How Brands Can Tap Into Symbolism and Social Signaling
Key points for how brands can tap into social signaling:
In the consumer world, the dominant mode of communication is implicit. This is social signaling: things that consumers can’t say themselves, brands can say for them
Through deliberate branding, logos and other identifiers can become rich in symbolic value. This brand symbolism provides the basis for social signaling
While social signaling reaches its full expression in luxury marketing, it can be utilized by brands of all industries. Patagonia and Toyota’s Prius are great examples of brands which have come to symbolize sustainability and pro-environmentalism. Each brand holds important lessons
When it comes to communication, the actual explicit words only go so far. If your significant other is standing angrily over a sink of dirty dishes saying “Are you planning on doing the dishes today?”, chances are, there’s a deeper implicit message that’s even more valuable.
For brands, the dominant mode of communication is implicit. We can see this most clearly in the luxury industry. Any old tote bag can carry one’s belongings, but luxury buyers pay a massive premium for high-end brands, largely, because of what they symbolize: taste, status, and wealth. It’s generally pretty awkward to brag about these things explicitly, so brands and products step in to do it implicitly.
In this way, brands become symbols for implicit messaging. It’s not just what the product does for the consumer. Its what the product communicates about the consumer. The core concept which enables this type of implicit communication is called social signaling. It’s about turning the brand’s iconography into a set of symbols.
How can a logo signal something greater than the brand itself? And how can brands create this rich symbolism in the first place?
Let’s dive in.
Symbolism and Social Signaling for Sustainable Brands
While social signaling is seen most fully in luxury, brands from many other industries can get in on the action. Luxury items signal attributes associated with status, but the symbolism isn’t limited to these values alone. Just about any trait which is valuable to the consumer can become part of the brand’s symbolism.
Consider sustainability. Many consumers hold this value in high esteem and want to publicly advertise this quality to their social group. And so naturally, brands have converged onto this in clever ways.
Toyota was able to successfully tap into social signaling within the automotive industry, by building a subsidiary brand around Prius, one of the first hybrid vehicles to launch in the U.S. market. The Prius became a symbol of sustainability - it communicated this to the greater social world. As one research paper described it, the Prius “functions as a mobile, self-promoting billboard for pro environmentalism”.
The skeptic might argue: How do we know for sure that this specific, signaling feature provided value to the consumer, above and beyond the car itself? Maybe people simply enjoy the Prius for the product's functional, utilitarian traits?
It turns out, the financial value of social signaling to the brand can be quantified. Research from Duke University found that Prius owners were willing to pay a significant premium for the privilege of signaling. In this study, consumers were given the option to choose between the same exact vehicle with identical features. The one difference was a Prius decal. It turns out that customers were willing to lay down big bucks for that symbol—up to $4,200!
Social signaling can be big business.
Protecting Brand Symbolism
The ability to socially signal is predicated on a strong, distinct brand that is rich is symbolism. A signal is only as good as it’s source. This is why strong brands, especially those who engage in signaling, go to great lengths to protect their asset.
In many parts of the world, Patagonia is the premier pro-environmental brand. Emanating from the core principles of the organization, the brand has demonstrated a strong commitment to sustainability which seen at the level of both brand strategy and marketing tactics. This pro-environmental commitment was fortified in 2022 when Yvon Chouinard relinquished ownership of the company to a non-profit trust which donates all profits (roughly $100m a year) to combat climate change.
Along the way, they've even taken drastic stances to protect this valuable symbolism. In Silicon Valley and elsewhere, the Patagonia vest became a popular look. Patagonia was regularly contracted by businesses to make special versions of the vest featuring an embroidered company logo.
This was great business for Patagonia, but at the same time, it posed a serious risk to the brand symbolism and social signaling they had worked so hard to cultivate. If the vests were adorned by the employees of companies who act against Patagonia's values, this has a negative spill over effect to their brand image. In 2019, Patagonia made the decision to refuse the business of any business it deemed "ecologically damaging".
As discussed in Branding That Means Business, this was a telling move by Patagonia. By being ultra-selective about their co-branding, even at the expense of it’s short-term revenues, Patagonia protected their brand image and reified one of the most valuable features of their products: it’s symbolism.
Applying Social Signaling to Branding
Sustainability is one of many values a brand tap into; the possibilities are plentiful. It simply needs to be a value that consumers hold dear, and want to implicitly communicate with others. Bombas socks and Tom’s Shoes both went for the value of "humanitarian” and baked it directly into their business model: A “buy one - gift one to the needy” for all of their products. In doing so, they carved out brands and products that signal this pro-sociality.
To integrate social signaling, think about your brand, and your target consumer. Is there an opportunity for the brand to communicate something to the consumer? Think about the values the consumer holds dear, or aspires towards, especially those they can’t easily express. If these are the same, or similar to values inherent in the brand, there may be a strong opportunity to develop a signaling strategy.
It’s worth noting that, while powerful, social signaling requires considerable investment. As the brand, you are playing the role of cultural educator, building the shared meaning the brand will symbolize. This means the need to advertise and communicate these features beyond the buyer themselves, and to their broader community.
It means imbuing the brand image with these traits which are not only valuable to the consumers themselves, but also values that the consumers want to communicate to others. It takes consumer psychology to another level: identifying not just the individual consumers, but those of their broader community. Identifying these, along with a communications strategy to convey them authentically, requires market research which is both deep and broad.
While difficult, the benefits of social signaling can be immense. Through this brand symbolism, the brand, and its identifiers, can serve as a proxy for these implicit messages, providing subtext to a consumer’s use of the product: “I’m successful”, “I’m a humanitarian”, “I care about the environment”, and so on.
A brand rich in symbolism is a valuable asset, helping it differentiate from competitors in powerful ways. In this way, the brand’s identifiers can go beyond simple recognition; they can come to symbolize deep, personal attributes, endearing consumers to the brand in new and significant ways.
Photo by averie woodard on Unsplash
About the author
Matt Johnson, PhD is a researcher, writer, and consumer neuroscientist focusing on the application of psychology to branding. He is the author of the best-selling consumer psychology book Blindsight, and Branding That Means Business (Economist Books, Fall 2022). Contact Matt for speaking engagements, opportunities to collaborate, or just to say hello
References for “How Brands Can Tap Into Symbolism and Social Signaling”
Cantor, M. (April, 2019), Patagonia distances itself from tech bros with new branded vest policy, The Guardian
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., & Van den Bergh, B. (2010). Going green to be seen: status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(3), 392.
Johnson, M., & Misiaszek, T. (2022). Branding that Means Business: Economist Edge: books that give you the edge (Vol. 1). Profile Books.
Michel, G. M., Feori, M., Damhorst, M. L., Lee, Y. A., & Niehm, L. S. (2019). Stories we wear: Promoting sustainability practices with the case of Patagonia. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 48(2), 165-180.
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