In the digital communications era, the locus of brand meaning is shifting from the primary texts of the brand to secondary, or paratexts, yet literary theories of brand meaning and reader response have not kept pace. In this conceptual paper we draw on Genette’s (2010) theory of transtextuality to re-frame the constitution of brand meaning in relation to consumer self and social identity. We link this theorisation to the long tradition of literary research around advertising, brands and consumer identity. The paper outlines how the brand meaning and consumer identity research agendas can, through paratextual theory, be moved forward for the digital era.