The liminality of branding: Interweaving discourses 'making up' a cultural intermediary occupation. (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Loacker, Bernadette; Sullivan, Katie Rose
• Is Part Of: Marketing theory. Volume 16:Number 3(2016:Sep.)
• Page Start: 361
• Page End: 382
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: Branding -- cultural intermediary occupation -- interweaving discourses -- liminal conditions -- work; Marketing -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Marketing research -- Periodicals; Marketing research -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Marketing -- Periodicals; 381.01
• DOI: 10.1177/1470593116636661
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1470-5931

Abstract

This article explores how the occupation of branding and the work it encompasses are discursively constituted and 'made up'. It starts with the premise that branding is a cultural intermediary occupation about whose norms and practices we cannot assume certainty, stability or homogeneity. The study illustrates how branding is comprised of multiple social and occupational discourses, namely, 'creativity', 'discovery', 'business' and 'morality'. Rather than stand alone, these discourses dynamically interweave and intersect. Consequently, branding emerges as an occupation with distinct liminal conditions, being simultaneously about art, science, business and social relational work. Instead of moving towards stability, our findings suggest that branding is an intermediary occupation that sustains rather than discontinues liminality and that enduring liminality lends itself to the non-distinctiveness of the occupation. For branders, occupying a liminal occupational position implies various challenges but similarly scopes for flexibility and autonomy.