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ROB SWAN & MICHAEL COLTON - BRANDSQUARE 2.7.13
CHARLES SANDERS
     PEIRCE
                    1839 – 1914
         Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


    ....Certainly the greatest American thinker ever.
                                      Bertrand Russell



    The father of Semiotics in America.

  Despite being American as well, we have
adopted his methods as they are remarkably
  well suited for developing meaningfully
   differentiated brand personality and
                 expression.



                   Here’s how....
“Everything is a Sign”       Charles Sanders Peirce




Peirce said that all input
that comes into the
mind and goes out is a
sign. Everything we
come into contact with
has an impact on our
behavior and defines
who we are.
“Everything is a Sign”     Charles Sanders Peirce




Semiotics utilizes
cultural deductive logic
to identify the meaning
of these signs and how
they evoke (or attempt
to evoke) universally
understood visceral
(emotional) human
reactions.
Not DESIGN semiotics...
    IT’S PEIRCIAN Semiotics
•   Decoding “design” is the equivalent of
    decoding the artifacts of the future to
    understand culture and humanity.
•   Analyzing letterforms is simply a very
    granular, specialized forms of cultural
    semiotic decoding
•   There are no distinctions to be made
    between design and culture codes
•   Designers, movie producers, brand
    strategists are the crystalizers of meaning...
•   Yet...ultimately, not giving credit to the
    designer/artist/filmmaker for the influence
    they have. They are human conduits for
    meaning. Meaning passes through them and
    manifested in a multi-sensory way.
C.S. PEIRCE WOULD AGREE...

PEIRCE BELIEVED THAT TRUTH IS CARVED IN
STONE ... THAT TRUTH IS BOTH INDEPENDENT
FROM OPINION AND CAN BE DISCOVERED AND
MADE APPARENT.

WE BELIEVE THAT MODERN RETAIL
PROPOSITIONS BRINGS TO MIND THE FAMILIAR
PHRASE...”IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!”
LIKE THE JUNGLE, THE MODERN SHOPPING ENVIRONMENT IS A CLOSED ECOSYSTEM...
WHILE PRODUCTS ON THE SHELF DEPLOY SIGNIFIERS, LIKE ANIMALS IN NATURE,
IN AN EFFORT TO SURVIVE AND “REPRODUCE”.




PARENT INVESTMENT   TOXICITY      MIMICRY     TERRITORIALITY   QUALITY
THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE IS SIMILAR...IN A WAY, SOMEWHAT ANIMALISTIC AND PRIMITIVE —
CEREBRALLY REDUCED, MAKING SPLIT SECOND APPRAISALS,
NAVIGATING CATEGORIES HABITUALLY AND PERCEPTUALLY
HANDICAPPED BY AN OVERWHELMING AMOUNT OF INFORMATION.


                                                           "In the marketplace,
                                                          unconscious processes
                                                          enable us to make purchase
                                                          decisions more efficiently a
                                                          effectively than we could if
                                                          we had to consciously
                                                          process every relevant
                                                          factor."

                                                                         Prof. Gerald Zaltman
                                                           Emeritus Professor, Harvard Business School
                                                                          How Customers Think (2003).
“COOPETITION” OCCURS WHEN ORGANISMS OCCUPY CLOSED
TERRITORIAL NICHES, PURSUE COMMON RESOURCES OR FACE
SIMILAR CHALLENGES TO SUCCESS OR SURVIVAL.
CODE CONVERGENCE WITHIN CATEGORIES IS THE RESULT OF THE SAME TYPE
OF BEHAVIOURAL EVOLUTION – BRANDS BECOME BIG....AND NEW ENTRANTS
RIDE ON THEIR TAIL IN ORDER TO GET A SHARE OF THEIR SUCCESS.
THE CONVERGENCE OF SEMIOTIC CODES WITHIN CATEGORIES IN TODAY’S FMCG
MARKETPLACE EFFECTIVELY CREATE A “BLACK HOLE” OF MEANING... AS A RESULT,
SHOPPERS COULD RESPOND WITH CONFUSION...OR WORSE, INDIFFERENCE...

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? HOW CAN WE AVOID IT?
A CATEGORY IS BORN...
                                                                                      EMERGENT BRAND EQUITY CODES
                                            +                                                                         +
                                                                             MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION (SIGNIFIED)
SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED




                                            Coding is Liberated
                                            As category grows and shoppers
                                            become acquainted with the
                                            brand offering, the breadth of
                                            comprehendible codes expands.

                                            Brand Inception -New Category
                                            Category codes created to
                                            emphasize/educate about brand
                                            meaning and product benefits
A CATEGORY DEVELOPS...
                                                                                  DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES
                                            +                                                                                               +
                                                                         MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED)
SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED




                                            Category Captain’s Dilemma
                                            Size of business increases.
                                            Foundational brand codes become
                                                                                                                   New Entrants/Fast Followers
                                            intrinsic as equity but also
                                                                                                                   Others latch on to signifier
                                            become synonymous with the
                                                                                                                   system/codes established up by
                                            category.
                                                                                                                   category pioneer(s) in order to
                                                                                                                   convey perception of relevance
                                                                                                                   and credibility.
A CATEGORY MATURES...
                                                                                     DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES
                                                                                       RESIDUAL EQUITY CODES
                                            +                                                                          +
                                                                             MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED)
SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED




                                                Coding is Co-opted
                                                New entrants leech equities and
                                                begin to eat away at share and
                                                drag the category captain down.
WHAT CAUSES THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL?
Some factors that contribute to convergence of codes...
Mimicry — New entrant using category conventional signifiers/
codes to communicate perception of quality and relevance.
Posturing — Leveraging commonly used signifiers in an
progressively insistent attempt to out-do competitors.
Risk Aversion — Brand owners avoid potential risk to sales volume.
The qualitative voice of the consumer limits permission for change
as codes become acculturated. Brand and category evolution slows
to a crawl.
Shopper Dynamics — Cross category market structure makes code
evolution and innovation more disruptive and therefore potentially
more damaging to shoppability, stoppability and findability.
A CATEGORY BEGINS TO COLLAPSE...
                                                                                       DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES
                                                                                        RESIDUAL EQUITY CODES
                                            +                                                                                                +
                                                                              MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED)
SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED




                                                Code Homogeneity                                                        Harder for new to market
                                                takes hold and market share                                             players to enter because
                                                moves toward equilibrium                                                dominant code use has become
                                                                                                                        saturated and share of market
                                                                                                                        is harder to obtain
WOMEN’S AEROSOL DEODORANT – A SEMIOTIC “BLACK HOLE”


COLD       LAB      FRESH
CLEAN     CLEAN     CLEAN




PASTEL   MINIMAL   HERMETIC
GENTLE    CLEAN     CLEAN
NOBODY WINS.
A TRANSFORMATIONAL BRAND “ORBITS”.
                                            UNIQUE EXPRESSION OF BRAND MEANING
                                                                                    EVERGREEN BRAND EQUITY CODES
                                                                                      DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES
                                                                                    RESIDUAL BRAND EQUITY CODES
                                            +                                                                                            +
                                                                             MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED)
SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED




                                                                                                                       DEFYING CATEGORY
                                                                                                                       CODE “GRAVITY” AND
                                                                                                                       REMAINING IN “ORBIT”
                                                                                                                       CHANGING THE GAME BY
                                                                                                                       EXPANDING PERCEPTION
                                                                                                                       OF WHAT BRAND (AND
                                                                                                                       CATEGORY) CAN OFFER
IN 1990’S. COKE MOVED TOWARD SIGNIFYING ASPIRATIONS ABOUT
AMPLIFYING TANGIBLE BENEFITS OF PRODUCT...WHICH CANNOT BE OWNED.




TANGIBLE REFRESHMENT           BLACK HOLE FORMING...
COKE TODAY. RECOVERED FOOTHOLD BY CODING UNIQUE MEANING



                         Open Happiness
                                                                    ORBITING...
                                                                   UNIQUE BRAND
                                                                     MEANING




The core meaning of
the brand is rooted in    An Invitation To Open                   ELEVATED
                                                               EXPERIENCE AND
the idea that it
stands for idealized
                         Satisfaction In A Bottle             EMOTIONAL PROMISE

opportunity and
optimism — the end
emotional benefit of
the rational
refreshing nature of
the product.
                               Refreshment            AMPLIFYING PERCEPTION OF
                                                    BENEFITS OF PRODUCT QUALITIES

                                                           (CAN’T BE OWNED)
BRAND OWNED SIGNS (NOT OWNED ANYWHERE ELSE IN CULTURE
OR ANYWHERE ELSE IN CATEGORY) ARE ITS CORE ASSETS FOR THE
EXPRESSION OF MEANING...




        “SPENCERIAN SCRIPT”   “ICONIC BOTTLE”   “WAVE” & “COKE RED”
ONCE UNIQUELY OWNED CORE SIGNIFIERS ARE ESTABLISHED,
THEN YOU OWN THE SIGNIFIED OR WHAT ELSE YOU ATTACH TO IT.


                      STILL LEVERAGING DOMINANT CATEGORY REFRESHMENT INDEXES - CONDENSATION & ICE




       CONVERSATION             POINT OF CONTACT                       PARTNERSHIP & AFFILIATION
COKE HAS ACHIEVED “ORBIT”.
SUMMARY:
- Continued brand growth and development can be limited
 and even stunted or sent into decline through category
 code convergence.

- If brands own their signifiers (in both the category and
 culture), then they own whatever else they attach to it,
 and therefore that which is signified.

- Uniquely brand-owned signifiers and codes allow for the
 creation of a systemic approach to sustaining unique
 brand meaning while constantly delivering semiotic
 innovation...so that the brand can remain in “orbit”.
THANKS...STAY IN ORBIT!




ROB SWAN & MICHAEL COLTON - BRANDSQUARE 2.7.13

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Orbiting the Black Hole of Category Code Convergence

  • 1. ROB SWAN & MICHAEL COLTON - BRANDSQUARE 2.7.13
  • 2. CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE 1839 – 1914 Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ....Certainly the greatest American thinker ever. Bertrand Russell The father of Semiotics in America. Despite being American as well, we have adopted his methods as they are remarkably well suited for developing meaningfully differentiated brand personality and expression. Here’s how....
  • 3. “Everything is a Sign” Charles Sanders Peirce Peirce said that all input that comes into the mind and goes out is a sign. Everything we come into contact with has an impact on our behavior and defines who we are.
  • 4. “Everything is a Sign” Charles Sanders Peirce Semiotics utilizes cultural deductive logic to identify the meaning of these signs and how they evoke (or attempt to evoke) universally understood visceral (emotional) human reactions.
  • 5. Not DESIGN semiotics... IT’S PEIRCIAN Semiotics • Decoding “design” is the equivalent of decoding the artifacts of the future to understand culture and humanity. • Analyzing letterforms is simply a very granular, specialized forms of cultural semiotic decoding • There are no distinctions to be made between design and culture codes • Designers, movie producers, brand strategists are the crystalizers of meaning... • Yet...ultimately, not giving credit to the designer/artist/filmmaker for the influence they have. They are human conduits for meaning. Meaning passes through them and manifested in a multi-sensory way.
  • 6. C.S. PEIRCE WOULD AGREE... PEIRCE BELIEVED THAT TRUTH IS CARVED IN STONE ... THAT TRUTH IS BOTH INDEPENDENT FROM OPINION AND CAN BE DISCOVERED AND MADE APPARENT. WE BELIEVE THAT MODERN RETAIL PROPOSITIONS BRINGS TO MIND THE FAMILIAR PHRASE...”IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!”
  • 7. LIKE THE JUNGLE, THE MODERN SHOPPING ENVIRONMENT IS A CLOSED ECOSYSTEM...
  • 8. WHILE PRODUCTS ON THE SHELF DEPLOY SIGNIFIERS, LIKE ANIMALS IN NATURE, IN AN EFFORT TO SURVIVE AND “REPRODUCE”. PARENT INVESTMENT TOXICITY MIMICRY TERRITORIALITY QUALITY
  • 9. THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE IS SIMILAR...IN A WAY, SOMEWHAT ANIMALISTIC AND PRIMITIVE — CEREBRALLY REDUCED, MAKING SPLIT SECOND APPRAISALS, NAVIGATING CATEGORIES HABITUALLY AND PERCEPTUALLY HANDICAPPED BY AN OVERWHELMING AMOUNT OF INFORMATION. "In the marketplace, unconscious processes enable us to make purchase decisions more efficiently a effectively than we could if we had to consciously process every relevant factor." Prof. Gerald Zaltman Emeritus Professor, Harvard Business School How Customers Think (2003).
  • 10. “COOPETITION” OCCURS WHEN ORGANISMS OCCUPY CLOSED TERRITORIAL NICHES, PURSUE COMMON RESOURCES OR FACE SIMILAR CHALLENGES TO SUCCESS OR SURVIVAL.
  • 11. CODE CONVERGENCE WITHIN CATEGORIES IS THE RESULT OF THE SAME TYPE OF BEHAVIOURAL EVOLUTION – BRANDS BECOME BIG....AND NEW ENTRANTS RIDE ON THEIR TAIL IN ORDER TO GET A SHARE OF THEIR SUCCESS.
  • 12. THE CONVERGENCE OF SEMIOTIC CODES WITHIN CATEGORIES IN TODAY’S FMCG MARKETPLACE EFFECTIVELY CREATE A “BLACK HOLE” OF MEANING... AS A RESULT, SHOPPERS COULD RESPOND WITH CONFUSION...OR WORSE, INDIFFERENCE... HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? HOW CAN WE AVOID IT?
  • 13. A CATEGORY IS BORN... EMERGENT BRAND EQUITY CODES + + MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION (SIGNIFIED) SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED Coding is Liberated As category grows and shoppers become acquainted with the brand offering, the breadth of comprehendible codes expands. Brand Inception -New Category Category codes created to emphasize/educate about brand meaning and product benefits
  • 14. A CATEGORY DEVELOPS... DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES + + MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED) SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED Category Captain’s Dilemma Size of business increases. Foundational brand codes become New Entrants/Fast Followers intrinsic as equity but also Others latch on to signifier become synonymous with the system/codes established up by category. category pioneer(s) in order to convey perception of relevance and credibility.
  • 15. A CATEGORY MATURES... DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES RESIDUAL EQUITY CODES + + MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED) SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED Coding is Co-opted New entrants leech equities and begin to eat away at share and drag the category captain down.
  • 16. WHAT CAUSES THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL? Some factors that contribute to convergence of codes... Mimicry — New entrant using category conventional signifiers/ codes to communicate perception of quality and relevance. Posturing — Leveraging commonly used signifiers in an progressively insistent attempt to out-do competitors. Risk Aversion — Brand owners avoid potential risk to sales volume. The qualitative voice of the consumer limits permission for change as codes become acculturated. Brand and category evolution slows to a crawl. Shopper Dynamics — Cross category market structure makes code evolution and innovation more disruptive and therefore potentially more damaging to shoppability, stoppability and findability.
  • 17. A CATEGORY BEGINS TO COLLAPSE... DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES RESIDUAL EQUITY CODES + + MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED) SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED Code Homogeneity Harder for new to market takes hold and market share players to enter because moves toward equilibrium dominant code use has become saturated and share of market is harder to obtain
  • 18. WOMEN’S AEROSOL DEODORANT – A SEMIOTIC “BLACK HOLE” COLD LAB FRESH CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN PASTEL MINIMAL HERMETIC GENTLE CLEAN CLEAN
  • 20. A TRANSFORMATIONAL BRAND “ORBITS”. UNIQUE EXPRESSION OF BRAND MEANING EVERGREEN BRAND EQUITY CODES DOMINANT CATEGORY CODES RESIDUAL BRAND EQUITY CODES + + MEANINGFUL DIFFERENTIATION ( SIGNIFIED) SHARE OF CATEGORY AS WELL AS TIME ELAPSED DEFYING CATEGORY CODE “GRAVITY” AND REMAINING IN “ORBIT” CHANGING THE GAME BY EXPANDING PERCEPTION OF WHAT BRAND (AND CATEGORY) CAN OFFER
  • 21. IN 1990’S. COKE MOVED TOWARD SIGNIFYING ASPIRATIONS ABOUT AMPLIFYING TANGIBLE BENEFITS OF PRODUCT...WHICH CANNOT BE OWNED. TANGIBLE REFRESHMENT BLACK HOLE FORMING...
  • 22. COKE TODAY. RECOVERED FOOTHOLD BY CODING UNIQUE MEANING Open Happiness ORBITING... UNIQUE BRAND MEANING The core meaning of the brand is rooted in An Invitation To Open ELEVATED EXPERIENCE AND the idea that it stands for idealized Satisfaction In A Bottle EMOTIONAL PROMISE opportunity and optimism — the end emotional benefit of the rational refreshing nature of the product. Refreshment AMPLIFYING PERCEPTION OF BENEFITS OF PRODUCT QUALITIES (CAN’T BE OWNED)
  • 23. BRAND OWNED SIGNS (NOT OWNED ANYWHERE ELSE IN CULTURE OR ANYWHERE ELSE IN CATEGORY) ARE ITS CORE ASSETS FOR THE EXPRESSION OF MEANING... “SPENCERIAN SCRIPT” “ICONIC BOTTLE” “WAVE” & “COKE RED”
  • 24. ONCE UNIQUELY OWNED CORE SIGNIFIERS ARE ESTABLISHED, THEN YOU OWN THE SIGNIFIED OR WHAT ELSE YOU ATTACH TO IT. STILL LEVERAGING DOMINANT CATEGORY REFRESHMENT INDEXES - CONDENSATION & ICE CONVERSATION POINT OF CONTACT PARTNERSHIP & AFFILIATION
  • 25. COKE HAS ACHIEVED “ORBIT”.
  • 26. SUMMARY: - Continued brand growth and development can be limited and even stunted or sent into decline through category code convergence. - If brands own their signifiers (in both the category and culture), then they own whatever else they attach to it, and therefore that which is signified. - Uniquely brand-owned signifiers and codes allow for the creation of a systemic approach to sustaining unique brand meaning while constantly delivering semiotic innovation...so that the brand can remain in “orbit”.
  • 27. THANKS...STAY IN ORBIT! ROB SWAN & MICHAEL COLTON - BRANDSQUARE 2.7.13