When you have a cold, what do you reach for to blow your nose? How about when you accidently cut yourself? Most people would answer Kleenex (instead of tissue) and Band-Aid (instead of adhesive bandage). Often used interchangeably, these terms actually represent the brand names rather than the products themselves. Other well-known examples include Jet Ski (Kawasaki), Velcro, Bubble Wrap, and Jacuzzi.
When it comes to branding, there are a series of elements that are crucial to your brand’s survival. Once you name your brand (see 10 Steps to Effective Business or Product Naming) the next thing to tackle will be your logo. This is the visual representation of your brand and the elements you choose- color, shape, wording- will make all the difference in telling your story.
A recent Trend Report from LogoLounge analyzed 20,000 of the 204,000 logos currently submitted to their site into 15 leading logo tends. Logos are submitted by designers from over 100 countries worldwide and demonstrate not only the current trends but also the evolution of the industry. This report is not intending to tell designers what they should do with their logos but simply analyzing this year’s top trends.
Developing effective taglines is a disciplined process that melds insight with positioning strategy and creativity. So what is a tagline, and how can tagline development deliver a breakthrough? Sometimes called tags, positioning taglines, slogans, jingles, unique selling propositions or descriptors, taglines distill your corporate or brand position to a few simple and memorable words—ideally from one to five words, and never more than seven words.
Taglines are flexible, persuasive, differentiating, extendable and very often, more memorable than the corporate and brand names they modify. Why? Many names are legacy names, likely descriptive and sometimes over time, less relevant to positioning due to changing markets. With years of equity, it can be difficult to change names, but taglines can change with new campaigns, or to target different audiences.
Why are so many brands choosing black packaging? In a struggling economy, consumers are increasing cost sensitive and black can signal “premium”. The color black can symbolize power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, wealth, and more. A recent article in WSJ, “Packaging Noir: Shampoo, Beer, Gelato All Wear Black”, how real brands are leveraging the color black in their packaging. Below we will share those examples, along with the reasoning behind the color choice, and the risk.
Depending on the type of business or product, the availability of a domain name (also called URL or Uniform Resource Locator or website address) may be critical to the name selection. However, most common names, acronyms and interesting domain names are already registered. Why? Because each year over 10 million domain names are registered, with total domains now over 255 million (VeriSign).
Certainly, there are tips and strategies for working around this lack of available domains. Before we get into domain name strategies, you will have to consider trademark availability, as well as domain name impact on search engine results. For those of you new to domain names, consider some background information.
In 2011, we were both “captivated and stimulated” by the bold presence of Honeysuckle Pink. Then in 2012, we were ignited by the “heat and energy” of Tangerine Tango. Now in 2013, we are harnessing that energy and fueling our journey of growth, renewal, and regeneration. For indeed the color gods have spoken, and it has been declared that Pantone’s Emerald shall begin its reign as color royalty for the next year.
With a new year, comes a new direction, and Emerald is here to the lead the way on our path to prosperity. This vivid, verdant shade of green aims to “enhance our sense of well-being further by inspiring insight, as well as promoting balance and harmony,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.
In a recent article from Crain’s Chicago Business, Joseph B. Cahill suggests a bold move for Sears Holdings Corporation – changing their name. Why this bold suggestion?
Nothing is working for Sears. They have tried to make acquisitions, switched marketing strategies several times, tested new formats, and reconfigured stores. Sears is a 814-store chain that lost $3.11 billion last year. In fact, cash flows are negative, same-store sales have been falling for a decade, and they have been abandoning parts of themselves to raise cash.
A recent article on motion picture naming called “What’s In a Name?” came from the Wall Street Journal’s Rachel Dodes. The article gives great examples on how naming affects a motion picture, which we found similar to how naming affects any brand. Below you’ll find various parts of the article that we found interesting to the process of naming. There are many factors that go into naming a movie, and quite often the name gets changed due to confusion, the inability to market such a name, the worry the movie is perceived as a completely different genre, and more.
A recent blog post from Marketo gave a great overview of what your brand color says about your business. An infographic highlights each color and describes how your brand’s color affects various aspects such as buying decisions and company recognition, while explaining the appropriate industry and “warmth” factor a color gives off for a brand.
We took a look at the infographic and analyzed the IdeasBig brand color, orange. Using orange as a brand color makes your company appear fun, exciting and playful. Seeing as we love to talk about branding (or as we call it, the ‘fun part of marketing’), we felt these were excellent adjectives to describe the IdeasBig brand.
Interesting takeaways from the inforgraphic that we came across, include the following:
More often than not, companies of all sizes, start-ups to billion dollar giants, will attempt to develop a new corporate or product name with an internal team. Clearly many successful names have been developed internally, or by a legendary founder. However, companies should be aware of the many factors and issues, best practice processes, and naming resources that can improve the potential to achieve a memorable, successful brand name.
Unfortunately, there are many problems associated with internal naming. Getting right to the point: inter-company naming contests are inefficient and almost always ineffective. While contests can generate a large volume of name candidates, tapping everyone from the janitor to the CEO is distracting. Without in-depth insight and a strategic process, almost all name candidates will be worthless.
