
WE ALL MUST USE
CULTURALLY
SHARED SYMBOLS.
THE WHOLE
COMMUNICATION IS
ABOUT RECEIVING AND
SENDING OVER
MESSAGES
EXPRESSED USING
TOOLS PROVIDED BY
CULTURE.

3. Become permeable and
interconnected
Getting data is not the problem
anymore, contrariwise, we are
data overloaded
Information is mostly fragmented
and often contradictory
We miss data interconnections
and data relationships
The more data we have, the more
we call for its genuine
understanding
Understanding means putting
information into context
WHAT IS REALLY AN ISSUE HERE IS:
DATA INTERPRETATION = EXTRACTING DATA
TRUE MEANINGS
THEWORLDHASCHANGED:
Too Much Data,
Too Little Understanding

4. I
What I do?
CULTURE IS A WEB OF
MEANINGS....
...AND EACH BRAND REPRESENTS
ONE OF THESE FINE STRINGS OF
WHICH THE WEB IS KNITTED...

5. WHAT IS A BRANDSCAPE?
in cultures with
specific norms,
values, beliefs,
with their history,
issues, problems...
BRANDS EXIST IN THESE WIDE CONTEXTS WHICH CONSTITUTE
SYMBOLIC ENVIRONMENTS =
BRANDSCAPES
No brand is an island... Brands exist:
in markets with
many competing
brands...
in societies
consisting of people
with their desires,
plans, aspirations...

6. BRANDSCAPE IS A SYMBOLIC UNIVERSE IN WHICH
BRANDS EXIST AND FROM WHICH BRANDS DRAW UPON
Brand
Consumers’
needs,desires,
expectations...
Social and
cultural
categories
Cultural myths,
beliefs,norms,values
Competing
brands Brand
logo
Brand
packaging
Brand
heritage
Advertising,
brand comm
Brand
price
Point of
sales
Brand
stories

7. Brands do not have only functional benefits. Brands also
have another value: symbolic value.
Consumer
Brandscape
is a kind of
language in
which
goods
„talk“ and
convey
meanings
SYMBOLIC CONSUMPTION
TO CREATE PERSONAL IDENTITIES
TO IDENTIFY WITH GROUPS OR TO DISTANCE FROM THEM
TO MARK TRANSITION FROM ONE LIFE STAGE TO THE NEXT ONE
Brands engage consumers in an imagery/symbolic process of
need fulfillment since goods communicate also social
and emotional benefits that satisfy needs, such as
need for status, self-image, love, safety, etc.
Consumers use brands:
By symbolic consumption consumers project their personal meanings into
goods and use brand meanings to
satisfy their individual symbolic needs

8. CULTURE
Brandscape is an open two-way permeable and
very sensitive system, prone to absorb and reflect
all changes in society as well as to cause social
changes.
Since people are symbolic
beings, all these
exchanges are done in
symbolic ways: by
transferring meanings.
CONSUMERS
BRANDSCAPE IS A SYSTEM
consisting of 4 elements
According to a system
theory, every change
of a system element
causes the change of
the whole system
Just imagine how Internet or
smart mobile phones affected
our lives, or how our
grammas’ lives changed after
washing machines got to
markets...

9. What does that mean?
It means that....

10. ...BRANDSCAPES
CREATE AND INFLUENCE
SYMBOLIC SYSTEM OF MEANINGS
ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND =
BRAND MEANINGS
WHICH ENABLE SYMBOLIC
CONSUMPTION AND SYMBOLIC
SATISFACTION

11. BRAND MEANING...
...represents all kinds of symbolic satisfaction
brand is able to gratify: need for status, power, love,
sex, control, indulgence, harmony, joy, creativity,
intellectual fulfilment, etc.)
...condenses all associations which brand
produces, and all connotations brand evokes
...represents all consumer’s fantasies brand
triggers, and all stories surrounding brand
...is not just a consumer’s perception of quality and
reliability of brand, but these are also included

12. Choose your favourite beer...
close your eyes...and let yourself imagine...
What did come to your mind?
....an image of a dew mug of your beer in hot summer day...
.... beer as a reminder of a great party
.... beer as an opportunity to meet old school mates and have fun
....a glass of beer as good ending of your family lunch
....a beer as a pleasant break during a sport
....beer as an alcoholic beverage causing a headache
....beer as a sign of national pride
....beer as a start of conversation on meaning of life with your friends
....beer as an alcohol causing family trouble....
....shopping for your beer
....your beer great taste and color
....your beer logo and your beer bottles....
....beer advertisement
WHATISTHEMEANINGOFBEERFORYOU?...

13. Brand Meaning includes cultural and personal
associations connected to brand
Brand meaning is reflected in Brand Value
Brand Value is measured as Brand Equity
expressed in $
THUS BRAND MEANING IS NOT AN ACADEMIC
ISSUE, IT IS A KEY TO BRAND SUCCESS

14. We project our personal
meanings into goods and use
brands meanings as
tools to satisfy our personal
symbolic needs
...THUS, WHAT MARKETERS SELL ARE NOT
PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, BUT RATHER BRAND
MEANINGS STORED IN CONSUMERS’ HEADS
By choosing brands we
buy all brand
meanings which are
encoded into brands
...all associations, connotations,
fantasies, stories, images, ideas,
narratives, myths, values, norms and
promises...

15. What does that mean?
It means that....

16. ...IN ORDER TO MANAGE BRANDS
SUCCESSFULLY,
BRAND MEANINGS
SHOULD BE EXPLORED IN THEIR
COMPLEXITY INCLUDING
THE WHOLE BRANDSCAPE:
CONSUMERS + BRANDS +
CULTURAL CONTEXTS

17. Which DIRECT consequences
does it have for a current
marketing research?

18. ...It means that apart from focusing
on Brands and Consumers,
Marketing Research should cover
also
nowadays often neglected part
of the Brandscape:
CULTURE & SOCIETY

19. THE „NEW“ HOLISTIC MARKET
RESEARCH SHOULD STAND ON
ALL 4 PILLARS:
• Culture and society
• Brand and its heritage
• Competing brands
• Consumers
BRANDSCAPE

20. Culture & Society

21. Culture also gives us the tool to talk about reality: by
acquiring and using language
Language does not describe and reflect reality, language
rather creates and constructs reality
CULTURE SHAPES WHO WE ARE AND HOW
WE PERCEIVE, UNDERSTAND AND ACT
TOWARD „REALITY“

22. CULTURE IS LIKE LENSES THROUGH WHICH WE SEE AND
INTERPRETATE THE WORLD
Every element of our world that we can virtually isolate, demark and give a name to represents certain
culture category. Culture categories are, therefore, components, discrete
parcels, units from which the world is created, built of and segmented into...
They are our mental concepts = constructs, through which we grasp reality,
into which we divide up reality, by which we organize social reality, thus through
which we try to UNDERSTAND and HANDLE the whole world
We create a category as „friendship“ , we create category as
„marriage“ , or category of „fast food“ , we construct what
the „beauty“ means, or „purity“, we create the category of
„personal hygiene“, or what means to be a „women“ or to be
a „man“ , etc.
HOW DO WE ACQUIRE THEM ?

23. • We ACQUIRE and construct these concepts via social learning
• These concepts are „cultural“ because they are rooted in and
determined by a culture in which they exist
We learn them by growing up, by living in certain culture...we put them together from
many different and seemingly unconnected sources as a puzzle ...
...by watching TV, by listening to the radio,
by reading books, newspapers and
magazines, by interacting in social media,
by talking to people, by observing people,
some are learnt in schools, some are learnt
in families, or in peer groups, etc. WHAT THE „THINGS“ MEAN
This exposure teaches us:
WHAT ATTITUDE TO ADOPT
TOWARD „THINGS“
HOW TO ACT, HOW TO HANDLE
THEM
This all determines how
we perceive the world...
...AND WE AS MEMBERS OF SOCIETY BY OUR EVERYDAY ACTING ARE
CONSTANTLY ENGAGED IN A CONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

24. How is this all connected to
marketing and brands...?

25. VERY CLOSELY ...LET’S USE BASIC LOGIC...
...AND BRANDS
ARE SYSTEMS
OF MEANINGS...
...IF SOCIAL CATEGORIES
ARE SYSTEMS OF
MEANINGS…
...AND PEOPLE/CONSUMERS
SEEK IN BRANDS SYMBOLIC
SATISFACTION…
there is a tight connection between brands and social/cultural categories:
THEN...
Cultural meanings are transferred from the culture to the products and to the consumers
CULTURAL
CATEGORY
PRODUCTS CONSUMERS
marketing comm marketing comm
MARKETING COMMUNICATION IS AN AGENT TRANSFERRING MEANINGS
FROM CULTURE TO GOODS AND TO CONSUMERS

26. „Advertising and brand communication mediate this transfer of meanings
between cultural categories and attach them to brands.
…Over time such meaning transfer become embedded in popular culture, so
that icons as Marlboro Man transcend the brand per se and become symbols
for cultural ideals and myths.
(Grant McCracken, 1986)
„Consumer Brandscape forms a network of meanings derived from multiple
cultural contexts. For consumers to integrate these cultural contexts at all, they
merge meanings from one context to another by means of symbols“
(Laura Oswald, 2012)
SO, MARKETING COMMUNICATION IS THE MEDIATOR
ENABLING DIALOGUE BETWEEN: CONSUMERS, THEIR CULTURE AND
BRANDS
3. CULTURE
4.
CONSUMERS
...inside Brandscape CONSUMERS
...and its 4
elements
Perpetuating
and never
ending
dialogue

27. BRANDS ARE SUCCESSFUL OR SIMPLY RELEVANT TO THE
EXTENT TO WHICH THEY CAN CONNECT PROPERLY TO
MEANINGS OF CULTURAL/SOCIAL CATEGORIES
IF THEY CANNOT, THEY BECOME SIMPLY IRRELEVANT
AND ARE GOING TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THE MARKET
What are consequences of this...?
ADS OR MARKETING COMMUNICATION GENERALLY ARE
SUCCESSFUL ONLY TO THE EXTENT TO WHICH THEY CAN
MANAGE THIS MEANING TRANSFER
1.
2.
IF THEY CANNOT, THEY WILL NOT WORK FOR THE
BRAND

28. „Brand message must reflect a deep and nuanced
understanding of the multiple cultural categories in
which the brand is embedded – from the brand legacy,
to consumer culture, to the popular culture“
(Laura Oswald, 2012)

29. What does that mean for
market research?
It means that...

30. ...SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CATEGORIES
TO WHICH BRANDS ARE CONNECTED
SHOULD BE
TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT
AND EXPLORED THOROUGHLY ...

31. WHY?
Because...

32. It is like looking at a picture and seeing a mouth, seeing the eyes, perceiving
nose, ears, eyebrows: (facts), but without any ability to recognize that what
we are looking at is actually a face (understanding)
...neglecting cultural and social context might cause that a lot of
research findings might end up as just facts – as unconnected dots:
numbers (in case of quanti) or claims (in case of quali), unable to
explain what these facts mean for
consumers-brand relationships and what business decisions should be
made based on research findings...
...BECAUSE, THEY MIGHT PROVIDE INFORMATION, BUT
NOT UNDERSTANDING...

33. How can we explore social
categories and brand
meanings in cultural
context...?

34. CODES
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS
BY FINDING OUT HOW THEY
ARE BEING CREATED !

35. We comprehend social „reality“ by understanding Code System
existing in culture and by knowledge of Signs which are used
within the given code system.
Code system of colors says in Western culture that white
means „innocence“ and „purity“ and „ youth“ and also „piece“
and „spirit“ and „hope“ and „soul“ and „holy“ and generally
„good“;
while black means „ sadness“ or „grief“ and also „obscure“ and
„deep“ and „unknown“ and „unconscious“ and also „dangerous“
and generally „evil“.
It says that red represents „dynamism“, and „activity“ and
„sex“ and „fight“ and „aggressiveness “, etc.
CODES FUNCTION AS „DICTIONARIES“, AS RULES HOW TO
TRANSLATE AND ORGANIZE SIGNS
COLOR CODE SYSTEM
SIGNS FUNCTION AS „BRICKS“ WHICH WE COMBINE
TOGETHER TO CREATE MEANINGS
Codes are systems of
conventions how to „read“
(decode) signs and how to
„create“ (encode) social
categories using signs

36. SIGN IS SOMETHING THAT REPRESENTS SOMETHING
OTHER THAN ITSELF...THUS, IN COMMUNICATION
EVERYTHING IS A SIGN....
SIGNS CAN BE INTERPRETED....SIGNS CONVEY MEANINGS....
this is the sign
of danger...
this is the sign of a
high status for
men
this is the
sign of wealth
for women
this is the
sign of nature
Or more academically....sign comprises of:
Signifier
Signified
Mental concept – social
category to which it
refers...
SIGN
Material vehicle of a
sign which can be
image, text, sound,
tone or gesture...

37. CODE SYSTEMS ARE RULES OR CONVENTIONS WHICH
GOVERN USING SIGN SYSTEMS
...they can be written (like traffic rules or laws) or implicit (as good manners or fashion)
To understand equations, the math code must be
learnt, to program applications e.g. C++ code must be
learnt, etc.
Codes provide us with clues, instructions, they guide us how
signs should be „read“ and „used“ in communication
CODES AFFECT HOW WE:
1. Decode - extract and understand meanings of bunch of
signs (textual or visual or numerical or musical ones, etc...)
2. Encode - how we materialize, express via signs (text or
pictures or music or movement or gesture) information we
want to communicate...
A corporate “newspeak” containing expressions
like: “lets’ brainstorm, write me minutes, what about
outsource it” also requires knowledge of the special
code to understand what is meant;
SMS communication has its own code full of
abbreviations;
to read a non-verbal behaviour requires skills to
read „body language” code, etc.
There are many special codes which must be learnt in order to understand:
The most prevalent and obvious code is
every language

38. The key question is:
where are these codes
used and contained?
Where do they work?
CULTURE IS “MACRO-CODE„
EACH PRODUCT CATEGORY OR MARKET
SEGMENT USE THEIR OWN CODES
CODES ARE FRAMEWORKS
WHICH ARE USED BY BOTH:
PRODUCERS AND INTERPRETERS
OF COMMUNICATION
THEY WORK WITHIN AND INSIDE OF
DISCOURSES

39. „They all are created by the different “texts” linked to
other texts, which altogether represent con-text.“
DISCOURSES ARE WAYS HOW WE „TALK” ABOUT THE
„THINGS“ – NOT ONLY BY WORDS, BUT ALSO BY IMAGES...
They structure the way we talk and thus think about the world. They induce our
worldview: what we think about ourselves and other people - they determine
identities, they affect how we structure social categories, they influence our
beliefs, values, norms...
AND OTHER
MEANS TOO

40. If you want to change consumers’ thinking, you have
to change the discourse!

41. TO FILL UP BRANDS WITH
DESIRED MEANINGS
USING
TANGIBLE SYMBOLS
MEANINGFUL IN EXISTING
CODE SYSTEMS
(PRODUCT CATEGORY, MARKET SEGMENT AND CULTURE)
IN ORDER TO CONNECT BRANDS TO
SOCIAL CATEGORIES
IN
DISCOURSE

42. What is this process like....?

43. 1. DIAGNOSE CODE SYSTEM OF BRANDSCAPE AND IDENTIFY
EXISTING CODES AS WELL AS EMERGING ONES = NEW TRENDS
3. IDENTIFY THOSE SIGNS AND SYMBOLS WHICH WILL EXPRESS
INTENDED MEANINGS BEST, AND THEN
Steps: 1 – 2 – 3 and 4 or 5
4. SUGGEST NEW SIGNS
AND SYMBOLS
CONVEYING CURRENT
BRAND MEANINGS
5. SUGGEST NEW BRAND
MEANINGS USING NEW
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS
OR
OR
MANAGE DISCOURSE
2. DETERMINE MEANINGS DESIRABLE TO COMMUNICATE

44. ...Which codes govern market segments and product categories...
...Which signs and symbols are available, shared and understood by the
target group...
...How brand meanings are embedded in the broad culture: in cultural
categories, in myths, in social organization and beliefs and values of the
target market...
Because marketing signs are context-sensitive, they are perceived through a filter of
the social and cultural codes
While in western country
McDonald means cheap and
unhealthy food, in developing
countries it can mean
indulgence and luxury food
BY THIS PROCEDURE YOU WILL DISCOVER:
While for mothers some piece
of clothes means an old,
unfashionable garment worn in
her twenties, for her daughter it
can mean a cool retro thing
While smoking was some time
ago considered widely cool and
in, now in many cultures
smoking is a sign of the low
social class

45. How is it performed in reality...?

46. In order to understand what consumers
really think and feel, it is necessary to
go beyond their words...
WHAT EXACTLY IS MEANT BY THIS...?

47. When studying brands in cultural context we do not necessarily
ask directly consumers what they think about culture or
brands, it is simply impossible...
We rather explore manifestation of their beliefs, norms, values,
attitudes in culture itself - we focus on evidence
We study systems of sign organization - we study codes directly
in culture products which includes also studying brands and
marketing comm
We study how the meanings are derived and materialized via
signs and symbols - how they are encoded into culture
products which includes also studying brands and brand comm

48. Why this way...?
To „unlock“ these key assumptions, it is vital to study not the consumer,
but culture itself. It is necessary to study culturally framed
meanings of brands.
...BECAUSE WE ARE NOT ABLE TO COMMUNICATE IT DIRECTLY...
1. We are so deeply immersed in our own culture that
most our key assumptions about culture are taken for
granted: we perceive them as „natural“ and „normal“
2. We are so absorbed by them that they became implicit
for us, we simply „live“ them without registering them
3. These cultural patterns, norms, beliefs are, therefore,
mostly unconscious and therefore not accessible to our
rational minds and to our individual awareness
4. We are controlled by them without being explicitly
aware of them
5. Our needs, our attitudes, expectations and beliefs are
locked in a cultural web

49. „Culturally-variable perceptual codes are typically
inexplicit, and we are not normally conscious of the
roles which they play. To users of the dominant, most
widespread codes, meanings generated within such
codes tend to appear 'obvious' and 'natural’.“
(Laura Oswald, 2012)

50. How can we „unlock“ them
and make them explicit...?
Lets’ look at it in a summary using
„beer business“ as an example ....

51. Your Brand:
Pilsen
MICRO LEVEL
ANALYSIS
Product Category:
Beer Category
Market Segment:
Alcoholic Beverages
Culture: Czech Culture
MACRO LEVEL
ANALYSIS
Cultural Myths
Cultural Narratives
Dominant Ideology
Cultural Shifts
Norms, Values, Standards
Lifestyle Trends
Demographical Change
Economy, History
Pop-culture and
Media narratives
Rituals of Consumptions
Norms, Beliefs, Attitudes
Consumption Myths
Archetypes
Stories
Imagery
Brand Discourse
Brand Rhetoric
Brand Symbolism
Brand Stories
Brand Metaphors and Associations
Communication Audit
Visual Codes in Category
Language Codes in Category
Use of Signs and Symbols
Competitors’ Brand Discourse
Competitors’ Brand Rhetoric

52. There are 4 levels of analysis:
Lets’ make it simple:
...And several ways of analysis, depending on the
levels...for example:
1. BRAND
2. PRODUCT CATEGORY
3. MARKET SEGMENT
4. CULTURE
1. CULTURAL MYTHS ANALYSIS
4. RITUALS OF CONSUMPTION ANALYSIS
7. BRAND RHETORIC ANALYSIS, ETC.
6. BRAND METAPHOR ANALYSIS
The aim is to find „disconnections“ = „gaps“ between BRAND vs. PRODUCT
vs. CATEGORY/MARKET SEGMENT vs. CONSUMERS vs. CULTURE
or to discover new „connections“ - opportunity for brands
2. VISUAL IMAGERY CATEGORY ANALYSIS
5. STORY-TELLING ANALYSIS
3. ANALYSIS OF CATEGORY RHETORIC
It is not an imperative
to cover all of them!

53. POSSIBLE SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
WRITTEN TEXT:
NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES
DIGITAL MEDIA: e.g. web pages content
SOCIAL MEDIA: e.g. FB, Google+, blogs, Twitter...
VISUAL MATERIAL:
AUDIO MATERIAL :
BEHAVIOR:
WHAT WHERE
TV ADVERTISING AND PRINT ADS
POINT OF SALES, VENUES AND STORE INTERIORS
BILLBOARDS and LEAFLETS
BRAND PACKAGING
BRAND LOGO
ILLUSTRATIONS IN MAGAZINES
FILMS, MOVIES, TV SHOWS
WALL PAINTINGS, FASHION,
SOCIAL AND DIGITAL MEDIA visual content
AD SPOTS, JINGLES
RADIO content
POPULAR MUSIC
POP
CULTURE
POP
CULTURE
CONSUMERS’ NARRATIVES, STORIES
CONSUMPTION RITUALS and SHOPPING HABITS, etc.

54. WHAT MATTERS?
„Consumers responses would be analyzed for their stories, narratives, emotions, with
the aim to uncover patterns, symbolic associations, how consumers use existing
cultural artifacts to express their identities.“
„We will search for general patterns of meanings that prevail from one text to another
and therefore reflect the collective myths, values, beliefs consumers associate with
the brand or product category.“
„We will uncover deep collective values and consumers’ placement of goods and
implications for social interactions.“
„We concentrate on how consumers select and how they combine different elements –
units of meaning in order to create indented meaning or interpret meanings (signs and
symbols) to produce meaning, which is dictated by the culture or subculture of which
the consumer is a member .“
Based on the book of Laura Oswald, 2012

55. There are 2 ways of how to proceed:
BOTTOM UP PROCESS TOP DOWN PROCESS
STARTING WITH BRAND
IDENTITY AND BRAND
COMMUNICATION INCLUDING
COMPETITORS’
COMMUNICATION
THEN CONTINUE WITH
BRAND CATEGORY
THEN CONTINUE WITH
MARKET SEGMENT
TO CULTURE AND CULTURAL
CATEGORIES
FINISHING WITH BRAND
IDENTITY AND BRAND
COMMUNICATION INCLUDING
COMPETITORS’
COMMUNICATION
STARTING WITH CULTURE
AND CULTURAL CATEGORIES
THEN CONTINUE WITH
MARKET SEGMENT
THEN CONTINUE WITH
BRAND CATEGORY
OR
CONSUMER

56. Let’s focus on them step by step:
CATEGORY AND MARKET
SEGMENT ANALYSIS
BRAND IDENTITY RESEARCH
AND COMMUNICATION AUDIT
CULTURE MAPPING
CONSUMERS UNDERSTANDING

57. TO STUDY MEANINGS EMBEDDED
IN WEB OF:
Brand Discourse:
Brand Rhetoric Analysis
Brand Visual Symbolism and
Imagery Analysis
Brand Metaphors and
Connotation Analysis
Brand Narratives and Stories
Research
Brand Experience Research
BRAND IDENTITY RESEARCH AND
COMMUNICATION AUDIT
Commercial Semiotics
Narrative Techniques
Content Analysis
Critical Discourse Analysis
...We use:
Binary distinctions, opposition used
Pragmatics of communication message
Denotation and connotation of meanings
Genre and way of addressee
Rhetorical tropes and types of arguments used
Mythological and Ideological level
Residual vs dominant vs emergent codes
Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations
Maxims of communication (quantity, clarity, relevance, true)
Ad communication audit:
DIACHRONICORSYNCHRONICANALYSIS

58. TO STUDY MEANINGS EMBEDDED
IN WEB OF:
Category and Market Segment
Discourse:
Pop Culture Analysis
Category Symbolism and
Metaphors Description
Story-telling Analysis
Rituals of Consumption Analysis
Norms, Beliefs, Attitudes
Archetypes in Use
Imagery and Narratives Exploration
CATEGORY AND MARKET SEGMENT ANALYSIS
...We use:
Commercial Semiotics
Narrative Techniques
Content Analysis
Critical Discourse Analysis
DIACHRONICORSYNCHRONICANALYSIS
IN COMBINATION
WITH ALL QUANTI
AND QUALI DATA
ALREADY AVAILABLE

59. TO STUDY MEANINGS EMBEDDED
IN WEB OF:
Cultural Myths
Sub-cultures Memberships
Cultural Rituals
Cultural Narratives
Dominant Ideology
Cultural Norms, Values, Standards
Lifestyle Transformation
CULTURE MAPPING
Commercial Semiotics
Narrative Techniques
Trends Analysis
Critical Discourse
Analysis...
WE USE:
CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING
Story-telling Techniques
Focus Group Discussions
In depth Interviews
Observation
In-home Visits
Projective Techniques...
Individual Memories
Desires and Aspirations
Daily Patterns
Shopping Habits
Personal Rituals and Habits
Group and Individual Values and Norms, etc.
AND BACK TO
CONSUMERS
AGAIN
DIACHRONICORSYNCHRONICANALYSIS

60. What Is Specially Favourable About This Approach?
YOU USSUALY DO NOT NEED ANY
ADDITIONAL EXPENSES TO COLLECT
DATA:
A. YOUR EXISTING DATA IS USED or
B. FREELY AVAILABLE DATA IS USED
YOU CAN EASILY COMBINE IT AND
ENRICH IT WITH:
A. STANDARD QUALI METHODS (FGDs,
IDIs, ethnography)
B. QUANTI METHODS
2 things:

61. Who can benefit from this approach
most?
EVERYONE WHOSE
WORK DEPENDS ON
MANAGEMENT OF
MEANINGS

62.  PR Agencies
 Advertising Agencies
 Service Providers: Banks, Insurance
companies, Telco companies, etc.
 TV Stations and other Content providers
 Clients from retail: FMCG,
pharmaceutical companies, etc.
 Interior and Product Designers
 Market Research Agencies
 Web Designers
 Politicians

63. These techniques help clients:
1. To foster innovations by discovering how consumer’s culture and
the market has changed/will change
2. To create a coherent brand experience in different touch-points
3. To create desirable content
4. To build or improve a corporate identity
5. To improve marketing communication for a specific target in
given cultural environment
6. To launch a new brand or brand extension by discovering
hidden opportunities latent in the category or in the society
7. To reposition brand by addressing right values and meanings via
desirable signs and symbols
8. To create attractive packaging and product design

64. This approach helps establish effective process of meaning transfer
from culture to brands and to consumers and ideally back
again: letting brands influence culture
„Successful brands not only mirror culture;
they create culture, in the form of trends, icons,
and meanings that produce culture.“
(Laura Oswald, 2012)
This approach helps build strong and culturally rooted brands
with coherent meanings and ability to communicate
consistently with its target audience
CULTURAL
CATEGORY
PRODUCTS CONSUMERS
marketing comm marketing comm

65. CONTACT: PhDr. LUCIA TREZOVA
RESEARCH CONSULTANT AND CULTURE ANALYST
InSymbolsResearch.com
LUCIA.TREZOVA@GMAIL.COM
Thank you!