Brand VS.

Branding
January 21, 2020 3:04 PM

Brand VS. Branding

- Brand: the company's identity and associations
- Branding: actions taken to build an identity
○ Steps taken by owner/producer to build ID and reputation
- Brand/branding has become blurred
○ Companies create platforms for online communities
○ Consumers willingly crate/contribute to value of brand

Who are the Agents?

- Consumers are creative, (seemingly) unmanageable
○ Digitally interact, critique and promote brand HD
- Branding theory acknowledges (new) role of consumer
○ Ability to shape how the producer acts
○ Create meaning, value, identity and community
○ Includes cultural hijacking, consumer resistance and cultural jamming
▪ Cultural jamming is putting a wrench in the culture and jam up the works of
the association. Mocking/poking fun at of association. Have a shock factor
to get attention of consumer
▪ Inverting meaning, using the face of a company to stop the consumer in
their tracks
- Is this evidence of consumer's agency?
- Examples of Culture jamming
○ "six bucks coffee" (star bucks)
○ "murder king"
○ "iAddict'

Crowdculture
- Smart marketers will collaborate with consumers
- Invite people to identify as "insiders"
○ Coded language (starts names for sizes of coffees)
○ Rewards and loyalty programs (points, and "gifts")
○ Customer marketing (following purchase history)
○ Brand ambassadors through online reviews
○ Being part of the advertising campaign
▪ 2018 Harley Davidson commercial

Influencers
- Influencers as safer, cheaper "ambassadors"
- More of a connection with consumers than celebrities
- Might also come with pre-established following
- Jaz and Harjit of Brampton recruited by Ultramar

Consumer-Producer Relationship
- Now viewed as a complex triad, or network
- Co-consuming groups that co-construct community ID
- But co-creative consumers are nt compensated
○ Adding value to brand ID, creating/building community

Future of Consumer Co=Creation

- Threatened by making and movement in minimalism trend
○ But even these generate new ways to co-create knowledge and value around life
style choices
○ And/or can be co-opted by marketers

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 ○ And/or can be co-opted by marketers
○ Although this often backfires, and recognized as hollow
▪ Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner

Understanding Branding and Identity in Social Sciences

- Social scientists would as:
○ What is the branch ID? What does it include or exclude?
○ What mechanisms/ processes are involved in this?
○ How is agency expressed in the branding process?
○ Who is benefitting? How? At what cost?
○ What does this tell us about our society? Are we concerned?

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