数字化时代的品牌意义:内涵、研究议题与未来展望

Brand Meaning in Digital Era:Connotation,Research Topic and Prospect

本文首次从意义的感知性、情境性和互动性出发,系统地剖析了品牌意义这一新兴营销学术语的内涵和研究议题。品牌意义是个体层面感知的表征,是整体层面文化建构的产物,更是不同主体经过社会谈判过程而赋予品牌的一种特有的、不断发展的情感和认知理解。品牌意义与品牌联想、品牌形象、品牌识别、品牌文化和品牌个性等概念有着紧密联系却又存在显著差异。在剖析品牌意义内涵的基础上,本研究梳理了数字化情境下品牌意义的研究议题。数字化为品牌意义带来了全新的底层逻辑,品牌意义共创、品牌意义消解、品牌意义重塑成为数字化时代三个新兴的研究议题。文章最后对品牌意义在数字化环境下的演变过程进行了总结,在此基础上对未来研究方向进行了展望。本研究有助于理论界更好地理解品牌意义的复杂本质及其在数字化情境下的全新议题,在品牌理论和实践之间建立起有效的沟通桥梁,为传统品牌管理提供数字化情境下的新启示。

Brand is a collection of“meaning”.Different from brand positioning,which answers“who is the brand”,brand meaning mainly answers the fundamental question of“what is the brand”.Digital technology gives brand new features of interactivity,transparency and anonymity,which makes the importance of brand meaning increasingly prominent in the digital era.Brand meaning is gradually changing from a vague and unclear concept to an emerging marketing term.However,the connotation of brand meaning in the existing marketing literature,especially in the new context of digitalization,is still in an early scattered and fuzzy state.In view of this,this paper systematically analyzes the connotation of the new marketing term“brand meaning”,from the perspective of perception,situation and interaction.Brand meaning is representation of individual-level perception,outcome of cultural construction,even more,the unique evolving emotional and cognitive understanding that different subjects endow with brand through the process of social negotiation.Brand meaning is closely related to brand association,brand image,brand identity,brand culture and brand personality,but there are significant differences.Brand meaning is not the aggregation of many traditional marketing terms such as brand association and brand image.In contrast,brand meaning answers the core question of“what is the brand”from a new perspective of“perception,situation and interaction”.On the basis of analyzing the connotation of brand meaning,this paper combs the research topics of brand meaning in the digital context.With the development of digitalization,digital technology has formed a subversive impact on the perceptual,situational and interactive nature of meaning,bringing a new underlying logic for brand meaning and emerging topics for brand meaning research.The first issue is co-creation of brand meaning.Digitalization changes the basic logic of“perception”of brand meaning,and the generation of brand meaning is changing from“perception”to“co-creation”.Brand meaning is not controlled by any stakeholder or the enterprise itself,but is created by multiple stakeholders through interaction,dialogue,exchange and resource integration.The second issue is elimination of brand meaning.Digitalization has also changed the basic logic of“situation”of brand meaning.Brand meaning is undergoing a transformation from“construction”to“elimination”.The“gap,conflict,co-destruction”of brand meaning has become the second emerging topic in brand meaning research.The third issue is reconstruction of brand meaning.Digitalization has changed the basic logic of“interactivity”of brand meaning.While digitalization brings co-creation of brand meaning,it also provides opportunities for brand meaning reconstruction.Therefore,reconstruction of brand meaning has become the third emerging topic of brand meaning research.At the end of this paper,we summarize the evolution of brand meaning in a digital environment,and look forward to future research directions.This study will help theorists to better understand the complex nature of brand meaning and its emerging topics in the digital context,and provide new inspiration for the traditional brand management in the digital context.