Metasemiotics & Brand Placement: The Art of Narrative Congruence

Cast a ‘semiotic eye’ over your creative executions, packaging and product placement proposals, and other marketing materials, to fully understand the underlying emotional and cultural connotations therein.

Semiotics, or semiotic analysis, is defined as “the systematic study of signs and signification”. Known as “semiology” in Europe, the methodology’s name is derived from the Greek word “semeion”, which means “mark” or “sign”.

Semiotics is concerned with signs, and examines all forms of language and communication as a system of signs, and what those signs mean. It is designed to explain how we understand meaning from communication, and this can be any
form of communication, from written language to body language to aesthetic language such as fine art and music.

From its roots in academic literary and linguistic theory, semiotics is now attracting much interest in North America as a qualitative methodology, although Europeans have been relying on it for years as an automatic component of any large-scale research project where advertising, branding, or visual communication is involved. As with any qualitative methodology, it has its strengths and weaknesses: it is especially useful to assess advertising creative, packaging, logos, brand names, consumer environments, and product design, but not especially useful to explore consumer reactions to, say, five proposed long-distance phone plans.

Basic Theory

Semiotics proceeds on the basis that all communication is made up of signs, and that any sign has two basic parts:
• The signifier (which is what something actually is, like the word d-o-g), and
• The signified (which is what that something means, like the furry domestic canine animal you keep in your home).

Language in fact works on the basis of this cultural assumption of a connection between a word (d-o-g) and a thing or idea (a dog). There is nothing inherent in the letters d-o-g that necessarily means a dog, but we have all learnt in kindergarten that one will refer to the other: the word d-o-g is a sign for dog.

Where it gets interesting is where we understand that the image of a dog in fact has its own signified meaning, in the form of connotations. Dog, in this instance, can connote loyalty, devotion, and masculinity. These are the emotional connotations of ‘dog’, and this is the level of semiotic meaning that has the most interest to market research professionals: emotional subtleties, references to other signs, or to popular culture.

Semiotic analysis treats all communication as a ‘text’ or a ‘narrative’, or something that tells us a story. We all use semiotics every single day, every time we get dressed in the morning, or chose jewellery to wear, or get our hair cut, in the belief that the choices we make tell others about us – or tells others what we would like them to think about us. This, of course, is how branding is supposed to work, in an ideal world – to instantly and mutely communicate complex, nuanced connotations about our lifestyle and emotional values to the outside world. Semiotics is the mechanic of the branding process.

The Mechanics of Semiotics

Semiotic analysis is usually a desktop methodology, where the researcher sits down, alone, with the text under analysis, and establishes a relationship between the signifieds and the signifers by asking following questions:
• Who or what created the sign?
• What does it mean?
• How does it deliver its message?
• What medium was employed?
• In what context does it occur?
• How many different interpretations are possible?
• What set of binary oppositions does it suggest?

The semiotician then proceeds to break down the image/picture/word/packaging into its smallest component parts:
• fonts, colors, shapes, sizes, angles, and
• choice of media: are there photos?, Drawings? Watercolors?

Once this is done, each of these components is assessed for connotative meaning: what are the deep emotional connotations of this component? What resemblances, emotions, attitudes, or histories are evoked? Are references to pop culture made? What religious, social, or cultural associations are possible? One way to do this is to probe imagined alterations to the component under inspection. If a packaging color was changed from red to green, would that change what the packaging communicated? If so, what, and why?

Once the emotional connotations of the text have been exhausted, then the semiotician reconstructs the text, layer by later, noting new connotations (if any) that may arise out of the combination of any two or more component parts. When this process is finished, a full analysis of all the connotations and references communicated by the text should be at hand.

Often, semiotic analysis is an intuitive science, where researcher and client alike are immediately struck by the apparent obviousness of the analysis (usually followed by surprise that this was never thought of before!).

Binary Oppositions

Motorcycles and Automobiles offer the following binary oppositions:

There is also a difference in connotation between European and American bikes (and, by extension, between American and European culture):

Finally, this difference in connotation applies to Harleys, BMWs, and Buells in the very middle, which shows how Buell motorcycles are designed to occupy the middle ground, connotatively, between Harleys and BWMs (or between American bikes and European bikes):

By comparing the specific connotations of Buell motorcycles with the character of its rider, Agent Sever, we can see that the ‘narrative’ told by Buell is congruent with the narrative expressed by the film’s character:

At this point, mutual implication gives us a strong co-branding experience. The connotations of Ballistic become incorporated into the narrative of Buell, and vice-versa. Buell motorcycles give the movie Ballistic street credibility, coolness, authenticity, and connotative appeal to a target market of 15 – 30 yr. males. At the same time, Ballistic gives Buell motorcycles cultural cachet, coolness, authenticity, and a similar consumer demographic.

In addition, presenting Liu/Sever as a strong female character offers consumers a visual demonstration of Buell’s image of Buell as an ideal bike for women, and thus Ballistic offers Buell an appeal to both genders: female consumers can relate to Lucy Liu’s undeniable femininity, while male consumers can relate to her masculine strength and appetite for destruction. Both genders can relate to her taste in motorcycles.

Colleagues Call to Arms

As qualitative research professionals, we have a vested interest in ensuring that our clients proceed with the strongest possible marketing communication. An awareness of semiotic principles can support this directive. Cast a ‘semiotic eye’ over your creative executions, packaging and product placement proposals, and other marketing materials, to fully understand the underlying emotional and cultural connotations therein. This will make you a better, more educated moderator or ethnographer, with an increased flexibility and an enhanced ability to probe effectively.

Dr. Charles Leech is Executive Vice President at ABM Research Ltd in Toronto, Canada, where he splits his time between semiotic analysis, ethnography, focus group moderation, and sneaking off to movies whenever possible. His client list includes InBev, Unilever, Cadbury Adams, Nike, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Rogers Wireless.

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