Add Some Glam? An Essay on the Aestheticization of Media Brands

Abstract

When glamour can sell candidates and cruises, roadsters and real estate, when glamour describes stocks (so called glam stocks vs. value stocks) and rock (glam rock vs. progressive rock) and when football seasons are full of glam transfers: why should the brands of publishing houses, social media platforms, TV series or magazines not also profit from a glam component? As the re-entry (Spencer-Brown, 1972) of magic into brand management, glamour helps media companies to break free from the classical brand engineering concept and offers an aestheticization that might add value—and allure. But it also asks for a reinterpretation of some cherished concepts as glamorous brands are defined through a punctum, an extra, a rainbow-moment—and those are difficult to plan, predict, and produce. Certainties might fade away, but in return (media) brands could stand out.