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Some of the best known and most valuable brand names have surprising histories and unlikely provenances. Few came from high-priced naming consultants. Here is the brand name history for some well-loved brand: 7-Eleven Named for stores new extended hours from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Adidas Named for nickname of Adolf “Adi” Dassler Altoids Made …
Brand Name History: How Best Known Brands Were Named Read More »
The branding agency Siegel+Gale has just released a study about what makes a logo memorable. They polled people to see what brands they considered most memorable, then asked what aspects made the logos memorable. The methodology of the Siegel+Gale study useless for helping anyone designing memorable logos. First, the methodology only determines what brands are …
Here are the five biggest naming mistakes you can make when branding your company, product or service. 1. Mistaking the name for the brand. Your company or product name is just part of your brand. Not realizing this, many novice branders put too many expectations on their name. It is important to realize your name …
Biggest Naming Mistakes When Branding Your Company or Product Read More »
The Rolling Stone has an interesting analysis of the Hillary brand in the article: “There Is No Real Hillary Clinton.” Making the observation: “People aren’t meant to be relaunched as often as phones,” the article zeroes in on Hillary’s long-term problem with authenticity. Saturday Night Live’s “relatable woman on a couch” comedy sketch is not laughing …
Ralph Lauren, the last of the “big three” American sportswear designers, is stepping down. First Calvin Klein sold his company in 2002. Then Donna Karan stepped down from designing duties earlier this year. Now Ralph Lauren is turning the reigns to “fast fashion” executive Stefan Larsson. What will happen to the Ralph Lauren brand? Mr. …
Web pundits are predicting continuing growth in Web video. Cisco is reporting that by 2017, video will account for 69% of all Web traffic. With that in mind, here is a round-up of web video how-to advice for producing effective video: 1) Light your shot—dark videos don’t invite eyes 2) Get the best sound you …
I am very honored to announce the launch of my client Urban News Service in Detroit last week. Urban News Service is a non-profit producing the kind of journalism readers want and publishing businesses need. By providing quality content to urban papers, Urban News Service transforms the economics of news gathering and serves the needs …
Web copy writing for SEO takes more than mastering in the basics of writing—avoid the passive tense, not burdening text with too many extra, superfluous, and unnecessary adjectives just to name a few—but that isn’t good enough for effective web copy writing. All writing today will end up online one way or another so you …
You know a pair of Keds just by looking at them. Keds has an iconic brand shape that is turning 100 in 2016. Keds brand has just appointed Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners to bring the brand into its second century. The brand spends just $5 million in advertising a year, propelled instead through the …
Short form copy writing for catalogs must accomplish hard work of selling with few words. Item descriptions in catalogs are sometimes limited to just one sentence—often under a dozen words. Here are key points to help copy writers get the “Wow! I want to buy that” response. 1) Write with a structure in mind. Even …