Postmodern paradigms and brand management in the 'search' economy

The dynamics of virtual branding remain poorly understood. This paper argues that even postmodern conceptualisations of the branding paradigm fail to take into account the 'search' economy and the surge in 'Search Engine Marketing' (SEM) technologies. One of the key characteristics of this new economy is what Baudrillard calls the 'constraint of signification', allowing search engines to manipulate temporal, spatial and brand-consumer constructs in unprecedented ways. This paper proposes four key concepts to explain this new challenge to current branding paradigms: thematic spatialisation, temporal hierarchisation, consumer promiscuity and the-consumer-as-brand-creator. Finally, implications for marketers and researchers are discussed.