BRANDING ESSAY

Subject:

The brand as an aspirational and cultural agent

14/03/2013
According to Philip J. Kotler “a brand is a name, term, sign symbol or design, or a combination of them to identify the goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers and to identify them from the competitors”. This definition expresses the brand as the sum of the representations that we have, however, the brand is also a cultural agent. To remain permanently in the mind of the consumer brands must build a recognizable brand and offer their cultural role models to their customers. Thus it is necessary to include this cultural aspect to the marketing strategy of the brand. After explaining how this cultural and aspirational aspect is …show more content…

How Brands Become Holt in Icons, The Principles of Cultural Branding, 2004). He explains this behavior like this: “Customers use iconic brands as symbolic salves. They grab hold of the myth as they use the product as a means to lessen their identity burdens”. It means that the brand through its culture must convey specific models to achieve the desires and soothe the anxieties of consumers. The purpose of brands is to create moments of recognition that put images, sounds, feelings, on the deep desires of customers. Holt adds that a strong brand identity and a clearly identifiable culture have a positive effect on the brand and business: “When a brand delivers a powerful myth that customers find useful in cementing their identities, this identity value casts a halo on other aspects of the brand. Great myths enhance the brand’s quality reputation, distinctive benefits, and status value.” This halo effect shows brands cannot underestimate their cultural influence.
The essential idea in this concept of culture is that it is an integral part of the brand, but she is not defined consistently. It is universal and timeless at the same time it must keep its customers at every change of generation. The success of a brand lies in its ability to adapt to a given society, to know how to react when tensions and desires of consumers mutate. Or that Accordance must match the brand identity. Success comes once the brand has articulated the brand identity