Doing Semiotics
A Research Guide for Marketers at the Edge of Culture

The semiotics discipline - a hybrid of communication science and anthropology - accounts for the deep cultural codes that structure communication and sociality, endow things with value, move us through constructed space, and moderate our encounters with change. Doing Semiotics shows readers how to leverage these codes to solve business problems, foster innovation, and create meaningful experiences for consumers. In addition to the key principles and methods of applied semiotics, it introduces the basics of branding, strategic decision-making, and cross-cultural marketing management. Through practical exercises, examples, extended team projects, and evaluation criteria, this book guides students through the application of learning to all phases of semiotics-based projects for communications, brand equity management, design strategy, new product development, and public policy management. In addition to tools for sorting data and mapping cultural dimensions of a market, it includes useful interview protocols for use in focus groups, in-depth interviews, and ethnographic studies, as well as expert case studies that will enable readers to apply semiotics to consumer research.

Laura Oswald is founder and president of Marketing Semiotics, a brand strategy and research boutique in Chicago, Illinois. Applying semiotic principles to brand strategy and consumer research, the company has led successful projects related to strategic planning, new product development, creative design, and corporate reorganization for blue chip brands worldwide since 2000. She is author of Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies, and Brand Value (Oxford University Press, 2012) and Creating Value: The Theory and Practice of Marketing Semiotics Research (Oxford University Press 2015), as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles, white papers, and blog posts.