Data collection methods: Semiotics

 

Neuroscience has begun to study the effect of brands on consumers, and tries to understand what happens physically when we relate with a product, logo or advertising message. In other words, it aims t ...

Commercially applied semiotics is well established as a powerful methodology for research and for developing brand communications. Current applications include: deep dives into cultural connotations a ...

There are two sides to art appreciation, which nowadays involves an increasingly broad section of the population. There is the post-war model of art appreciation as a means of educating the 'masses', ...

This article discusses postmodernism, and its effect on marketing. Postmodernism is a rebellion against rationality and uniformity: whereas modernism believes in a single universal reality, and exalts ...

This article discusses the much-criticised logo for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and argues that while the execution was imperfect, the underlying conception is radical and interesting, and has not ...

Conventional research techniques failed to find the key insights necessary to drive behavioural change around Russian women's relatively infrequent use of deodorant. A combination of semiotics, ethnog ...

Semiotics had its first Conference outing in 1983, and since then papers on or about semiotics and semiotic understanding of the issues that confront Market Research have notched up an impressive numb ...

The paper hypothesises that brands have social lives as they enter into relationships with people. Brands are not just products that satisfy functional needs. They become markers of our very selves, i ...

The predictive power of semiotics emanates from its natural capacity to decipher the signs transmitted by any message or communication, going beyond what is said or shown by those communications to se ...

This paper focuses on a project carried out for Procter & Gamble by marketing semiotics agency Space Doctors to develop a new model of the acculturation process in the U.S. Hispanic market. The U.S. H ...

Semiotic analyses have generally privileged visual over aural signs. This paper seeks to extend the boundaries of semiotics by recognising that sound and music also function as signs in culture and ad ...

What is innovation? How can it be researched? Semiotics views innovation as a linguistic and cultural phenomenon. It offers a chance to identify what innovation means to its users and to consumers; ho ...

Since 2001 Procter & Gamble has worked with UK-based marketing semiotics agency Space Doctors to evolve a substantial semiotic capability. This paper tracks that process – from specific semiotic proje ...

This paper looks at how trust, authority and science are currently 'communicated' in the pharma and other sectors. Semiotic analyses show how it is possible to leverage certain codes in order to build ...

The paper summarises problems of intercultural marketing research in terms of the emic-etic distinction well known in cross-cultural research. Examples show the importance to start cross-cultural mark ...

In this edition of 'Best Practice', Roderick White unravels semiotics - the science of interpreting signs and symbols. He explains its value in understanding brands and developing new communication s ...

This issue of Best Practice looks at the best-known tools for monitoring and evaluating communication campaigns. It covers the two main uses of tracking studies: measuring exposure to the advertising ...

This paper explores a major issue facing brands and organisations - the need to stimulate fresh thinking and prepare for tomorrow's market. The paper demonstrates how a creative research design involv ...

The success of semiotics as a research methodology has led to the absorption of some of its key methods into mainstream research (e.g. communication decoding, identifying emergent culture). If it is t ...

While the phenomenon of impulse buying has been the subject of many previous market research studies, the effectiveness of these studies has been limited by the ability of the methodologies to a) meas ...

Marketers are seeking compelling evidence that online advertising is an effective business tool. They are also in search for solutions that provide an effective media plan to target the key segments – ...

The paper describes the semiotic process of assessing potential co-branding projects, such as product placement in feature films, for narrative congruence. Narrative congruence assessment allows marke ...

Globally, clients and stakeholders such as advertising agencies are looking for richer insights which they can use to differentiate their brand. Semiotics is an area that can appear to offer rich poss ...

The Being John Experience research project carried out by Added Value for internet bank Egg in 2003 drew as its inspiration the film Being John Malkovitch. The project aimed to gain a deeper insight i ...

The paper falls into three sequential sections: First, what is paradigm shift and why it is so important Secondly, what is the current pattern and its likely future direction? As examples I have picke ...

The dream economy throws up challenges in terms of how to do research. It also offers new forms of data that we must get to grips with if we are to understand the economy: current cultural phenomena s ...

Argues that qualitative group discussion research should no longer depend wholly on the central role of the moderator. It is ineffective for the same person to be at the same time an actor and influen ...

Semiotics was never meant to be the word of God, and it's findings should never be considered written in stone to advise the faithful for all eternity. Semiotics is about engendering dialogue. A metho ...

Our senses interact with each other and borrow from each other's expertise in satisfying needs, or emotional language, meanings, vocabulary. Each sense has its own dynamics and uses a ‘language’ and a ...

If you want to know where your brand is going, look at the signposts. Semiotics does exactly this, deconstructing our views of ourselves and the rest of the world to find out exactly what makes us tic ...