Narrative and Multimodal Approaches to Corporate Discourse

This work is aimed at investigating narrative strategies adopted by traditional long-lived Italian family firms belonging to the I Centenari association (https://www.assocentenari.it/en/index.php) and the Unione Imprese Centenarie Italiane (https://www.uicitalia.org) in order to promote their own identity. In particular, This study will attempt to shed light on “storytelling” as a marketing strategy, which will be investigated here from a linguistic perspective. More specifically, the concept of performativity will be explored with reference to narratives employed by the companies to “narrate” and promote themselves. On the other hand, narrative strategies in corporate discourse often imply multimodal communication. Thus, multimodal approaches will be taken into consideration. In particular, an analysis of the interplay of all semiotic processes (Wignell et al. 2018; Jewitt, Bezemer and O’Halloran 2016; O’Toole 2011; Machin 2011; Kress and van Leeuwen 2006) employed by the associations in order to promote their corporate identity will be provided. In short, corporate communication will also be investigated through the lens of a “social semiotics” approach with the final goal being to achieve a more comprehensive view of the promotional uniqueness belonging to these companies.