Accounting semiotically for new forms of textuality and narrativity in digital brand storytelling

The new forms of textuality that have sprung up with the advent of digital technologies and media, spanning various communicative fields and practices, are an intriguing topic for semiotic theory. In recent years, the ubiquitous practice of digital brand storytelling, via the proliferation of digital devices and platforms, and expressive forms such as personal videos, blogs, podcasts, games, has changed the entire narrative creation process, thus requiring new thinking about semiotic methodology and tools. This chapter provides an overview of the different types of texts that semiotics has scrutinised ever since the 70’s, from the first studies about advertising, to the idioms brought about by digital innovations, in an attempt to demonstrate how structuralist and post-structuralist semiotic concepts may account for new and emergent forms of textuality and narrativity in brand storytelling.