ABSTRACT
Polysemy refers to the multiple meanings a sign conveys, which stratify over time and increase said sign’s semantic richness. Brands are intrinsically and inescapably polysemic, as their meanings derive from the cumulation of numerous actions and the involvement of varied actants. In this chapter, we address the practical challenges polysemy poses when managing corporate brands. First, we elaborate on what it takes to manage a corporate brand dealing with polysemy. We support our illustration with the visual metaphor of a colour wheel, which accounts for the universe of different meanings stakeholders experience and that eventually constitute a brand’s polysemy. Second, we provide the case of the Locarno Film Festival (LFF) corporate brand, which helps visualise the challenges that polysemy raises for managers. In so doing, this chapter (1) identifies three main axes that corporate brand managers can inspect or use to manage brand polysemy (stakeholders, communication contents and touchpoints) and (2) discusses four critical areas of decisions that corporate brand managers face when managing polysemy
