Convention Tabulator – Semiotic Tool #2 of the series Breakthrough using recombination Useful for:...

Convention Tabulator – Semiotic Tool #2 of the seriesBreakthrough using ‘recombination’

Useful for:

MarketersInnovators &Advertisers

Take at look at this picture, you probably recognise the style. Semioticians call this a ‘Code,’ namely, Impressionism.

Let’s explore a bit of jargon to get going....

semiotic-analysis™ – see 2

Semiotics is the science of meaning

Z

Semiotic codes operate as a system with scaleE.g. Zeit Code – Culture versus nature

Uber Code – Western high culture

Meta Code – French high culture

Code Device - Women holding sun umbrellas

Sub Code - Park scenes

Code - Impressionism

Meaning units

Codes operate on different scales going from mega big to very small and precise.

A Zeit code – is a broad set of metaphors operating internationally. E.g. The idea of culture being civilised versus nature as uncivilised.

An Uber code operates across a continent or region that has cultural similarities and describes a common concept e.g. Western high culture

A Meta code is an overall theme within a Uber Code e.g. French ‘High Culture’ which often brings to mind art (painting)

A Code is expression of that theme e.g. Impressionism as an artistic movement expressed by painters such as Seurat or Monet

A Sub Code is a further atomisation or expression of the Code which is common to that Code e.g. scenes in parks were common Codes of Impressionism

A Code device is a part of a Sub Code which is recognisable as a part of the whole as you see it again and again e.g. People holding umbrellas to create shade from the sunshine.

Bear in mind some definitions to begin unwrapping semiotics

Let’s get back to the picture Most people look at the picture and see a French

impressionist painting You don’t consciously have to look at the umbrella, the

clothes, the river, the use of colour (Sub Codes) – you just instantly know this overall style

There’s a lot of information here you don’t consciously process (Sub Codes) but they are essential to understanding the overall picture

So - a meaning of genuine impressionist painting that most people would agree on is ‘refined culture’

Yet this is trash can impressionism! The painting is made up of soda cans which transforms this

visual into something else entirely It’s meaning becomes pop-art impressionism, effectively

perverting intellectual culture.


Semiotics is the science of meaning cont’d

Often we don’t understand how we arrive at meaning so quickly. We just do it

Semiotics breaks down meaning into units (Sub Codes and Code Devices) which can be recombined to create new meanings

So you can make the familiar strange very quickly by using different meaning units (e.g. soda cans)

Check it out - the cans are easy to see in the umbrella in picture “A” below and become less obvious as you move to picture “B” and “C” respectively



A B C

All you have to do is take the basic structure (the Code – in this example, Impressionism) and change meaning fast by using different meaning units (e.g. Soda cans)

So in this example we move from a meaning of refined culture for a ‘pure’ impressionist painting

And end up at a meaning of pop culture impressionism or more specifically trash can impressionism simply by using soda cans to create art

Applying recombination in this way is a low risk, high reward approach to generating breakthrough comms & products and services



Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd

waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a

rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a

wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is

bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a

wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Those whacky kids at Cambridge, what will they come up with next?


Language is a complicated multi layered code. It’s so powerful that our unconscious recognises the code even when it’s been messed with. You have just experienced the power of your unconscious to recognise codes and meaning.

Demo of the power of your unconscious to recognise codes & meaning

Read this....


And de-code intuitively if a pizza restaurant is authentic, fashionable or status driven

You tap into knowledge that sits there in the background and ‘read’ these different pizza restaurants. How? You ‘read’ the pizza restaurant ‘Code’ overall to get a feeling

without even consciously thinking about it You don’t look at all the Sub codes (e.g. Floor type + furniture

type + pictures) add them up and go ‘ah this is a so and so type of pizza restaurant’

Instead you are an instinctive semiotician – the trouble is you don’t know what you are doing and how to apply it systematically or how to escape your unconscious assumptions around Codes.

Bear in mind...

To do this at a ‘high’ level takes years of practice!

However anyone can do this basic exercise and benefit hugely from it

The end result of the exercise is it allows you to spot new ways of ‘recombining’ standard codes of advertising

The reason you might want to do this is a follows - it can create breakthrough territories to explore at low risk – this is a real example which came through from agency training

Example of semiotic recombinationLet’s...


1. Find the ‘Codes’ of an advertising category; and2. Use them to create breakthrough advertising

To begin, we will identify the standard themes (Sub Codes) you would expect to see on air travel ads (Code). To warm up, here’s some visuals for some key themes you’ll spot

Breakthrough with semiotics - Step 1

Discovery Comfort Service

We fill in the Sub Codes across the top of the grid as noted below, leaving the left hand column blank until Step 2.

Step 1 – Figure 1 – Sub codes


Sub Code = Discover

Sub Code = Comfort

Sub Code = Service


You need to get your head into the category fast – so:

Look at 10 typical airline ads on YouTube When you watch the adverts, have front of mind the airline

Sub codes noted in Step 1 – discover/ comfort/service – which are being communicated in the ads (the what)

Jot down any other Sub Codes (ie the different expressions/ways used to communicate the Codes) you see

And then jot down any examples of those Sub Codes that appear again and again (Code Devices)

Figure 2 overleaf shows a table generated from doing this exercise


Step 2 - Figure 2: the Sub Codes of airline advertising

Sub Codes / Code Device

Sub Code = Discovery

Sub Code = Comfort

Sub Code = Service

Code Device Planes flying in the sky

People asleep Welcome Smiling hostess

Code Device Holiday Beaches

Roomy Seats High Quality Food

Code Device Exotic Destinations

Staff Putting Pillows out for those asleep

‘Luxury’ Environments


Step 2 - Figure 2: the Codes of airline advertising

Codes / Sub Codes

Sub Code = Discovery

Sub Code = Comfort

Sub Code = Service

Code Device Planes flying People asleep WelcomeSmiling hostess

Code Device Holiday Beaches

Roomy Seats High Quality Food

Code Device Exotic Destinations

Staff Putting Pillows out for those asleep

‘Luxury’ Environments

Look at Figure 2 below. A client found an interesting Rubik’s recombination by considering the Sub Code of ‘Service’ – (Code Device = Smiling Crew) and Sub Code of ‘Discover’ (Code Device = Exotic Destinations).

This created a new Sub Code of Authentic Destinations

Step 2 - Figure 2 New Sub Code createdAuthentic Destinations


Where we go

This Qantas air stewardess is holidaying in Fiji where Qantas fly to

Code Device: Where our staff go on holiday

Overall you are looking for interesting combinations Imagine you had a Rubik’s cube and.... Each side of the cube is a Sub Code And each square on each side is a Code device Now - rotate the cube at random and you’ll create a new set of

Sub Codes by combining Code Devices – just like we did in the air travel example completed in Step 2

Using this approach allows you to stand out’ (e.g. From Step 2 - staff profiled in adverts) yet ‘stand in’ (pictured in paradise)



Want more information on breaking through with semiotics?

Please email [email protected]

We’d be delighted to hear from you!

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Convention Tabulator – Semiotic Tool #2 of the series Breakthrough using recombination Useful for:...

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