Corporate Semiosis instead of Corporate Communication.
How to apply semiotics pragmatically in the field of entrepreneurship and management.
Paper for the 10th IASS/AIS world congress
A Coruña, September 2009

What is this about?
• Who is KMB?
• Status quo on corporate communication
• The idea of corporate semiosis
• Consequences for corporate semiotics
• Consequences for enterprises

Who is KMB?

KMB|Dr. Klaus M. Bernsau – professional
• Dr. Klaus M. Bernsau: nearly 20 years experience as consultant and
conceptionist for advertising and marketing agencies
• Founder and owner of the consultancy “KMB|Konzept • Management •
Beratung für Unternehmenskommunikation”
(i.e. Concept Management Consulting for Corporate Communication C4)
• Clients: Coca-Cola, ContiTech, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Post, Opel,
Rewe, but also many small and middle seized companies
• Branches: automotive, energy, finance, retail/FMCG, industry, IT/telecom,
logistics, pharma, fashion
• www.kommunikation-kmb.de

KMB|Dr. Klaus M. Bernsau – scientific
• Dr. Klaus M. Bernsau: Studies of Communication Science, German
Literature, Marketing, Physics, Sociology and Information Management
• Magister (M.A.) Degree in Communication Science about “Signs for Sale –
Coca-Cola-Marketing looked upon in a semiotic way”
• Dr. phil. Degree about “Changing the economic structure is changing the
social meaning – Regional-marketing of the Ruhrgebiet”
• For over 15 years teacher and researcher at University Duisburg Essen
main subjects: Corporate Communication, Communication Theory, and
Semiotics
• Different presentations and publications about the theory of corporate
communication in nowadays globalizing media society

Status quo onresults of acting and thinking people
Meanings are corporate communication
Is useless to reduce this to too
simple models
And the new media bring back
the importance of an
individualistic view on
communication

The universe of corporate communication
social
Corporate Environment
Public Media
Advertising Vehicles
Social Media
Plants Corporate Products
Communities
Corporate Media Services
Press Releases
Software Brochures
technical Engines Uniform ‘natural’
Corporate Tool
Blogs Hardware
Speeches
Twitter
Blue collar White collar
tools Manuals tools Clothing
Personal Media Letters Personal Tools
personal

The normal ‘theory’ of corporate communication
Participants in the Purchase of
Market oriented market or
company act product or
communication the communication service
mistakes, errors, resistances, barriers

Advertising is communication and
the typical semiotic analysis of advertising
Fixed content is transfered and
decoded
Semiotic can and has to decoded
obvious and hidden meaning in
an advertisement

The web is personal (again)
“The power of a single
individual to shape
perceptions on a massive
scale is a dramatic and
fundamental shift.
Brands aren’t defined by
campaigns anymore, but by
the consumer ecosystems
we nurture to support
5 Behaviours to survive them.”
1) Turn consumers into “prosumers”
2) Built bilateral brand experiences Mike Mendenhall,
3) Place context on par with content Marketing Chief of HP
4) Master the new calculus of communication
5) Collaboration is king

The idea of corporate semiosis

Relation between communication and semiosis
signal/
sender receiver
message
Objekt
Se Si Rc
Representamen Interpretant (acc. C.S.Peirce)
OS OR
Se Si Si Rc
(acc. K.M.Bernsau)
IS CS CR IR

Relation between communication and semiosis
signal/
sender receiver
message
Reference
C1 C2
(Self-)Expression Appeal (acc. K.Bühler)
referential
poetic metalingual
K1 K2
expressive conative (acc. R.Jakobson)
phatic

Identity: from one to many
Emergence of common understanding as communication process
Consensus (R) (R)
public media R M
(R) (R)
Erweiterung von K.Merten (1999)
about
Know-
event K A A
ledge A A
and values
personal K K
(K) (K)
Web 2.0 (K)
(K) (K)

The face-to-face-process is essential
even for corporate communication
• subjective
• interactive
• interpretative
• constructive
• cognitive
• fallible
• materialistic
• cumulative/historic
© Rusch (1990)

The complexity of corporate semiosis
• Multiple (single) sign aspects: Peircean, Buehlerean, Morrisean,
Jacobsonean
• The temporal, historical and spatial experience with signs of a certain
company
• The actual or the virtual communication process
• The emergence and sedimentation of commonly shared interpretations
• We end up in a 4 dimensional space of corporate semiosis
communication paradigma
communication syntagma sign syntagma
sign paradigma

Corporate semiosis: back to basics
Product = O
Sign Object (O)
facts
A simple The corporate
economic sign
sign process R I
Logo = Brand = means visions
L L
Sign carrierer (R) Interpretatant (I)

The corporate sign process
Strength of Meaning „final interpretant“ = steady meaning of sign
Depth of Meaning
Clearity of Meaning
Sawtooth Diagram of Semiotic Work
I
O Z Semiotic Work
(© KMB 2004)
I R
Z Diffusion + Oblivion
O R Time

Corporate meaning: from immediate to final
O Company Corporate
Interpretation
O
S
I Communication Means
O S
I R R*
S IR S*
O I* I°
IR O*
S Distracting sign processes Neutral sign processes
S°
R e.g. broschures O°
R°

Consequences:
Elements of corporate semiotics
Concepts
• Structure description of sign • Pragmatic and epistemological model
(carriers) and sign systems of the sign process
Our Vision: an integrated,
open, interdisciplinary, generally
static accepted theory and methodology dynamic
of (corporate) semiotics
• Interdisciplinary knowledge about • Empiric knowledge about recent
the sign objects and former interpretations and meanings
interpretations
Methods

Semiotics challenges
• Corporate semiosis is very promising field for semiotics
– Knowledge wise
– Income wise
• Semiotics have to focus on the ongoing sign process,
not on exegesis of single dead materials like ads
• Semiotics have to set up a model integrating the interacting factors of:
– Sign material used in companies
– Communication processes between employers and employees,
companies and costumers and among entrepreneurs and costumers
– Socialization of employer, employees, and costumers as individuals and
members of social groups

A corporate vision on semiotics
“Semiotic management corporate values ltd.”
• Semiotic management tools
• Semiotics speaking the language of the management
• Not only market research
• But also active impact, as:
– Semiotic scorecard
– Symbolic values dashboard
– communication initiatives with semiotic controlling
– Sign setting
– Media and mean controlling

Consequences:
a semiotic controlling system for enterprices
syntactic Visability pragmatic syntactic Visability pragmatic
silent communicativ uniformity personality
Single utterance Single utterance
Specific mean Spefic mean
Importance Importance Importance
of interpretation of interpretation of interpretation
Corporate Corporate
Culture Culture
consent controverse identity diversity
semantic Visability sigmatic? semantic sigmatic?
Visability
(pragmatic) (pragmatic)

Consequences:
a semiotic controlling system for enterprices
syntactic Visability pragmatic
featureless attractiv
Importance Importance
of interpretation of interpretation
discreet sexy
semantic sigmatic?
Visability
(pragmatic)

Summary
Corporate Communication Corporate Semiosis
• ‚communication‘ is a very open and • Starting at the basis: the single sign
diffuse concept process
– Advertising & marketing • Focusing on the interpreters power
– Internal & human ressources • Offering a possibility of integrating all
– IT & telecommunication aspects of embedded sign processes
– Public & investor relations • Offering new explanatory power to
– Online & social media the companies
• Based on a insufficient model • Leaving the dead end of the
monocausal technical and medial
• Ignoring the essentials of the human communication models
communication process
• Offering the great challenge to
• Ignoring the inherent sign process semiotics of further developing their
• Ignoring the complexity of modern theories and results according the
communication possibilities companies needs

Questions
Doubts
Comments
Additions
Improvements
Discussion!

Thank you very much,
and hope to see you soon:
www.kommunikation-kmb.de!

KMB|We are looking forward to you
Service offering Contact details
• Concept: Development of all future activities in KMB | Dr. Klaus M. Bernsau
consideration of all relevant and promising instruments Konzept | Management | Beratung für
and media (effect full, networked, intermedia,
contemporary) Unternehmenskommunikation
Hessenring 8
• Management: Taking over of the communication D-65205 Wiesbaden / Germany
projects as virtual "full-service-agency" via the KMB
network of competent service providers; management Phone +49-6122-704324
of the tasks with corporate intern resources and with Fax +49-6122-704378
existing extern partners of the client (e.g. temporary Mobil +49-178-2376728 (+49-178-Bernsau)
management of advertising or projects); accompanying
project leader (quick, flexible, good value, E-mail kmb@kommunikation-kmb.de
experienced) Web www.kommunikation-kmb.de
• Consulting: Analysis of weakness in existing concepts,
activities, structures and teams; optimization consulting,
goal development incl. buildup of quality- and
controlling-processes; accompanying consulting of all
relevant steps in corporate communication activities
(open in results, critical, competent, goal-
orientated)