Helpful words

Naming Conventions: When To Follow, When To Stray

If you are old enough to remember rock music from the 1980’s, you can probably remember band names that seemed created just to be memorable. While having an unforgettable name is a good thing, shouldn’t your name say something about what you do and who you are? Think about bands like R.E.M., The B-52s, and…

Successful Online And Social Media Marketing Business Names

Successful Online And Social Media Marketing Business Names When you envision business names, you may see them clinging to a handsome marquee, or hovering above the entrance to a building on a well-lit sign. But as a business owner, you should also see them emblazoned across the homepage of a business website and neatly printed…

Branding is Just Like Life: The power of “I don’t know”

Do you know anybody who has to be right all the time? If so, you probably don’t make a habit out of spending a lot of time with them. Being wrong is part of being alive. If you can’t make mistakes, how can you learn? If you can’t say, “I don’t know, I’ve been wondering…

The future is always in motion

Everybody wants to see the next best thing. They want to be there for genesis. Which is why car companies build concept cars — as an opportunity to electrify their audience and show off their most radical thinking. If the car is a winner, some or all of it will make it to production. If…

Creating Taglines That Stick

The poet David Clewell jokes that the greatest line of poetry in the 20th Century is “Raid kills bugs dead,” the tagline for the popular insecticide. Considering the line’s ability to implant itself in your memory, and its staccato sound that makes it fun to repeat, some marketing consultants would most likely agree with him….

Picking a company name? Context is everything.

Outside the confines of a company naming process, people aren’t used to seeing names all alone. In the real world, names are surrounded by subtle and not-so-subtle cues that channel our perception. Logos, imagery, packaging, environment – they all play a role in defining the context in which we understand names. Looking at a potential…

Rebranding process: Don’t let the crowd scare you

Let’s get the aphorisms out of the way: Change is hard, change is inevitable, and change is constant. When it comes to designing a smarter rebranding process, one that keeps these fundamental truths in mind, companies still have a lot to learn. Because people are more engaged with brands than ever before. And if they…

Branding is Just Like Life: Don’t squeeze the bloody life out of it

I grew up in a little beachfront enclave called Sea Gate, which was at the entrance to New York harbor.  My mother would take me in the stroller down to Nathan’s Hot Dogs in Coney Island. The hot dog was probably for her because I was still breast feeding. She told me later that she…

Building a brand: Virgin America

I have heard the interiors of Virgin America planes described as everything from “swanky” to a “strip club in the sky.” While it might not be everyone’s style, it’s certainly better than your other options. Unless you prefer the Reagan-era textiles mottled with burnt coffee you might find on Delta. What’s great about how Virgin…

Branding is Just Like Life: Somebody has to own the brand

When you are creating a brand, the first thing you need to be true to is yourself. Do not share the ownership of your brand with anyone else. This does not mean that your corporate brand is your private property. This does not mean you have to be a brand Nazi. It is more like…

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