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 characterized in the minds of consumers and brands, it will be interesting to know its origins and consequences, finally understand why and how a brand builds a culture and a strong identity.
The success of a brand depends not only on the functional value it offers to consumers, its reputation and good health depends heavily on the emotional value it adds through its products. And the brands gain momentum in today's culture, they seek to become mirrors of our personalities and that is why it is indispensable to build a distinctive brand image. The brand positioning is to place an image in the mind of the consumer. The success of the brand in the consumer's opinion is fundamentally dependent on its desire to appropriate the brand and express it as a part of his personality. This cultural dimension of the brand had been discussed by Jean-Noël Kapferer (French expert of brands) in his book "Les marques, capital de l’entreprise" in 1990. He expresses the cultural facet of the brand as a key element of brand identity. In the same vein he argues that brands around the products and services sold, build aspirational universe in order to stand out and sell their products. This universe consists of all intangible assets acting as symbols,