Acta turistica nova, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2009.
Original scientific paper
BRAND IS AN IDENTITY SYSTEM
Feđa Vukić
Abstract
The theory and practice of brand and branding have been formed throughout the historical horizon leading to the creation of a modern West-European culture, primarily in the domain of assigning symbolic value to a product. This practice was also later brought into the tourism domain in the form of destination branding. This paper discusses the historical elements of the development of the identity structure of a community, city and state, with a view to defining the cultural elements that are significant for the self-understanding of these identities, both within the actual historical communities on the one hand, and from the modern perspective on the other. This is done to give a new dimension to the brand and the practice of branding through the theoretical position of an identity system. This position is different since it advocates an approach to the planning of community identity in a way that departs from destination branding. This primarily means that it is necessary to systematically investigate the existing identity and values of a community, both historical and modern ones. Then, a communication system needs to be structured where key values will be recognised primarily within, and then also outside, the community, and not the other way round as was usually the case in the previous practice of branding. Addressing primarily the external public usually led, after a certain period of time, to the abandonment of the planned symbolic system by the very community for which it was designed, and the reason for this has been mainly observed precisely in the lack of comprehensive methods for researching the existing identity of the community within such projects. Therefore, through the concept and practice of the identity system, this paper offers a critique of the current method of branding, with a view to establishing sustainable productive communication systems, which will primarily be reflected in an improvement of the social processes within the community and will then be reflected in the narrow and broader target environment.
Keywords
brand; identity system; community; communication; culture
Hrčak ID:
61454
URI
Publication date:
25.11.2009.
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