This article aims to present, in a synthetic and theoretical manner, the perspectives associated with the theory of branding, such as economics, psychology, public relations, sociology, and the ways in which brands become icons through creative interaction with their environment and the applicability of the model in the sphere of place branding. Within the sociological approach, there is a certain paradigmatic position, as part of the interdisciplinary social theory of neo-Marxism, a school of thought that expresses a moderate position, with socio-economic influences, between the cultural approach and the theory of iconic brands, and the postmodern anti-branding movement, both positioned in a constructivist-interpretivist paradigmatic scheme, the latter being analysed in the second part of the article.