Вплив культурних символів та комунікаційних стратегій на економічну оцінку бренду

In the context of digital transformation and increasing competition in the fashion industry, intangible factors play a growing role in shaping brand equity. Cultural symbols, values, and narratives constitute important elements of communication strategy that influence brand perception and the nature of audience interaction. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the cultural intensity of digital brand content, audience engagement in social media, and an integrated brand equity index. Cultural intensity is interpreted as a structured set of symbolic, narrative, and collaborative elements represented in a brand’s digital communications. The research is based on a combination of content analysis of social media publications and the calculation of audience engagement indicators. The empirical sample includes Ukrainian fashion brands Sleeper and Balykina. The methodology involved analyzing selected publications according to predefined cultural criteria and calculating engagement rate as the ratio of total interactions to the number of followers. To summarize brand characteristics, an integrated brand equity index was constructed based on key parameters reflecting consumer perception, loyalty, innovativeness, and market position. The analytical results suggest a possible association a tendency toward consistency between the intensity of cultural elements in digital content and the level of audience engagement. Brands characterized by more coherent symbolic and narrative communication structures demonstrate higher interaction indicators and a stronger integrated brand equity index. The results are analytical in nature and require further statistical verification. The theoretical contribution lies in clarifying approaches to defining and structuring the cultural dimension of brands in the digital environment. The practical relevance of the study relates to the application of the proposed framework in brand communication management. Future research may expand the sample and apply econometric methods for deeper empirical validation. The integrated brand equity index was constructed using a weighted expert-based evaluation of ten intangible parameters reflecting brand awareness, loyalty, identity, and market positioning.