Thesis (PH. D.)--University of Chicago, 1942. / Lithoprinted. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. 115-117.

Thesis, Columbia University. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: leaves 172-176.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1981. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-94).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Psychology, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (Proquest, viewed on Aug. 20, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-75). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 33-35).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1962. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 132).

Despite a rich stream of qualitative research demonstrating that brands gain meaning as individual consumers engage in relationships with them, most branding research and practice proceeds on the assumption that brand meaning is predominantly consensual and shared across consumers. The assumption of consensus underpins the branding practices used by most companies today, which strive for consistency, simplicity, and clarity in a brand’s positioning. Still, this assumption has not been empirically validated by systematic research. Hence we do not know whether brand meaning is predominantly consensual, as generally assumed, or idiosyncratic to individual consumers. Based on a conceptual model inspired by the Social Relations Model for interpersonal perception, three empirical studies with more than 50 brands in nine consumption domains test the assumption of consensus and find that, contrary to prevailing wisdom, a brand’s meaning is predominantly idiosyncratic rather than consensual. Managers miss a lot of what brands mean to consumers when they focus only on meanings that are shared across individuals. Managing idiosyncratic meanings requires different tools than managing consensus, but managers are ill-equipped for this task because no prior research has investigated what makes brand meaning more or less idiosyncratic or how managerial actions can influence idiosyncrasy. This dissertation first explores which brand characteristics are associated with higher idiosyncrasy. Two studies suggest that brands are more idiosyncratic as they become more familiar to consumers and when consumed in private rather than in public. Secondly, four studies investigate how marketer-led interactions between consumers and brands, in the forms of marketing communications and direct experience, impact brand idiosyncrasy. Results suggest that narrative communications lead to more idiosyncratic meaning than argument-based communications. They also indicate that increased brand experience results in higher idiosyncrasy. Overall, this pattern of results suggests that brands become more or less idiosyncratic depending on how and how much they interact with consumers. Based on the findings that brands are predominantly idiosyncratic rather than consensual and that brand idiosyncrasy can be measured, predicted, and managed, this research argues for a reconsideration of current theories and practices related to brand positioning and meaning management. / 2017-06-30T00:00:00Z

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This research dissertation explores how the symbolic space of public space, and therefore memory and meaning attached to a place, could inspire the process of the design for a landscape intervention. The research argues that community identity of a neighbourhood can be enhanced through the landscape and, more specifically, through the memory that a landscape holds. Furthermore, it suggests that relationships can be fostered within a community through the use of urban public space. Public space is a platform for the initiation of events which in turn provides the opportunity for interaction and therefore the conception of relationships.The area of study is Marabastad in South Africa, which underwent a number of forced evictions during the Apartheid regime. This community was uprooted and forced to live in racially demarcated areas. The development plans for Marabastad suggest that previous residents have the opportunity to return to their land. Adding to this, a new residential component is proposed for the area. This suggests that a new community would be present. It would consist of people who do not know one another as well as a combination of people who do and do not have knowledge of the area’s past. In order to initiate the interactions between these community members the author proposed a landscape intervention in the form of urban public space for Marabastad. The physical landscape intervention was conceived through recognising the memory that the site holds. The memory of certain events was revealed while at the same time the opportunity for new memories and associations to the landscape was created. In this way the traumatic past that Marabastad has experienced is overlaid with new and inspiring memories. / Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted