The document discusses the future of brands. It notes that in today's economy defined by short product lifecycles and expanding access to goods and services, people's attention has become the scarce resource that companies must compete for. As products become more commoditized, brands will need to appeal to consumers' self-image and lifestyle to differentiate. Brands will also have to move beyond functional benefits to expressive and central values that consumers can relate to at a deeper level. The document argues that brands will take on even greater social significance as communicators, producers of culture, and new existential guides in a world where their role extends beyond products into language, media, places, and social causes.

1. The Future of the Brand
DIMITAR & MILENA
South-East European Center for Semiotic
Studies - New Bulgarian University, Sofia
UNITO, IT, December 2009

2. Pre-Visions About the Future
Rifkin, Jeremy, The Age of Access. The New Culture of
Hypercapitalism Where All of Life Is a Paid-for Experience, 2001
“In the network economy that has been characterized with shorter product life-cycle
and in which the flow of goods and services is broadening continuously, not physical
resources but the attention of the people is what becomes insufficient (…) The attention
retaining [of the potential clients] will depends on capability of the companies to deliver
effective services and to create relationships that last over time.” (p.107)
Vincent, Laurence, Legendary Brands, 2002
www.britishbrandsgroup.org.uk
“… in a world where most products are of a high quality and good design, and
consumers are awash with disposable income and are increasingly demanding, where
will differentiation come in the future? We may expect an increasing trend towards
lifestyle products marketed to appeal to consumers’ self-image.” (home/brand/history)
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3. Stages in Brand Evolution
“Here, in the product-and-brand
saturated west, brands are having to
move up the value ladder, away from
functional values (what the brand can
do for me) through expressive values
(what brand says about me) to central
values (what the brand and I share at a
fundamental level).”, Hart, Sussannah &
Murphy, John, Brands – The New
Wealth Creators, 1998: pp. 211-212.
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4. The Brand’s Significance
A Brand is a social
A Brand is a social A Brand is
A Brand is
phenomenon
phenomenon a communicator
a communicator
A Brand is a new
A Brand is a new A Brand is a new
A Brand is a new
existential guide
existential guide producer of culture
producer of culture
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5. Brand Language
Media
Celebrities
Places
NGOs/Funds/Causes
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6. New Culture
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7. Picture slide
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13. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
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