Category Archives: Verbal Strategy
(From Lippincott.com) The strategic and creative discipline of developing the most appropriate word or words to identify an organization, product or service.
Know Canada?
Below, is the comment I left on an article on Brand New. My thoughts on Canada’s new campaign generated some interest, so I decided to share them with you. Enjoy it!
Peanut butter is Canadian
Phonetic symbolism and naming
Which one of the below shape is booba and which one is kiki?
According to Wolfgang Köhler’s “booba/kiki effect” study, 95% to 98% of people choose “kiki” for the sharp, angular shape and “booba” (or “bouba”) for the soft, rounded shape. Interestingly, recent work by Daphne Maurer and colleagues has shown that even children as young as 2.5 (too young to read) show this effect. Now, that is powerful. But, how is it related to branding? Read the rest of this entry
What’s in a name?
I love working with a brand named after its founder because they make my life much easy. The majority of brands still communicate merely what they’ve got (their products, their services, or their features.) Only a small number of brands communicate their “promise”, which is definitely a better marketing strategy. A promise is the universally-accepted definition of a brand. But… Even that communicating your promise is not enough anymore. Today, brands need to communicate their purpose as well as their promise, because people are looking for “meaning” these days. And there is no easier way of creating meaning than telling a compelling story about the founder of a brand. Read the rest of this entry
The art of effective writing
Almost a year ago I decided to start this blog, primarily because I realized that as a non-native speaker, I needed to improve my writing skills, a problem far beyond writing error-free articles. I had to improve the structure of my articles to be a more effective communicator. Structured writing was a skill that I was taught neither at school nor at work. So, there you have it. This blog is a selfish act. That said, I truly enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience with you. Therefore, today I will share with you some of the little secrets of structured writing. Read the rest of this entry
Why do brand names fail? Part 3
This is the third and the last installment of our “Why do brand names fail?” series. The first part focused on the process-related mistakes. The second one looked at tactical errors. Our last installment has a combination of both. Let’s roll. Read the rest of this entry
Why do brand names fail? Part 2
Previously, we talked about three reasons why brand names fail: not getting the right stakeholders involved early in the naming process, choosing an agency that does not have linguistic capabilities and relying too much on big brainstorming sessions. Today, we have four more reasons for you. Here we go.
Brand name failure
Why do brand names fail? Part 1
Today, we will be talking about naming as a process. It is relatively easy to come up with a great brand name. It is much more difficult to secure that name legally. (According to Landor Associates, 90% of names created will have to be rejected due to copyright considerations.) Believe it or not, it is even more difficult to get the consensus of your clients. This post, and the next two, should help you to avoid some of the naming pitfalls. Read the rest of this entry
How to choose your brand’s name?
Coined words or descriptive ones? Family names or acronyms? What to do? How to decide? Today, I will give you some tips on identifying the type of name you should choose for your brand. Read the rest of this entry
Product naming vs. Corporate naming
There is an urban legend… If you name your pet or baby, you are qualified to name your brand. We have busted that myth already. Now, it is time to bust another one:
Is naming one robust, standard process that you use for all sorts of assignments? Read the rest of this entry
