The Groucho Marx Dilemma in Media Branding: Audience as Part and Signal of Media Brands

Helmut Scherer ()
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Helmut Scherer: Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media

A chapter in Handbook of Media Branding, 2015, pp 269-279 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter deals with the idea that a target group evaluates the media on the basis of their respective users. It is important for the recipients to know about their fellows. They want to identify with them; they do not want a possibly negative user image to reflect on themselves. Thus, users become an integral part of a media brand. This assumption is based on three theoretical approaches: social distinction, impression management and social identity. A literature overview shows that media use represents a means of social distinction and that other persons are judged on the basis of their media use. These results in the following implications for media branding: Media companies should try to control their audience’s image of their media brands. A marketing strategy that is very blatantly focused on a large range may be risky because it endangers the exclusivity of the media brand and its potential for distinction.

Keywords: Audience; Audience construction; Audience image; Fellow-audience; Impression management; Social capital; Social distinction; Social identity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-18236-0_18

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-18236-0_18

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