Sónia Marques is a Commercial Semiotician based in Lisbon, Portugal. She founded Indiz in 2003, a company pioneering in market research, with a cultural angle. She is a guest lecturer at Porto Business School and was co-organiser of Semiofest Porto 2024. Her studies include Sociology from Universidade de Coimbra, Development Economy from Antwerpen Universiteit and subjects within Communication Studies from Universidade Nova in Lisbon.

Sónia writes:

“I first came across Semiotics while studying Sociology at Coimbra University. At the time, the subject seemed dense, difficult to understand, but the insights it revealed were incredibly intriguing and illuminating. I remember being 20 years old and really wanting to reach that level of depth.

Years later, when I was working in a branding agency in the 1990s, I was doing brand strategy without Semiotics and only with consumer research, and it was a frustrating task. So I quit the agency and went back to University to understand how to analyse advertising images and brand narratives. Since 2002 I’ve never stopped studying. I launched Indiz in 2003 and started selling applied Semiotics in Portugal, dealing with challenges from end clients ever since.

It wasn’t until Semiofest London that I met other semioticians for the first time. Yes, it took me ten years to find peers in the same profession. Since that first event, I’ve been grateful to Semiofest for adding new faces and relationships to my activity. Having colleagues is truly a gift. This sense of gratitude, combined with a strong desire to give back, inspired me to co-organize Semiofest Porto 2024.

Semiofest Porto 2024 was so captivating that even the management team of Casa da Música, our venue, joined in. They attended several presentations and remarked that our event was the most interesting of the year.“