Andrew Memmer
Pronouns: he/him
Research Mentor(s): Jin Sung
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Marketing / Business
Program: UROP
Session: Session 7 (4:40pm – 5:30pm)
Authors:
Abstract
What actually makes a brand iconic? Companies and marketers alike often boast about the building of an “iconic†brand, but few are academically able to define this term and determine its significance. Through various approaches, the following research attempts to define and understand brand iconicity. Empirical data is used to isolate characteristics of iconic brands into a quantifiable data set. As mentioned above, many methods were used throughout this research. Generally, data was found via some form of survey. In the first study, participant essays were used to narrow down generally agreed-upon themes of iconic brands. These themes include cultural symbolism, brand clarity, prototypicality, familiarity, visual recognizability, and timelessness. Another study used these themes as a reference to create a scale using factor analyses. The remaining studies tested this scale for validity and accuracy in various ways. While this research remains an ongoing process, we have been able to find and accurately test a theoretical framework for characteristics of brand iconicity. Future research is required to better our understanding of the subject. The implications of said research will lay the groundwork for similar and related academic research in the marketing field.
