Brand culture

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Schiller and visual artists like Hans Haacke or Andrea Fraser)? Is there a threat that creativity will be institutionalised as it serves the interests of marketers? Several minor points are noted: First, it may have been instructive if consumption studies and other texts with similar titles, both are noted in passing, had been developed more fully by Fillis and Rentschler. Second, there are various references to ‘the art world’ (including the book jacket); this should be rewritten as ‘the arts’ (to take into account references by the authors to the visual and performing arts). Third, before the summation, three-quarters of a page (pp. 126-7) is devoted to the Stuckists, an initiative by British artists Billy Childish and Charles Thomson. Fillis and Rentschler would appear to admire the so-called remodernist position of the Stuckists, who seek to advance new figurative painting. Yet there is a reactionary aspect to the Stuckists’ jibes at so-called conceptual art of their peers (such as Damien Hirst, Tracy Emin, Sarah Lucas, and Chris Ofili).

Creative Marketing should be of direct and immediate interest to those applying for a share of the ￡250,000 available to support workshops and networks on the ‘Nature of Creativity’ co-funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council, Arts Council of England, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Areas of interest include the nature of creativity; the differences between creativity and innovation and the relationship between the two; different models of the creative process; the conditions which stifle or stimulate creativity; the circumstances that lead from creativity to innovation; the role of risk in creativity and innovation; the value of creativity to business, the economy and society; and changes in how society understands creativity and values innovation in a knowledge economy.

Stuart Roper Brand Culture

by Jonathan E. Schroeder & Miriam Salzer-M?rling (Editors),Routledge, (2006) 0 41535 599 0, 218 pages, ￡22.99 (s)

Introduction

The subject of branding has become increasingly important to both practitioners and academics. Supporting this increased exposure has been a large raft of books on the subject. In particular there have been a large number of ‘how to do it’ type texts which I would label ‘airport books.’ Such texts are formulaic in approach and set us a template that if followed will

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Review 893 result in success for our brand. The usefulness of such titles must be doubtful

for practitioners, let alone academics studying branding.

An antidote to the plethora of ‘how to’ volumes, however, has arrived in

the shape of Brand Culture, edited by Jonathan E. Schroeder and Miriam

Salzer-M?rling. This book makes great efforts to move away from the dyadic

producer:consumer micro-level approach to branding that gives the reader

strategic advice on how to manage their brands to look much deeper at the

culture which has created the post-modern brand landscape where the

impact, influence and power of brands is inescapable. The book focuses on

the gap between managerial intent and market response. The consumer is

not therefore treated as a malleable, passive individual who can be bent to

the will of the brand, but as much a creator of the brand as the company.

The book draws from different academic disciplines including marketing,

design, organisational theory and consumer behaviour to produce theoretical

work to help us understand the brand landscape in which we live. The text is

rightly critical of the top down approach to branding that is produced not

just in airport style books, but in classic texts in branding by Aaker and

Keller, for example.

The book is divided into three sections – corporate perspectives on brand

culture, clarifying brand concepts and consuming brand culture. It features

contributions by some leading names in the field, e.g. John Balmer, Stephen

Brown, Richard Elliot, Jean-Noel Kapferer, Mary Jo Hatch and Majken

Schultz amongst others. Chapters are summarised with key points, and

questions for discussion are also included by each respective author.

Specific Themes

The section on the corporate perspectives on brand culture is started by Mary

Jo Hatch and Majken Schultz who analyze one of the world’s most famous

children’s brands – LEGO. Their writing helps to emphasise the balance that

is needed between marketing, strategy and organisational theory when

considering brands. They identify the paradoxes of the corporate brand

rather than pretending that it is an easy concept to manage. Their case study

reinforces the importance of involving employees in the creation of and

enactment of the brand and its promises.

John Balmer discusses corporate brand cultures and communities. He

takes on the comparison between corporate identities and corporate brands

and introduces the idea of corporate faith communities. Balmer deals with

the complexity of brand architecture, culture and custodianship that form

part of the intricacy of the corporate brand and the myriad of relationships

that exist within the corporate brand. Balmer states that the real power of the

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brand comes from the emotional ownership which resides in the corporate brand community.

Stephen Brown’s inimitable style produces an entertaining and thought-provoking piece discussing ‘ambi-brand culture’ using the case study of RyanAir – the brand we love to hate. ‘Ambi’ brand culture refers to the ambiguities that are present within post-modern branding. Brown looks at ironic brands and Machiavellian ‘straight to the point’ brands to emphasize the complexities of brand culture. The choice of RyanAir to stress this ambiguity is inspired. The aggressive, unapologetic chief executive Michael O’Leary shoots down ideas of relationship marketing and customer service because he doesn’t care if customers are unhappy, as he sees branding and marketing as a waste of time. He is, however, a master at getting free publicity for his organisation. RyanAir likes to position itself as the downtrodden, small start-up business, whereas it is the most profitable airline in the world. Brown sums up the complexity of post-modern brand culture by stating that ‘brands that rebuff branding…are ironically, the best brands in the world.’

The diversity of this book is demonstrated by the next chapter by another well-respected brand guru Jean Noel-Kapferer who writes about the two business cultures of luxury brands. The difficulty of defining luxury is tackled with the differing angles of economic, semiotic, sociological and psychological definitions being addressed. Different interpretations of luxury globally are investigated – the West associating luxury with rarity, the East with art and beauty. The paradox is that brand managers in the West are charged with growing their brands – and if they succeed they will no longer be rare and, therefore, luxurious. Kapferer reports how the introduction of ‘virtual rarity’ is created to offset this problem.

Henrik Uggla concludes the first section of the book. He deals with the brand leverage theory which investigates brand extensions and alliance research. He looks to build a model that focuses on the transfer of meaning between brands, for example, between leader brands and partner brands. This is important due to the increasingly complex brand architecture caused by the business culture of merger and acquisition in which we live. A criticism here is that this chapter is a little too short to deal with such a complex issue. The interchangeability between leader and partner is touched on, but it is necessary to provide more detail, i.e. at what stage does the partner brand, for example Goretex, supersede its leader brands and become the leader itself?

The second part of the book is entitled Clarifying Brand Concepts. S?ren Askegaard presents the idea of brands as a global ideoscope. Askegaard argues that brands and branding have profound impact on the marketplace and the consumer within it. He borrows the term ideoscope from work

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Review 895 outlining central ideas coming from the Enlightenment, e.g. democracy,

welfare, freedom, etc. Such is the impact of market-based institutions on our

entire lives that brands have become a fundamental method of structure in

the prevailing status of the market-based system which dominates the world.

Again, the confusion of present day culture is that this has taken place in a

society that often claims to be anti-branding. An interpretist stance is taken in

considering the social construction of brand meaning, symbolic use of brands

and brands relationship to personal self-interest. Ultimately Askegaard

claims the meaning of things, places and people is created by people’s

linkage to brands. The globalisation of consumer culture provides the

platform for this growth and brands have become a central metaphor for

both corporate and consumer identity formation. Brands have led the way to

a new form of consumption – mall-based, chain stores and internet shopping

showing the homogenised way forward. The semi-spirituality and even

quasi-religious overtone of successful brands is discussed. This theory is

examined using both global and local brands as examples. Such is the

resonance and impact of brands to modern culture that Askegaard presents

the idea of a new type of person – homo mercans (market man) dominating the

life we now live.

Brands form part of the new central stories that help to explain

postmodern life. Postmodern philosophy continues to be discussed in

relation to brands in the next paper by Beno?t Heilbrunn looking at ‘Brave

New Brands: Cultural branding between Utopia and A-topia.’ Again, the

move away from traditional sources of power, i.e. religion, politics to

economic sources such as brands is discussed. The use of symbolic spheres

that were once the preserve of religion is debated, e.g. Carrefour organising

both weddings and funerals and brands taking over managerial

responsibilities, for example in the running of towns and cities. There has

been a move, therefore, of brands from the sphere of management to the

sphere of government. Heilbrunn justifies his thesis by reference to the work

of the French philosopher Foucalt. A complex thesis is proposed alluding to

Thomas More’s representation of Utopia and the propensity of a Utopian

system to promote a strong ideology. Heilbrunn proposes that brands act as

utopian entities that promote a strong ideology through a series of

paradoxes.

Brands are examined on a semiotic square of valorisations made up of

critical values, practical values, utopian values and ludic (i.e. playful) values.

The contradiction of presenting practical/critical values, e.g. value for money

and quality with utopian/ludic values, e.g. conviviality, fun and surprise is

presented as the inherent paradox behind successful brands such as

McDonalds. This structure is used to explain brands such as Carrefour,

Disneyland and Club Med. The reader who perseveres with this argument is

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rewarded, as once again this book presents a more thoughtful approach to brands than much of the previous work.

In line with the second theme of this volume of clarifying brand concepts, Csaba and Bengtsson present a chapter that criticises much of the work currently published on brand identity for its lack of a theoretical depth and how this lack of depth has led to inconsistent definitions of the concept. The authors consider and propose the importance of building the theory of social and cultural identity into brand management and outline alternative ways of approaching and understanding identity in brand management. This is placed within a discussion of the increased complexities of social and cultural identity theory, e.g. the mobility, displacement and uprooting of people in the age of mass migration leads to more questions about the nature of identity. This is a far more straightforward approach to the one used by Heilbrunn, but again, it does raise interesting questions related to brand identity. As with much of the book, this is not a solution-based approach, rather it encourages the reader to rethink and re-examine those concepts that they may have taken for granted.

Brand management and design is dealt with in a piece by Johansson and Holm where the roots of the two practices are examined. The differing cultural approaches to design management in the US, Europe and Japan are discussed. An interesting point is the criticism of business schools and how few of them incorporate design into the management curriculum. Corporate identity has become synonymous with graphic design programmes and therefore to branding itself. At the same time the outsourcing of manufacturing (design has stayed in-house) has taken place, meaning that design has been subsumed into the brand to become part of the brand values.

The third part of the book deals with Consuming Brand Culture. Symbolic brands and authenticity of performance is discussed by Richard Elliot and Andrea Davies. It is proposed that the consumer is involved in a symbolic project whereby they must create meaning out of symbolic materials and that brands are amongst the most powerful of these materials due to their cultural meaning. The authors use fashion and music to make their case.

A fascinating discussion of the emotional links to brands amongst neo-tribes and sub-cultures takes place. An ethnographical study is detailed recording the importance of style, style repertoire and authenticity of style among a group of 16-21 year olds. ‘Collective individuality’ is discussed by Elliot and Davies, including boycotts of high street stores and local systems of knowledge. The focus on local information and knowledge shows the limitations of traditional market segmentation techniques used by brand managers. The authors make a good point in concluding their work, which could be used to help summarise the value of this book in total -- that ‘the power and significance of cultural meanings and information are often left

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Review 897 out of traditional measures of brand equity.’ This ethnography and much

other work that appear in Brand Culture show the error of this omission.

Many brands have been criticised from an ethical perspective over recent

years. This subject is tackled by Borgerson, Escudero and Magnusson in

relation to a well known case study in the area – Benetton. The case study

highlights the gap between the identity and the image of the brand. The

authors question how identity influences brand meaning. They discuss how

semiotics works together with the ontology of branding. This raises

questions of what exactly lies behind the brand and does the brand meaning

stand up to scrutiny or is it merely hollow. The Benetton brand is an example

of a confused ethical position. The company thinks that it is ethical; some of

its retailers aren’t convinced and many consumers are not bothered!

To conclude the volume, Broschi deals with the role of advertising in

shaping luxury brand meaning, whereby a cluster analysis of luxury brand

advertising categories is presented. Finally a piece by Sven Bergvall discusses

the multi-level interactions of brands using the term ‘brand ecosystems.’

Bergval makes an excellent point that ‘neither managers nor consumers have

total control over brand meanings.’ Ecosystems reflect the move towards a

networked society, but the author is clear not to restrict this to inter-company

or company-customer relations. The ecosystem of a brand involves

numerous intertwined relationships between the corporate level,

governmental and non-governmental organisations and the relationships

with technology and the importance of technology to the culture of the

brand’s host nation(s). Interaction amongst these differing levels is analysed

using the case study of Japanese-Swedish technology brand Sony-Ericsson.

Summary

This book must be highly recommended to those who have an interest in

branding. A frustration with the branding literature is that there is a

considerable amount of it, but so little theory to be found within. The writing

in this book at last takes us to a macro-level rather than considering branding

from the traditional textbook angle of the micro-level -- raising us above

consideration of how the marketing mix can be used to manipulate the

malleable and passive consumer.