Definition of the word “Brands”
Definition of Brands from the Social Sciences
Given the richness and complexity of a brand, let’s dig a little deeper into the definition of a brand. To do so, we’ll be examining multiple theories surrounding the roles brands play, including those from social sciences: economics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
Economics
Economists define brands a few different ways. First, they define brands as legal trademarks that are intangible assets of a firm. These trademarks unlock future streams of value for the firms that own them (hence explaining why they are labeled as assets) and offer significant value to the consumers that purchase them too. Economists also define brands as markers that identify the producer of a product (the “mark of the seller”) and that provide additional information to a consumer that makes their purchase journey easier and reduces the risk of purchasing. Think of this role as reputation insurance.
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychologists view a brand as a web of associations that include words, phrases, stories, images that make up an interconnected web of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and memories about the brand. These associations are held in both the conscious mind and the unconscious mind.
Social Psychology
Social psychologists define brands as relational partners to consumers who take on the roles of, for example, partners, friends, flings, enemies, and lovers. They observe that consumers often enact relationships with brands just like they enact relationships with other people. We explore this aspect of brands in Module 3 of this course.
Social psychologists also recognize that brands carry identity meanings—culturally shared stories, images, or associations that signal information about the identity of their owner. In this way, brands serve as identity markers. And in today’s world, social psychologists observe that brands are political; consumers engage in conscious capitalism, buying brands to signal their political views and choices.
Sociology
Sociologists note that we often form bonds with others who share our brand preferences. Thus, brands are a form of social glue, allowing us to fit in to and belong to groups we wish to join, as well as to stand out and differentiate ourselves from others. Brands offer us a sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves. Sociologists also show that brands serve as status differentiators, as indicators of certain lifestyles, and as sources of cultural capital and distinction.
Anthropology
Anthropologists describe brands as vessels of meaning, as symbols or cultural artifacts that reflect the anxieties and desires of people in a culture at a given time, as the holders of our cultural stories. According to anthropologists, brands symbolize things that we crave, that we need to help us live our daily lives. They are stories around which consumers have experiences and the totems that help us enact our rituals and traditions.
Citation: Harvard Business School Online