Ana Andjelic – författare

The Business of Aspiration is about how consumers'' shifting status symbols affect business and brand strategy. These changing status symbols, like taste, aesthetic innovation, curation or environmentalism create the modern aspirational economy.

In the traditional economy, consumers signaled their status through collecting commodities, Instagram followers, airline miles, and busy back-to-back schedules. By contrast, in the aspirational economy, consumers increasingly convey status through collecting knowledge, taste, micro-communities, and influence. This new capital changes the way businesses and entire markets operate, and yet the modern aspirational economy is still an under-explored area in business and culture. The Business of Aspiration changes that.

In this book, marketers will find examples, analyses and tools on how brands can successfully grow in the modern aspirational economy. The Business of Aspiration answers questions like, "what is good for my brand long-term?", "how is this business decision going to impact our culture?" or "what are the main objectives of our growth?" Marketers will learn to shift their brand narrative and competitive strategy, to create and distribute new brand symbols, and to ensure that their brand’s products and services create both monetary and social value.

The Business of Aspiration is about how consumers'' shifting status symbols affect business and brand strategy. These changing status symbols, like taste, aesthetic innovation, curation or environmentalism create the modern aspirational economy.

In the traditional economy, consumers signaled their status through collecting commodities, Instagram followers, airline miles, and busy back-to-back schedules. By contrast, in the aspirational economy, consumers increasingly convey status through collecting knowledge, taste, micro-communities, and influence. This new capital changes the way businesses and entire markets operate, and yet the modern aspirational economy is still an under-explored area in business and culture. The Business of Aspiration changes that.

In this book, marketers will find examples, analyses and tools on how brands can successfully grow in the modern aspirational economy. The Business of Aspiration answers questions like, "what is good for my brand long-term?", "how is this business decision going to impact our culture?" or "what are the main objectives of our growth?" Marketers will learn to shift their brand narrative and competitive strategy, to create and distribute new brand symbols, and to ensure that their brand’s products and services create both monetary and social value.

Modern brands are hitmakers. Knowing how to influence consumers through collaborations, merch, entertainment, brand codes, icons and other cultural products (and not through advertising) is a matter of strategy. In this book, world-renowned brand expert, Ana Andjelic, shows how modern brand strategy needs to be redefined as the strategy of cultural influence, how brands today influence culture, how brands should address audiences, and how the new approach to cultural hitmaking works organizationally and operationally.

A cultural hit is an idea, content, or entertainment that a large number of consumers pay attention to, share and talk about. Once cultural hits become market hits, by lifting brand popularity or driving product sales, they have a strong financial return for a company. Brands are motivated to start producing as many cultural hits as possible, and these new formats replace traditional brand marketing strategies.

In the book, Ana Andjelic clearly articulates the complexity of this modern brand building, and provides a set of practical examples and tools that can be used by brand strategists to produce a cultural hit.