ShanghaiZhan: All Things China Marketing, Advertising, Tech & Platforms Decoding Brand China Using Semiotics: Panos Dimitropoulos
May 6, 2025
56:07
How can brands visually connect with Chinese consumers? What cultural codes effectively resonate with consumers, leading to trial and purchase? Today, we speak with Panos Dimitropoulos, a seasoned semiotician and cultural strategy expert. Panos helps brands connect culturally in China. He spent over a decade in China, leading Kantar's cultural intelligence team and guiding clients through China's evolving symbolic landscape. He's also the founder of Two Words Agency.
1. What exactly is semiotics? Why should marketers care?
2. What does it mean to see cultural codes in daily life? How can strategists start training themselves to do this, or should they leave it to the experts?
3. Why are brands looking so similar? Is social media making an impact?
4. How influential is the format to semiotics?
5. Why are semiotic interpretations subject to context?
6. Has the Chinese cultural codified context changed or resurfaced over time?
7. How do semiotics work in bottom funnel communications?
8. Can you provide some cultural semiotic examples?
9. How can semiotics help Brand China export itself to the world?
10. How can one learn more about semiotics?
11. What's behind your agency name, "Two Words"?
12. What's the difference between brand anthropology and semiotics?
13. Can brands influence culture?
14. Is there a glimpse into the future of Brand China?
15. Any recommendations for BFAs who may be interested in semiotics?
16. What's the impact of AI on semiotics?
Panos on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepdconcept/
Two Words Agency: https://www.twowords.agency/
Read more about Semiotics:
1. Roland Barthes: "Image-Music Text" https://www.amazon.com/Image-Music-Text-Roland-Barthes/dp/0374521360
2. Jean Baudrillard: "Simulacra and Simulations"
https://www.amazon.com/Simulacra-Simulation-Body-Theory-Materialism/dp/0472065211
3. Walter Benjamin: "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproductibilty" https://www.amazon.com/Technological-Reproducibility-Other-Writings-Media/dp/0674024451
For everything ShanghaiZhan: http://zhanstation.com/
Bryce on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycewhitwam/
Ali on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alikazmi/
1. What exactly is semiotics? Why should marketers care?
2. What does it mean to see cultural codes in daily life? How can strategists start training themselves to do this, or should they leave it to the experts?
3. Why are brands looking so similar? Is social media making an impact?
4. How influential is the format to semiotics?
5. Why are semiotic interpretations subject to context?
6. Has the Chinese cultural codified context changed or resurfaced over time?
7. How do semiotics work in bottom funnel communications?
8. Can you provide some cultural semiotic examples?
9. How can semiotics help Brand China export itself to the world?
10. How can one learn more about semiotics?
11. What's behind your agency name, "Two Words"?
12. What's the difference between brand anthropology and semiotics?
13. Can brands influence culture?
14. Is there a glimpse into the future of Brand China?
15. Any recommendations for BFAs who may be interested in semiotics?
16. What's the impact of AI on semiotics?
Panos on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepdconcept/
Two Words Agency: https://www.twowords.agency/
Read more about Semiotics:
1. Roland Barthes: "Image-Music Text" https://www.amazon.com/Image-Music-Text-Roland-Barthes/dp/0374521360
2. Jean Baudrillard: "Simulacra and Simulations"
https://www.amazon.com/Simulacra-Simulation-Body-Theory-Materialism/dp/0472065211
3. Walter Benjamin: "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproductibilty" https://www.amazon.com/Technological-Reproducibility-Other-Writings-Media/dp/0674024451
For everything ShanghaiZhan: http://zhanstation.com/
Bryce on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycewhitwam/
Ali on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alikazmi/