Many of you will have heard of semiotics, or seen it bandied about in documents but may not know what it really means! This is ironic really because semiotics is the study of signs and meaning in communication. As the late Virginia Valentine put it, it is perhaps the most sophisticated tool we have for understanding brand symbolism. It does so by giving us techniques for scrutinizing cultural meanings and references within branded communication of all types. Brands gain equity not just from the utility of the core commodity but through the meanings they are invested with. Semiotics works to disentangle these meanings and then helps clients better manage their brands.
In this webinar ICG member Chris Arning of Creative Semiotics and Asif Noorani of Epiphany Productions explain more about semiotics and how it works to add value in consumer insight.
Chris Arning spent 8 years at qualitative research agency Flamingo Research where he was head of Semiotics and has since set up a boutique consultancy called Creative Semiotics. He is passionate about making semiotics more actionable and accessible and as such has set up the Linked In Semiotic Thinking Group and co-founded the now annual Semiofest conference as well as devising a course entitled Brands and Meaning at Warwick University.
Asif Noorani is a partner at Epiphany Productions where he conducts high level strategic insight projects as well as making films for change management. He studied under Wendy Gordon and was one of the first pioneers of consumer anthropology in the UK. He also does work on child literacy and has a retainer with Southwark Council.
Catch up with the recordings of the webinar here: