Brand Value for whom? -- Towards a Consumers’ Brand Meaning Theory

摘要

Lately, discussions on brands have gained an outstanding space in the marketing literature, above all through the concept of brand equity. However, in spite of seeing a great effort in thinking the importance of brands for organizations, we question what is the importance of brands for persons. Reflecting on this, we developed the present critical theoretical essay. Departing from a post-modern position, in that we assume the consumer as a homo symbolicus, we approached the construction of brand meanings. For such, we discuss the problem of signification, assuming the notion of “language-in-use”, that sustains that any sign acquires meaning just when it is used by speakers. After a sweeping in the state of the art brand literature, we conclude that there is a semantic vision concerning brand meaning, in that, it is assumed, the possibility of attributing a prior meaning to them. Alternatively, we propose a theory in that the significance of brands comes from consumers' as they use them in their daily lives through language. We also poised possible methodological roads for investigations of this nature.