From being branded to doing branding: Studying representation practices from a communication-centered approach

摘要

This paper revolves around the organizing dimension of the brand, which we explore by focusing on what we call representation practices: actual day-to-day communicative practices through which people collectively engage in representing the organization, and by doing so participate in creating its brand(s). Taking a communication-centered approach to branding, we direct our attention to a particular organizational context, that of higher education institutions. More specifically, we address the branding efforts of a university department in the development of its new Website. Through this case study, we show how, in doing branding, faculty members are directly confronted with the images/identities of who they are, collectively and individually. Branding, we argue, implies an ongoing negotiation of representations, which affects both what and who is being branded.