Presentation on my concept of Brand Curation introducing a strategic use of semiotics for sustainable brand direction for the Semiofest conference in Shanghai in May 2014

1. PhDr. Martina Olbertová, May 23, 2014
Prepared for Semiofest 2014
Shanghai, China
www.martinaolbertova.com
BRAND
CURATOR
INTRODUCING SEMIOTICS AS A TOOL FOR
SUSTAINABLE BRAND DIRECTION

2. My presentation has two parts:
1 2Brand curation
What it is.
The need.
The idea.
The process.
Case Study
Brand context.
Category context.
Brand concepts.
Brand strategy.

3. What it is.
!
!
Brand curation is a systematic
process of shaping brands and
their meaning on a symbolic level. !

4. The need = the clutter.
Clutter is everywhere.
It’s ubiquitous.
That’s a given.
But brands seem to
not realize it or
adapt to it well.

5. Brand management focuses mainly on two things:
channels (logistics) and execution (creative form).
When what it should be focusing at is brand meaning
(symbolic value of a brand).
Brand’s inner clutter easily results into brand fragmentation
and image inconsistency, which both drive awareness and
brand perception further down the hill.
Brands are managed wrong.

6. 1
2
Brand direction metaphor.
There are two main types of brand management:
Managing brand as a supermarket, where we shop for what’s
available outside, or managing brand as a gallery, where
meaning is curated from the inside. We do the latter.
Brand direction metaphor.
SUPERMARKET GALLERY
Illustrations and
Brand Curator concept
are proprietary to
MartinaOlbertova.com

7. When all is done, brands will reflect
the process of their management.
If we treat them as a shopping list,
all we end up with is a basket of goods
(or services) with no logical connection.
If we know what we want to achieve,
we will prepare our customers an
enjoyable brand experience.
Brands mirror their direction.
Illustrations and Brand Curator concept
are proprietary to MartinaOlbertova.com

8. Illustration.
When brand is in center of
attention, all activities are
meaningful with a logical
connection to its identity.
When brand is managed
only as one of the pack,
its communication will likely
become heavily fragmented
and innately cluttered.
Brand in & out of context.
Illustrations and Brand Curator concept
are proprietary to MartinaOlbertova.com

9. The idea.
To create a method, which would work directly with brand
meaning and allow brands to communicate meaningfully,
relevantly and consistently throughout various media outlets.
This would significantly:
• decrease brand fragmentation
• ensure image consistency and brand recall
• ease brand management (for both clients and agencies)

10. 1. Outsider’s view of brand management uproots client’s
old patterns of thinking
2. Semiotic overview provides accurate diagnosis helps to
reframe the problem and clarifies jobs to be done
3. Semiotic conceptualization ideates new positioning
4. Semiotic guidelines ease brand strategy implementation
The brand curation process.

11. We start with looking at the
brand as a semiotic system.
Meaning is an innate value of
a brand, not a value added.
First leads to a meaningful
brand, second to inner clutter.
Uproot your brand.
Illustrations and Brand Curator concept
are proprietary to MartinaOlbertova.com

12. Strong focus of clients and agencies
solely on the brand usually results in
tackling the wrong needs and often
working on image before meaning.
Looking at brand in context helps us
grasp complexity of its existence and
ensure relevance of its communication.
Look not directly at the brand,
but at the context of a brand.
Illustrations and Brand Curator concept
are proprietary to MartinaOlbertova.com

13. Illustration.
Visuals can only get us half way.
We look at visuals (aesthetics)
of a brand, because this is
how people extract meaning.
But if there’s no meaning
behind the image, there’s no
reason to remember the brand.
Illustrations and Brand Curator concept
are proprietary to MartinaOlbertova.com

14. How we find what we need?
Brands are not islands.
They are more of an iceberg.
We analyze the visible
(communication) to get
to the invisible (culture).
As meanings are locked in culture,
we have to distill them from
codes that are readily available.
Illustrations and Brand Curator concept
are proprietary to MartinaOlbertova.com

15. Case study.
Era is a Czech bank
representing banking
style of a new era.

16. Their situation.
• Boom of banking brands on the Czech market 4 years ago.
• Traditional big banks vs. new basic online banking.
• Oversaturation of banking market (lack of new clients).
• Similar messaging and brand positioning of key players.
• Need to build a clear and meaningful image in the category.

17. 8brands
48advertisements
5years
We analyzed codes of:
in in

18. BRAND
CONTEXT
CATEGORY
CONTEXT
CULTURAL
CONTEXT
We looked mainly at two contexts:

19. And we explored:
Brand identity reinforcement
Tonality and brand feel
Clarity of message
Accuracy of codes in execution
Dominant concepts played in banking category

20. What we found out…

21. The category context.
1
2
3
!
We discovered 3 important concepts constituting
Czech banking discourse:
Old vs. new banking
Creating ideal world
Closeness to people

22. Old vs. new:
Fight of new vs. old in attempt
to shift institutional banking
paradigm towards friendly
service through oppositions
Problematic brand conception:
Great for initial differentiation,
but bad for long-term positioning.
If positioned this way, brand is
doomed to circle around concept
that was already exhausted.
1

23. The ideal world:
Idea of creating an ideal world
of banking that the client will
be delighted to join
Problematic brand conception:
Clients are not interested in ideal
banking worlds, because they’re not
inclined to switch their banks.
They want a solution reflecting
their world so that it’s easily
matched with their everyday needs.
2

24. Closer to you:
Identification with clients
values through reinforcement
of kids and family and
positioning brand as a platform
Problematic brand conception:
Easily results in a family cliché and
emotional exploitation of prospects.
3

25. !
We discovered 3 biggest problems of the brand:!
!
Unclear brand positioning!
Unclear brand territory (the land of no one)!
Changing tonality (unspecified brand feel) !
1
2
3
The brand context.

26. Down to
people
Up & towards
aspiration
Rationality
Emotions
Unclear positioning & fragmented image.
Brand image oscillated strongly btw rational
world to emotions & humor and btw ordinary
people image to abstract vision an aspiration.
Brand meaning was fragmented & unclear.
People friendly
image. Folksy
humor.
Emotive image but
abstract in its
vision.
Rational image and
down-to-earth (we
offer only what you
need, no extras).
Aspirational
images.

27. Made-up ideal world of
a brand.
World of dreams and
aspiration.
Surreal or hyperbolic world
unrelated to real life.
Real life and every day
situations.
Brand occupied four territories at once.

28. future
brand
world
hyperbolic life with
caricatured people
coming across as unnatural
everyday world with
every day looking people
With visual tonality
all the way from
lowest to
highest.
aspirational world
(well-off life)

29. !
!
Conserve brand DNA.!
Ensure consistent image in all brand execution.!
Retain a clearly differentiating positioning while
staying relevant to the consumer & category.
Immediate brand needs.
1
2
3

30. SEMIOTIC
MANUAL
This manual
helps clients to ensure consistency
of brand image in execution:
• Conserves brand DNA in context
• Specifies brand code guidelines to
ensure its image consistency (e.g.
tonality, color scheme, light usage, brand
feel, brand territory, people, etc.)
• Eases communication & briefing process

31. Semiotics has helped us to:
1. Accurately diagnose immediate brand needs and point our focus in the
right direction in strategy planning
2. Recognize nature of banking category and the heavily played patterns in
competitor’s communication to avoid in our further brand planning
3. Map out our “brand playfield” and conceptualize new positioning
4. Specify brand guidelines (semiotic manual) to ease brand strategy
implementation (mainly brand execution and briefing process)

32. Thank you,
Semiofest!
@MartinaOlb
facebook.com/WeAreBrandCurator
martinaolbertova.com