PhD A.V. Ulianovskii¹
PhD Yu.S. Danilova¹
PhD L.G. Feshchenko¹
A.V. Fadeeva^1
1Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg

Objective of the study is to formulate the laws governing the functioning of a legendary sports hero and/or team based on the laws of branding.
Methods and structure of the study.  The study employed a general philosophical-anthropological method and, in particular, a myth design method. It also developed an adequate configurator for transferring branding laws to the field of reflecting champions in sport.
Results and conclusions.  Empirically substantiated by Al Ries ‘22 immutable laws of branding’ in the field of commercial social mythology (brands) of sport provide a vision for the long-term development of the sporting image of the athlete or club itself, based on observations over many decades, which dramatically increases the likelihood of becoming a sporting legend in the eyes of generations of fans. This constitutes the core findings of the material. The consumption of sports brands of teams or athletes endowed with various fragments of identity models provides the eccentric human being – the fan – with orientation in the symbolic space of social meanings, a space for expressing emotions and the benefit of transferring the team's successes onto oneself. The latter constitutes the benefits of fan self-expression. Athletes become legends not only on the basis of objective material achievements, understood as victory over an opponent or over their own nature, over the inertia of matter, but also on the basis of the immutable laws of branding. The material is relevant as it will serve as an adequate basis for specific competitions for a place in the media environment in the long term within the framework of social and humanitarian technologies applied in modern Russia.

Keywords: sports legend, branding, Al Ries, sports club, hero, media environment, image, meaning.

References

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