This was my first attempt to start writing the essay. This was really just getting something on paper. As I haven't wrote a long essay for quite a while, in reflection I was not writing in a professional and academic manner. From this i decided to scrap this initial try and re structure and plan my essay with the help of my tutor. Below this attempt at a start is my new structure drawing out 4 sections.
Attempt 1:
‘ you know what they
call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris? They call it a royale with
cheese’. This quote, taken from Quintin tarratinos pulp fiction and is a great
example of what this essay will be discussing. No not cheeseburgers, but
branding. Specifically how brands change and adapt to fit in with different
cultures around the world. I will draw out three main sections in this essay. Firstly
focusing on cultural values and how these effect branding and globalisation. As
well as researching into the role branding plays in society. I will consider
branding theory and what is that allows brands to be successful on a global
scale. Secondly I will investigate language, type and semiotics researching
into how symbols and icons are interpreted differently all over the globe. Finally,
I will look into identity and the role this plays in branding. I will consider
age gender and ethinicity and how that effects something being branded on a
global scale. I hope to find out how brands add, change, adapt to society and culture.
I will investigate into designers opinions and theories, as well as considering opposing
views about brands, culture and their relationship.
Intro to section 1:
In this section I will
be focusing on cultural values. Looking in depth at how cultural values effect and
influence design that’s being aimed at a global market. In this section I will
focus on the interpretations and connotations of design and how these effect
different cultural groups. Looking into the social values of cultures and how they
effect and influence how brands appeal to markets. I will dig into branding
theory and what is that appeals to people and why they buy into brands.
Interpretation:
The culture, lifestyle
and environment you were brought up in massively effects the way you perceive
and interpret design. the way in which the audience interprets design puts them
into certain categories of cultural groups. This focuses all around
communication between the sender, being the designer and the receiver being the
audience. The sender generates meaning and the receiver then interprets this in
a certain way. This places them into a certain cultural group. A good example
of this is taken from Malcom Barnards graphic design as communication ‘as a
white middle class European male, my reactions of, sex and the city are roughly
the same as other members of my class, gender and age group… a black Muslim woman’s
or teenage girls reaction to the show would be entirely different’. The ethics
and circumstances of the European male will be very different from the Muslim
woman as their cultural values differ greatly. In this case the role of
religion and gender plays a key part in how something is interpreted. Hence why
sex in the city is aimed western consumers. This is as they morally have
different cultural rules and ethics. This links directly with branding and how
brands need to consider these factors to ensure not to offend the audience.
Design movements:
Not only is global
branding about how designers consider cultures. But also how design tends to reflect
the society and cultural it is found in. This can be seen clearly within design
movements. Looking at how art nouveau with its natural and organic forms was
and is still reflected all over France, take the Parisian metro for example.
This is the case with so many design movements such as art deco and Swiss
design. These all took different forms in different countries and cultures.
Brands will have altered and taken into consideration this aesthetic style of
the time and branded to fit in more within these trends. Design movements is
just one example of how society is reflected within design. Sub cultures
related to music genres for example would have changed the way a graphic
designer branded the the records and magazines, according to the aesthetic of
that culture.
Stereotypes:
These ideas of social
values link in the political state and views off a place. This is always reflected
in design and themes such as stereotyping and class are always obvious to see
within advertising and branding in particular. A good example of these cultural
attitudes being reflected in design could be 1970s Britain. During this time
the advertising world reflected the culture, using sexist stereotypes in
advertising for women. At the time this was seen as completely normal and used
as a tool put people into these cultural groups, so products were aimed at
them. This shows us how graphics can mirror the social and cultural values it
is found in. Although this now will be seen as un pc, at the time this wasn’t a
problem. Successful brands would and still analyse the social views of a time,
so a brand is correctly branded towards at an audience.
Class:
A designer must
understand who a product is being branded for. The relationship between graphic
design and social values is key to allowing brands to succeed. Without an
understanding of the market and who something is being advertised for, the
brand is likely to be unsuccessful. This especially applies when taking a brand
from the national to international market. Considering cultural circumstances
could be the difference between failing and succeeding.
Graphics can also be
one of the ways in which social classes and institutions are established.
Raymond Williams(1980) argues’ the means of communication are means of social
production, part of the way in which social class is made possible and
reproduced’. On one hand graphic design may be seen as the holding the interest
of the rich and powerful through the cooperate world of advertisers. Whereas
other may argue that graphics has an history of alternative employment and takes
a more creative and view of subordinate cultures.
Hidden persuaders and
branding theory:
This concept of
understanding what it is that makes us buy, believe and invest in a product, is
key to understanding branding. This is especially the case when its on a global
scale. In Vance Packards book ‘the hidden persuaders’ he helps us to understand
how it is that brands are made to appeal to the everyday customer through these
hidden persuaders. Some of these are as follows.
The idea of selling
emotional security, this focuses around finding an emotional weakness within a
customer and then marketing the product to reassure them. Packard uses the
example that freezers in the 50’s weren’t economically better for your household
costs. Due to anxieties with food post second world war, freezers reassured
house wives and gave them a sense of security and warmth knowing there was
always food in the house. This needs to be closely considered when putting a
brand on the global market. This is because people’s emotional weaknesses
differ massively and certain places will face particular problems as a whole
more that others.
Another is the idea of
selling the reassurance of worth to a consumer. This thinks about making the
consumer feel special for purchasing the product. Its about making the consumer
feel better about buying an everyday item, using branding to turn a negative
into a positive.
The strategy of
selling ego gratification is another route. This takes into consideration the
role of the consumer. This really draws on the idea that the consumer really
makes a difference when using a product. People don’t like to feel useless and
as if a machine can do their job for them. A consumer wants the best and
easiest tool, but at the same time doesn’t want to feel useless. Again this
will differ when it comes to global platform as different cultures value
working hard differently.
Another of
these hidden persuaders is selling creative outlets. What is meant by this is
the need of a customer to feel as if they are adding and personalising to make
a product better. ‘marketers are finding many areas where they can improve
sales by urging the prospective customer to add his creative touch.’ The example used in ‘the hidden persuaders’ is
cake mixture. The product that was an only add water basis, this didn’t work
nearly as well as when brands realised that housewife’s much preferred to add
egg and flour. This for them felt more traditional and gave them a sense of
creative purpose when making the cake.
One of the key persuaders
which I still feel is very relevant toady is selling a sense of power. There is
an attraction between most people and wanting a personal extension of power in
their life. Therefor it’s an obvious route to go down when trying to sell to a
consumer. The car industry is a great example of selling power to the consumer.
Now some may find it hard to indulge themselves in buying the power. The trick
here is to provide an alternative explanation to convince the consumer that
they need the product. Its this concept of ‘the illusion of rationality’. In
the cars case it can not only offer power, but extra safety when it comes to
emergencies’. Its fair to say on a global scale that power is wanted by most
consumers and that doesn’t mean in just a physical sense. This needs to be
considered when designing for a global market. Offering power to a market in
any sense of the word could make the branding succeed and appeal to more
people.
The final key and
relevant persuader is selling a sense of roots. What is meant by this is the
relationship people have with a product. How can something be marketed to make people
feel directly linked with it. This focuses all round a personal connection,
playing on the relationship of something that the consumer values like their
country, tradition or family. Making a
product link to these themes has proven to work. I feel this of all the
persuaders is the most vital when it comes to branding on a global scale. I say
this as the link between roots and cultural values are key to relating to
marketing so a brand can succeed.
A notorious brand that
considered cultural values and has successfully globalized is McDonalds. This
huge franchise has done it better than any other. When people think of McDonalds
they envisage the same restaurant in every country all over. McDonalds have
done incredibly well here, to keep such a strong stable brand, with a staple
look and yet have adapted to fit in with different cultures. Jane Pavitt writes
‘ McDonalds nurture their relationship with locality… in order to become neutralised’.
Although they don’t alter a huge amount of their branding, they cater for local
cultures. Local variations in the menu get changed and advertising altered to
fit in with a culture. During the year of the monkey in Singapore McDonalds,
they advertised four monkeys. These symbolised luck, fortune, longevity, and
happiness. This is a great example of how the franchise adapts to fit in more
with local tradition to ensure inclusion within the culture.
This section has
dicussed the relationship between cultural values and branding. It has clearly
shown that the values found in societies and cultures massively impact design.
these cultural values can influence branding. I have focused on the
relationship between how people interpret design and what societies cultural
values are in retrospective of that. Looking at how design can mirror trends
and reflect the political views of a place. How there is hidden persuaders
which link to these cultural values and persuade the audience to purchase a
product. These points clearly show the relationship and importance of
considering culture when branding a product, especially when it comes to a
global scale.
Example or case study
In this section I
intend investigate into semiotics. Thinking about communication and the
exchange of signs and codes which allow us to interpret and communicate design.
I want to find out the relationship that culture has with iconography and
symbolism.
For semiology communication
is the creation and interpretation of meanigs. Fiske a semiology theorist says
‘(1900) ‘construction of signs which, through interacting with the receivers,
produce meaning’. Ferdinand di Saussure
a founder of modern semiotics believes it revolves around the unity of the
signifier and the signified. The signifier is a signs image as we perceive it.
For example a printed or displayed piece of graphic design. Shapes, colours and lines are all signifiers.
The signified is the associate concept. An example of this is a green traffic
light, this being the signifier and the signified being the concept of go.
Saussure (1974) argues that this relationship between signifier and signified
is ‘arbitrary’. This is the sidea that the colour green could be associated
with a completely different concept instead of go. This relationship all
depends on the connotations and relationship people have with signifiers. How
colour and shape can relay completely different message due to how an audience
perceive it. this as you would imagine, begins to make branding globally a lot
harder. This is due to the different meanings of signifiers to different
cultural groups.
Restructure of essay:
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