A Cultural Perspective on Brands and Symbol Affirmation. The Theory of Cultural and Iconic Branding Reviewed

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth approach to the theoretical issues stated about brands and branding from a cultural perspective. Following contemporary debates in defining the concept of brand and branding in relation to various marketing and organizational communication definitions, branding models that can be used in relation to places, in general, have been highlighted over time: the consumer branding model inspired by the functional tradition of the theoretical and practical marketing approaches, used and applied on products or services and the organizational or corporate communication model, from an identity approach. That is why, a different tendency is highlighted in analyzing branding models and their applicability on places, through a new proposed approach, of neo-Marxist nature, as a moderate response to the paradigm of postmodern brand management, defined by the iconic brand and cultural branding theories - presented in this article -, on the one hand, and the anti-capitalist, anti-corporate and anti-branding movement, on the other.