Location

Wiesner Room

Description

With the ongoing success of brand-dominated but factory-free companies like Nike in the consumer goods industry, architects are increasingly involved in the process of "branding." Since the 1980s, many of the brand name companies are co-operating with the same suppliers, and the supposedly unique products with different brand names are frequently manufactured in the same factories in Asia or Latin America. Nevertheless, the marketing campaigns emphasize the difference between the brands, and architecture is employed to create such a distinction.
In order to give potential customers a feeling of a difference, the companies' new marketing strategies often include a three-dimensional form of advertising: the construction of branding centers such as showrooms, flagship stores, or brand parks. Unlike traditional retail or entertainment facilities, those new image-oriented projects aren't operated to make profits with high entrance fees. Instead, Branding Centers are offering visitors some kind of excitement for free (or for a relatively low entrance fee), in order to create a positive attitude towards the corporate image. Those positive emotions then are supposed to influence the consumer's brand name preferences in the future, and hence create indirect revenues for the company, sometimes even years later.

Additional Featured Research By

(Unpublished) Design Ecology

Host/Chair: (Unpublished) David Small