This document discusses cultural branding and how consumers relate to brands. It presents McCracken's Meaning Transfer Model to explain how brands communicate cultural myths that help resolve tensions in society. A successful cultural brand advances an ideology by connecting individuals with relevant subcultures or crowd-cultures in an authentic way. This model emphasizes how brands can be meaningful to consumers by relating to their identities and helping them navigate changes in culture.

1. The Beginnings – New Brand
Co-Creation
Cultural Brand Positioning
1

2. The Trump Conversation
• Technology brands?
• Global brands?
• Brands for Trump
• Progressive Brands

4. Short Video Overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Xav28Lu2M

5. Challenges
Consumer Culture Theory: a set of studies drawing on
sociology and anthropology challenged this view of
consumer-brand relationships, identifying:
• Consumers used brands to build their identity
• Consumers used brands to address challenges of I
vs. WE
• Consumers connect to brands in often profoundly
simple ways (relationship metaphors) to solve day-
to-day problems
• Strategic challenges of mindshare and emotions:
creep and ownership issues

6. The Cultural Branding Model

7. McCracken’s Meaning Transfer Model

8. Cultural Brands Communicate Myths

9. Cultural Brand Connects I with WE
via Ideology
• Brand advances an ideology
– Patagonia’s adventurist environmentalism
– Dove’s body positive feminism
– Under Armour ‘Female uber-competitiveness’
• That resolves a profound cultural tension at a
particular moment in history, due to societal shift
• Via content repurposed from subcultural ‘source
materials’
– Dove – feminism vs. beauty myth
– Under Armour – female athletics
– Patagonia – ‘dirt bag’ subculture

10. The Cultural Brief

11. Populist Worlds, Sub-cultures &
Crowdcultures
• Stuff
– Food types, technology, games, gadgets
• Politics
– Parties, people, ideologies
• People & animals
– Celebrities, sports stars, actors
• Pop culture
• Activities

12. Summary
• Different assumptions about consumer-brand
relationships lead to different models
• Identity markets such as fashion are cultural myth
markets where consumers are trying to cultivate
the self
• Cultural branding emphasizes relevance in
turbulent times, thus emphasizing change
• Ideologies or myths are built on links with
subcultures, populist worlds, or crowd-cultures,
but link must be authentic in every way