Editorial: Too many iconic brands?

Judie Lannon

Iconic brands appropriate a kind of universal value but, as this introduction to the Q1 2013 issue of Market Leader notes, there is a limit to how many iconic brands the world can accommodate.

Editorial: Too many iconic brands?

Judie Lannon

The words 'icon' and iconic' are tossed about freely these days in reference to brands. The writer or speaker usually means to emphasise specialness, uniqueness, but also the idea that everyone agrees about this specialness and uniqueness. Ubiquity is part of the definition.

The dictionary defines 'icon' as an image, symbol or picture, usually of a sacred or religious subject. So perhaps the most significant aspect is that iconic brands have appropriated some kind of universal value, or universal stereotype, deeper than just a transient meaning. By that definition there is a limit...

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