MARFA conference delves into semiotics

Marketers know their products better than anyone else - and when they mistake that expertise for adequate knowledge of their customers, they wonder why their sales don't increase. Marketing and Research for Africa, www.marfa.co.za, is putting on its third annual conference on October 3 - 4, geared at helping people learn better ways of discovering what makes people buy those products.

The featured speakers are Charles Leech, executive vice-president of Toronto's ABM Research; Louis Seeco, CEO of elements and founder of The Brandpilgrimage Consultancy; and Neil Higgs, director of Research Surveys.
Leech and Seeco will collaborate on a day-long presentation on the use of semiotics (a theory of the functions of signs and symbols) in research. The use of semiotics in qualitative research analysis is designed to achieve richer understanding of human feelings, motives and actions.

Semiotics has roots that go back to linguistics and the distinction drawn between what may be "said" vs "what is meant". In effect language (whether visual or verbal) is a means of codifying meaning - and requires decoding by the recipient. Inevitably a recipient may draw a quite unintended meaning from what they see or hear thanks to their predisposition or context.

Semiotics is a useful form of content analysis, providing a framework for analysts to draw meaning particularly from visual material - for example the visual content of advertising.

For details of the conference, go to www.marfa.co.za/marfaconference2006.html, or email: .