Recently in Marketing
Yay us! We've been picked up by Guy Kawasaki's new Alltop.com endeavor. We think it's a cool tool, and it handily takes the place of our current iGoogle page that was a pain in the butt to keep up to date. If you're looking to gain access to a great source of topical links (somewhere between a blog-roll and the old DMOZ system) then this is something you should check out. We're unabashedly linking to his site here in hopes that the "highly subjective and judgmental" folks who serve as the sorting algorithm for Alltop will continue to think we're worthy of our relatively cushy positioning on the marketing page. Maybe they think we kick ass... But we ain't no Guy Kawasaki. (Though we couldn't find Guys blog on the marketing list... So maybe not being Guy is actually okay.)
In last night's Simpsons episode (Papa Don't Leech) there was a quick exchange between Lisa Simpson and Mayor Quimby that fans of destination branding (and taglines) can appreciate.
The setup - At the three minute mark in the show Lisa visits Quimby to sell him cookies (Skinny Mints!) and he attempts to pay from the city vault... Lisa: Where's all the money?  Honestly... it's at least as good as most of the recent location branding efforts we've seen lately. Say WA anyone? At least Springfield has an excuse for their cartoonish looking Power Trip. Kudos to the Simpsons writers for pointing out that the clothes the branding industry is wearing right now aren't exactly visible. Some can do a lot worse than this example when it comes to destination branding... And they have. Hat tip to Michael for the find.
This is a great video of Seth Godin speaking to an audience at Google. Anyone who thinks that technology sells itself - and that marketing (or branding) is just a bonus - needs to listen and watch.
Even namers can learn a thing or two. People don't buy products and technologies... they buy stories. (Why else would anyone spend $25K per gallon for perfume?) Yeah, it is 48 minutes long... but it is an excellent 48 minutes. ...except for the many spelling mistakes in the transcript.
Is there a connection between your favorite pair of jeans and the new name your company is considering? Would I be asking this question if there wasn't? Welcome to a blog post about... jeans and names. (But not names of jeans.)
Quick thought before we depart for the holidays... How many of you out there have a pair of jeans that you've owned for years, have worn through good and bad times, and only just now realized that there are more holes and raggedy bits than there is whole cloth? Putting on your favorite jeans makes you comfortable, maybe brings back memories, or just allows you to stop sucking in your stomach the way you might have to when you're dressed for business... I've witnessed countless people - including myself - agonize over what to do when it becomes apparent the comfortable jeans with knee-holes that go clear around to the back of the leg are no longer suitable for wearing in public. Invariably we all try to find the same store that sold us the jeans in the first place and get the same cut as we had the last time. We want familiar. We want comfortable. We want our same damn jeans back. (The only time we don't is when we've had a major change - lost weight, put some on, or suddenly gotten -or lost- confidence in ourselves.) Predictably I'm going to tie this to naming. We see exactly the same thing when we perform rebranding for our clients. The first round of names we deliver almost never connects with the client. They look for names that say the same thing that their old name did - but do it better. Rather like looking for the same jeans they were wearing - but without the holes. In a recent project we asked the client to select the top three candidates from a list of twenty-five we submitted. The names they selected were:
Organizations typically rebrand only when there is a reason to do so. Something changes internally or externally and the old identity no longer works. It's like the major weight loss issue. You can't wear the same jeans anymore even if they were comfortable. Sure - you can still fit in them, but why not buy some that look good on the new you and accentuate your adjusted figure? Me and my Lucky Brand Jeans have been together for about five years (with occasional flings involving Indigo Palms - note... that is NOT as nasty as it sounds.) I know it is difficult. Especially when you don't feel that you've changed substantially. Is there a lesson here? Yeah, I think there is. When considering names, if you sense you're being pulled towards the ones that are a lot like the one you've already got - take a step back. Consider whether or not you (or your product or organization) has changed enough to merit a new look. If you have then just remove the names that connect to the old you from the list. If you're the same and just want a new look you might want to consider keeping your name the same (or not changing your jeans) and instead focus on ensuring that you work on the way you present yourself. (There's a reason why models always seem to present themselves to the camera in 3/4 view. I'm not sure what the reason is, but there IS a reason.) Marketing really can help - and marketing is much different and less invasive and costly than rebranding. So - do you just need to control the camera angles or is it really time to get a new you? Have a great holiday everyone. I'm off to finish off a rebranding project - followed promptly by forcing myself to buy some unfamiliar jeans. (Sorry, I'm not going to invest in anything low-rise.) |
