Towards a Semiotics of Brand Equity : On the Interdependency of Meaning Surplus and Surplus Value in a Political Economy of Brands

This paper addresses the marketing concept of brand equity from a semiotic perspective, by demonstrating why and how the notions of code/subcode are central in accounting for the multifarious dimensions of brand value. Based on the basic premises that surplus of meaning is reflected in surplus financial value in the concept of brand equity and that brand equity and code are fundamentally interdependent, an attempt is made to lay the conceptual foundations for operationalizing brand equity semiotically in a political economy of brands. The managerial implications in terms of planning for brand equity against the background of the relative novelty of brands as signs and different levels of codedness are discussed through the import of the planning platform of The Generative Matrix of Equity Potential