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Seeing things differently Home Archives Profile Subscribe Search Subscribe to this blog’s feed agraham 2 Following 0 Followers Bookstore An eclectic reading list My Other Accounts LinkedIn: andy.graham8@btinternet Twitter: Valuevisibility Recent Comments agraham on Choosing a strapline? Jane on Choosing a strapline? Graham Williams on Choosing a strapline? Angie on Directors should cure the headache and have sex Lloyds Tsb on Brand strategy for new leadership or ownership Ada Harriotts on Choosing a strapline? Mark Kennedy on In defence of ‘Z’ Lars on Long live the pickled herring. Linda on Brand for visibility agraham on Choosing a strapline? Blog powered by Typepad November 17, 2013 You too? An innocent railway station sign takes me back twenty-five years in a heartbeat. At Eberswalder Strasse U-bahn station in Berlin I experienced a strange and overwhelming intersection of memory and commentary. It came without warning - an unstoppable rush - I was whizzed back in a mental time machine to 1988 and a flat in Streatham, South London. My teleport was this simple U2 sign from one of Berlin’s ten underground lines. Often a famous brand name is originally an arbitrary choice rather than a rational consideration. It is often the best of a bunch rather than a stellar choice. U2 were originally called ‘Feedback’ followed by ‘The Hype’ and then in 1978 they settled on the name U2 from a selection of six names presented by a musician friend. The band chose the name because of its ambiguity and the fact that it was the name they disliked the least! As if by prophetic design U2 were subject to a strange synchronicity. Thirteen years later U2 recorded their seminal album ‘Achtung Baby’ at the Hansa studio a stone’s throw from Potsdamer Platz on the U2 U-bahn. A name is not just about the past, a name has the potential to warp the future too. Names attract fate. When searching for a new brand name, asking a group of people to like something they have no attachment to is a step too far. Asking which name they dislike the least is often a better criteria. In the beginning a name is meaningless. Only after a considerable period of time and positive associations does the name become household. Value grows with familiarity. And with that familiarity, trust. Ultimately a name is a navigational aid for our memories and a tiller for the future. The brand becomes a fellow passenger on our journey. Punctuating the context. I love names but sometimes find naming a challenge. Once a name is established it is as if it has never been away – it is part of our mental furniture. Coming up with a new brand name is often a thankless task and fraught with anxiety and subjectivity. A name when initiated has no substance, or at best borrowed associations and values. Names are like wine, they mature with age and are representative of positive or negative emotions that only accrue with time. In the beginning names are empty, only over time do they become full – of meaning and memories. Posted at 06:48 PM in Branding and marketing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Reblog (0) Calling all you professional persuaders! There’s more to words than meets the eye. This book by Mark Forsyth is hot off the press. A great Christmas present for all who use the power of words to persuade. Great substance is not the only measure of effective communication. It is not what you say - it is how you say it - that makes it memorable. ‘Take a break and eat a chocolate finger biscuit’ just isn’t as memorable or persuasive as the iconic advertising line ‘Have a break, have a Kit Kat.’ This book will give you the figures of rhetoric and the formulae for producing great lines. Forsyth explores thirty six rhetorical techniques from the more familiar alliteration (e.g. Dunkin’ Donuts, Ronald Reagan, or round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran) and antithesis (e.g. one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind) to the more obscure polyptoton (the repetition of the same word with different meaning e.g. please please me.) So, if you are looking for ways to: - persuade the crowd with your next speech - create advertisement stopping power - inspire your team to follow you - and more … (ellipsis) Then this book is for you. It is a fun rhetorical romp, referencing the world’s professional persuaders down the ages. From the Bible via Shakespeare and Yoda, to Martin Luther King, Churchill, Lenin and Lennon, Neil Armstrong, Lady Gaga et al. Forsyth pitches the premise that whatever your audience you need both substance and eloquence. And I am agreed. Understanding the figures of rhetoric will boost your powers of persuasion. Go on - unleash the rhetorician within! Posted at 05:38 PM in Book reviews | Permalink | Comments (0) | Reblog (0) If you are improving your customers’ experience – don’t hide it, flaunt it When overcoming negative perceptions it is essential to promote positive performance. I bumped into this ad at Gloucester Road tube station this week. The London Underground is currently running an evidence based, performance campaign to boost its reputation. A 40% drop in delays implies that there is still a considerable way to go. To a Swiss or a German this would be anathema, but to us Brits we always award points for trying. To us it shows that things have improved and we are heading in the right direction. In the UK we like to live in hope. We value trying as much as winning. Good old London Underground I say. I was struck by the directness of the message and the execution. No fluff here. When trying to improve a negative image it pays to advertise the facts and stats. When reputation is low, this is not the time to over promise and under deliver. Customers like to be informed of the measure of improvements – what you have done rather than what you intend to do. It’s promoting the journey, not promising the destination. If the evidence stacks up, perception will be transformed. The best in class case study of such a perception shift was the ‘T5 is working’ campaign directed by BBH London following the debacle of the T5 launch in 2008. We all remember the mountains of lost luggage that was dispatched to Italy following the opening of the terminal – maybe your bag was among them? The state of the art, high tec, opening promises turned into a very British kind of chaos. Fair play to BAA though. Five years on and T5 has recently been voted the world’s favourite airport terminal by airport customers. That was some turnaround. It is the combination of real improvement (reduced delays, waiting time, security time, lost luggage etc.) and the visibility of improvement that makes the difference. Not one without the other. I hope the London Underground is successful in both improving the traveller’s experience and rewarded with improved reputation through the promotion of it. I am with them for the journey. Posted at 05:19 PM in Advertising , Branding and marketing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Reblog (0) The Spark: Big table. Small car. Up until this moment in 1953 IKEA was a small Swedish mail order furniture business run by the entrepreneurial prodigy Ingvar Kamprad . His was not the creative spark. The story goes that Gillis Lundgren an IKEA draughtsman was picking up a table and it wouldn’t fit in the boot of his car so he unscrewed the legs and then reassembled the table when he had got to his home. The creative solution to his transportation problem had the potential to start a revolution. But only if it was shared. Seeing the opportunity he introduced the deconstructed furniture concept to Ingvar Kamprad and provided him with the catalyst for Kamprad’s concept of design democratisation. This is a case where the solution informed the idea. Would IKEA have remained just a small Swedish mail order business without the flat pack ? We will never know. It is a fact that the creative solution came to Gillis Lundgren in a moment of inspiration but more importantly he had the presence of mind to see the...