I’m coordinator of Semiofest’s series of informal online “sessions.” These events are intended not only to share best practices among, but to nurture collegiality and friendship within the global semio community.

Coming up on May 30 (at 2 pm UK time)…

RISE OF THE RIGHT

Now that the liberal consensus has collapsed and the right is resurgent across the Western world and beyond, semioticians and their marketing colleagues are asking, “How do we adapt — while resisting fascism?” Session hosts Louise Jolly and Al Deakin have invited Nick Asbury and Charise Mita to join them in an exploration of how neo-liberalism and globalisation, which nourished the rise of commercial semiotics, contributed to today’s situation; the right-wing reaction to the “Corporate Purpose” era; and how semiotics and social psychology can most usefully and positively contribute to this historical juncture. With a lively open discussion/debate to follow. 

Get tickets (suggested donations only) at the link above.

Our sessionists:

• NICK ASBURY is an advertising writer based in the UK, and author of The Road to Hell: How purposeful business leads to bad marketing and a worse world. (And how human creativity is the way out). In the wake of the 2024 US election, he wrote a Substack post titled “The Post-Purpose Election,” arguing that it should be seen as a critical moment for the ad industry.

• CHARISE MITA, founder of TheHXCompany, focuses on “HX,” the Human Experience — instead of the dehumanizing language of tech’s UX or marketing’s CX. Her work combines Semiotics, Social Communication, and Narrative Studies, a hybrid methodology that is especially useful for understanding the dynamic aspects of both the knitting together and unraveling of trust and certainty, whether for brands or institutions. 

Session hosts:

AL DEAKIN has worked in commercial semiotics for over 25 years. He was part of the ground-breaking Semiotic Solutions team in the ’90s, combined semiotics with media strategy as a co-director of Michaelides & Bednash in the 2000s, and spent 19 years at Space Doctors where he was a Director of Insight. He presently works as a coach with individuals and teams and specialises in managing adversity in the context of work.

LOUISE JOLLY works in commercial semiotics as a way to combine conceptual analysis with a more practical orientation. She currently freelances for a range of semiotics and research agencies, loving the chance to dig into the detail of language and story. Recent projects have taken her down the rabbit holes of coffee, fragrance and broadcast TV.

SEMIOFEST SESSIONS: R/D/E | BINARIES | SEMIOTICS & UX | BODY SEMIOTICS | AI & SEMIOTICS | SEMIOTICS & CINEMA | FICTIONAL DECODERS | ON COLOUR | & more.

Also see these international semio series: COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | MAKING SENSE | COLOR CODEX | DECODER | CASE FILE