Brand meaning and its social categories: A semiotic approach for future marketing

Abstract

This research aims to decode brand meanings from the logos of two multinational companies and to encode their social categories. The companies chosen for this study are in the technology field. To analyze this issue, a qualitative-descriptive method was used to define the message contained in the logo and express the logo's social categories in a cultural context. A semiotic approach was used to analyze the specified company's logo; results showed that the logo's meaning was conveyed through four dominant colors representing Innovation, Dominance, Variation, and Sophistication. These findings suggest that the companies attempted to achieve higher social categories, implying that they aim to have exclusive control of their products. In conclusion, companies can use its social category to create a new concept for another logo as part of a potential marketing strategy.  Later, these findings can be used to create a future marketing strategy.