From Identification To Construction:The Analysis Of Brand's Functions From A Perspective Of Semiotics

In modern society,advertising has played an important role in our daily lives. However the effects of promotion by advertising do not satisfy the enterprises in spite of the proliferating investments to Ad. Brand may explain this problem for it is the essential of marketing. The era of product has gone because the characters and benefits of products have little influence to allure customers. Instead,social meaning of a brand touches customers' heart deeply. Customers may put forth extra effort and spend additional money to buy a particular brand. Brand benefits both buyers and sellers.Regarding the research of brand for the time being,functions of a brand are investigated from a perspective of marketing that is mostly the summarizing of experiences. Basically,the brand is a sign of a product. Customers yearn for the meaning of the product' s sign more earnestly than the product itself. So semiotics is the main theory and method of this dissertation. Through the research of characteristics of the sign,it analyzes the basic functions- of brand,such as identification,promotion,increment of value etc. Especially,it emphasizes the function of constructing social relationship and self-worth that is derived from the characteristic of communication. This dissertation is composed of six chapters. The first one introduces the concepts of this dissertation as well as the value of this topic. It also investigates the history and current status of research about brand.The second one introduces the theory of semiotics,the application of it in advertising research and the basic concepts in it.The third one investigated the duality of consumption. Other than the traditional concept of the single consumption of substance,the pursuing for meaning is necessary for human being. So the single information about substance in advertising is deficient and disadvantageous.In succession,the forth chapter analyzes the basic functions of brand through the research into the characteristics of signs from a perspective of semiotics. Indication,imagination and duality are the elements of a sign and they provide a brand-new theory platform for us to understand the functions of brand better.Deriving from the characteristic of communication of a sign,the fifth part emphasizes the function of constructing social relationship and self-worth. It investigates that to know the world outside as well as the self inside,people must control the system of signs especially the words. The relationship between customers and brands is the correspondence and communication with each other just like a mirror. Customers construct the relationship to the society and self via mirroring the brand. In this chapter,two cases are provided to attest to the argumentation.Finally,the last one gives a brief conclusion and supplement to the previous chapters and the whole dissertation.