The Times (and Brands) are a Changin’

Abstract

Gaski’s commentary of Conejo and Wooliscroft’s “ radical” (2015) “Brands Defined as Semiotic Marketing Systems” is rebutted. We reaffirm the need to update the AMA’s stagnant 80-year-old brand definition while addressing six issues: 1) That we don’t repudiate the AMA definition; 2) that we don’t present just another brand definition; 3) that definitions do change; 4) that products and brands are distinct concepts; 5) that the commentary does not properly address the Semiotic Brand System; and 6) that the commentary distracts from the real, more important question at hand, of whether the AMA brand definition is still viable.