The Symbolic Advertising Communication in the New Integral Reality

A symbolical assessment of the technology impact on a brand icon

Abstract

The new impressive technological advancements we are leaving change our cultural, social and economical consumption habits and needs. We have cumulatively evolved, as Hartley (2012) states, from a Newtonian, modern knowledge to a quantum, postmodern one and then rapidly to a network, universal type of knowledge that no longer requires nations, countries or regions but ”everything known on earth”, as in Google’s business plan. The brands’ or the companies’ (or governments) communications must adapt to the new vehicles and platforms such as mobile applications and dramatically more dynamic digital endeavors (responsive websites, social-media). In this context, there are several questions that rise up: how does the commercial message of the brand adapt to the new vehicles? Is advertising going to be an integral reality as Baudrillard (2005) described it, filled with perfect images and sounds, ready for an integral man to consume it? In a programmatic communication strategy of omnichannel consumer interaction, is there still a need for message coherence, and correctly targeted audiences? Or will the AI, the big data and the IOT change entirely the whole communication industry? To answer these questions, I examined the impact of the digitalization on a brand icon (the Ursus bear) evolution by assessing the new types of brand content in the relationship with the content consumption and the new types of exposure and new “planes of expression”.