ABSTRACT
Sheri Harris studied semiotics, how signs and symbols, visual and linguistic, create meaning in people's lives. Her academic training gave her a unique lens to understand and apply the author's process. She has worked in branding her entire career. The author asked Sheri where branding is today and how it got there. She sees branding now as more personal, reflecting the data-driven explosion in recent years. One-on-one branding, given how much is known about an individual's behavior. Markets and cultural “semiotics” are moving at a rapid pace. Even emojis are showing their generational age. Within corporations, younger marketers skew social media; older marketers, traditional ads. For Sheri, the moments of truth that matter reflect on her academic training in semiotics and are reinforced in the process, the patterns of truth from imagery, music, and language. Universal truths underpin the strongest Brand Platforms – the Platforms that become a Brand's North Star.
