My clients often ask me: "What makes a good brand name?" I judge the desirability of a brand name by three dimensions: memorability, strategic fit and legal protect-ability. Let's start by exploring the first criteria: memorability. Our brains constantly computes information. According to the information theory, the human body sends 11 million bits per second to …
What makes a great brand name? – Part 1: Memorability
"What makes a great brand name?" We can use the desirability of a brand name by three dimensions: memorability, strategic fit and legal protect-ability. Let's start by exploring the first criteria: memorability. Our brain is a marvel of evolution, an organism that continually computes information. According to the information theory, the human body sends 11 million …
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8 ways to attract and retain young talent
According to Steelcase’s 2006 survey Millennials already make up 21% of the workforce in the US. This number will only go north in a couple of years. I assume by now you have realized that young employees are not conformists, they don’t want to play by the old rules. So, whether you like it or …
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How to increase the effectiveness of your communications -3
As you may remember, previously we explored two of the three pillars of communication. Today, on the last instalment of this trilogy, we are going to concentrate on the last pillar of communication: To whom are you talking to? Persuasion is a tough task. All people are not alike. However, if you pay attention to …
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How to conduct a 360 stakeholder audit? -1
What is the fundamental difference between advertising and branding? While they might be amply distinct, I believe the key difference between the two is who they target. The primary -actually sole- focus of advertising is customers, which is understandable. On the other hand, branding practitioners need to have a wider concentration. They work with “key stakeholders” of an organization. Why? Because a company’s …
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How to increase the effectiveness of your communications -2
Previously, we summarized the three important aspects of communication as Who says what to whom? Today we are going to concentrate on the second aspect: "what." What you say? There are several ways to improve the effectiveness of your what you say. Here they are: Emotional messages are more powerful than logical ones. Especially messages …
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What can you learn from Genius Bar?
Apple's Genius Bar is a home run. You already know this. However, have you ever thought why the Genius Bar became so successful? If you did, then have you considered how can your brand adopt the same idea? If one of your answers is "no", then this post could help you.For those who is not …
How to increase the effectiveness of your communications? -1
My clients often ask me how to improve the effectiveness of their communication. While I am not aware of a magic formula, I know some tips that can help you improve yours. I will share with you some of the ideas I borrowed from Social Psychology. If you want to learn more, I recommend you …
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What do you stand for?
Here is a universally accepted definition: a brand as a promise. However, for a marketer to focus solely on the promise is not enough. Here is why… We previously talked about how obsessed Millennials are with making a real difference. Fortunately for the world, and unfortunately for brand managers who got caught off guard, this is a new …
How to write a mission statement?
What is one thing that all companies have but nobody uses? That’s right, a mission statement. The reason why nobody uses them is that most of them are written very badly. Today, we are going to tackle the world's mission statement problem. First, let’s start with the definition of a mission statement. No company is …