Marketing Code-X

On the Town

Image for On the Town

Rémy Martin

The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

Hennessey Black commercial

ON THE TOWN” NORM: Urban night on the town — fashionable, sophisticated, exciting and fun. Cosmopolitan, aspirational, urbane.

E&J XO social media

ON THE TOWN” FORMS: Black and white; night time — punctuated by red neon glow. Urban setting — as far as we can tell. Lighting from behind the bar. Sophisticated, chic fashion: black clothes, little black dress. (See the brands Hennessy Black and Black Velvet). Dimly lit nightclub scenes Fashionably dressed club goers. “Things are getting interesting.”

From a 2016 study of the STATUS SYMBOL space — within the Brown Spirits category.

Tags: CODE-X, Spirits, Whiskey