Publishing house: Kassel University Press
ISBN (print): 978-3-7376-0042-2
ISBN (e-book): 978-3-7376-0043-9
Editor: George Rossolatos
Release date: October 2015
Pages: 457

Contents

Chapter 1
Introduction
George Rossolatos

1.1 Memoirs of a long overdue project
1.2 The scope and aims of this Handbook by way of debunking 4 popular myths about brand semiotics
1.3 Chapters’ overview

Chapter 2
Brand language: Methods and models of semiotic analysis
Dario Mangano and Gianfranco Marrone

2.1 Introduction: Brands and society
2.2 Brand discourses in car advertising
2.3 Values and valorization in sports brands
2.4 Sparkling communication
2.5 Conclusions

Chapter 3
Narrativity approaches to branding
F. Xavier Ruiz Collantes and Mercè Oliva

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Storytelling in the context of branding
3.3 Semiotics, narrative and brands
3.4 Myths and archetypes
3.5 Consumer narratives
3.6 Concluding remarks

Chapter 4
Transmedia storytelling: Brands, narratives and storyworlds
Carlos A. Scolari

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Transmedia storytelling
4.2.1 The Lost incident
4.2.2 The academic answer
4.3 Branding and narrative
4.4 Branding and transmedia storytelling
4.4.1 Product placement
4.4.2 Reverse product placement
4.4.3 Merchandising and transmedia production
4.4.4 From brand as narrative to narrative as brand
4.5 Narrative brand-worlds
4.5.1 Brand Hollywood
4.5.2 From Disney to Star Wars
4.5.3 Batman in the Matrix
4.5.4 Harry Potter versus Sauron
4.6 Conclusions

Chapter 5
Yo logo(s): On the icono-plastic configuration of brand symbols
Francesco Mangiapane

5.1 Logos as the iconic dimension of brand image
5.2 Figurativity in iconic and plastic semiotics
5.3 Digging deeper: The mythic structures of Apple and IBM logos
5.4 The myth continues: Microsoft Windows
5.5 Logos “en terrain sensible”
5.6 McDonald’s vs. Burger King
5.7 McDonald’s vs. Slow Food and their synthesis via MasterChef
5.8 Michel Bras’ multisensorial aesthetic identity
5.9 Conclusions

Chapter 6
Semiotic roadmap for packaging design
Ilaria Ventura

6.1 A brief history of packaging: From unpacked goods to modern packaging design
6.2 The role of packaging in brand identity: Case-studies of successful brands’ packaging
6.2.1 McDonald’s vs. Burger King
6.2.2 Ikea vs. Nespresso
6.3 A Greimasian approach to packaging design
6.4 Differential brand valorisation through packaging
6.5 Communication strategies for packaging design
6.6 “Less is more”: A new trend in packaging design
6.7 From consumers to users: Packaging as object of daily use
6.7.1 Packaging instructions as tacit actions
6.8 Conclusion

Chapter 7
Addressing methodological challenges in brand communications research: A comparison of structuralist, Peircean and social semiotic readings of advertising
John A. Bateman

7.1 Introduction
7.2 Critical discussion of Peircean and structuralist approaches to advertising analysis
7.3 The socio-semioticresponse to the robustness challenge
7.3.1 Origins and definitions of systemic-functional socio-semiotics
7.3.2 Applying systemic-functional multimodal socio-semiotics to the NEWS ad
7.3.2.1 Three strands of sociosemiotic analyses
7.3.2.2 Re-reading the NEWS ad sociosemiotically
7.3.3 Discursive coherence in focus
7.4 Conclusions

Chapter 8 Online university branding: A systemic functional social semiotic approach
Kay L. O’Halloran, Peter Wignell and Sabine Tan

8.1 Introduction
8.2 Background: Universities as brands
8.3 The logo and the homepage as university brand identity components
8.4 Case study: Curtin University – the evolution of a brand
8.4.1 Conceptual framework and methodology
8.4.2 Analysis and discussion
8.4.2.1 The logo
8.4.2.2 Brand communication and navigation styles
8.4.2.3 Marketing the Curtin brand to students
8.4.2.4 Creating a cohesive university brand
8.5 Conclusions

Chapter 9
A multimodal critical discourse analytic approach to university rebranding
Per Ledin and David Machin

9.1 Introduction
9.2 Branding of public institutions
9.3 Theory and methods
9.4 Analysis of branding materials
9.4.1 The university magazine
9.4.2 Co-ordination of photographs in the Vision brochure
9.4.3 Strategic plan 2011-2016
9.4.4 Key target areas document
9.4.5 Activity tables for staff
9.5 Conclusion

Chapter 10 Building the IKEA brand in Germany: A cultural semiotic approach
Jennie Mazur

10.1 IKEA and the construction of a “Swedish” culture
10.2 Germany and Sweden: Two cultures with a history of interactions
10.3 Methodological framework for analyzing advertisements
10.4 The Swedish Solution from IKEA
10.5 Concluding remarks

Chapter 11 The brand imaginarium, or on the iconic constitution of brand image
George Rossolatos

11.1 Introduction
11.2 Brand image re-revisited
11.3 Iconicity as invariant textual condition of brand signification across the linguistic, visual and multimodal turns
11.3.1 Iconicity in Peircean semiotics
11.3.2 The conventionalist approach to iconic signification
11.3.3 The expanded version of iconicity as inter-subjective mirroring
11.4 Memory as iconic re-cognition and re(as)semblance
11.4.1 Individual memory formation and memory retrieval: Connectionism vs. brand textuality
11.4.2 Breaking through to the culture side: From individual, to communicative and cultural memory
11.5 The pathway to the Brand Imaginarium: Primary, secondary, tertiary brand iconicity
11.6 Conclusions

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