ABSTRACT
Brand meaning formation is a dynamic process in which consumers and brand managers draw from extant sociocultural discourses “to give meaning to the products they consume or sell” (Varman and Costa 2013). Consequently, there is a growing need for frameworks that integrate the sociocultural processes shaping the “outside-in” perspective of brand meanings formation (brand image perceived by consumers) with the “inside-out” perspective (brand identity as intended to be communicated by the company) (Schroeder 2009). This paper is concerned with advancing our understanding of how the complex cultural identity discourses in diversifying sociocultural contexts affect interpretation of brand meanings by locally born consumers (we refer to these consumers as “mainstream” throughout the paper).
