Origination: The Geographies of Brands and Branding

Chapter ThreeOrigination

Introduction

Origination seeks, first, to understand and explain exactly what actors do in efforts to construct geographical associations in branded commodities and their branding to imbue and capture meaning and value for specific goods and services commodities in certain spatial and temporal market settings. And, second, to interpret how actors in spatial circuits enact and respond to accumulation, competition, differentiation and innovation logics that disrupt the temporary fixes of geographical associations integral to the meaning and value of their brands and branding. The issues of geographical origin(s) and provenance, the questioning of and transitions beyond ‘Country of Origin’, and the socio-spatial histories of branded commodities and their branding are addressed. As the conceptual and theoretical core of the book, origination is then introduced, explained and exemplified. The methodological and analytical challenges of researching origination in the geographies of brands and branding are then tackled.

Geographical origin(s) and provenance

The geographical origin(s) of goods and services commodities are historically longstanding and enduring characteristics. Provenance is defined literally as place of origin. Depending upon the specific commodity and the spatial and temporal market situation, provenance can be a valuable and meaningful marker of particular attributes such as authenticity, quality and reliability. As established in Chapter ...