The man behind BlackBerry, Swiffer and Scion on how to do branding right
– Connie Loizos is a contributor for PE Hub, a Thomson Reuters publication. This interview originally appeared here. The views expressed are her own. –
In the brand-naming world, Sausalito, Calif.-based Lexicon has become legendary for its work over the last 30 years, and no wonder. It named the Pentium chip for Intel, the PowerBook for Apple, the Swiffer for Procter & Gamble, and Dasani for Coca Cola. As a recent New Yorker piece about the firm observed, Lexicon also managed to transform Research in Motion’s bland, corporate, painstakingly matter-of-fact smart phones into caressable little devices, all with the word Blackberry.
It’s not an easy trick to pull off, says Lexicon founder David Placek, who believes a good brand has to blend numerous variables, including resonance, pluck and the ability to tell a service or product’s story, often in just a few characters.
Following Netflix’s now-famous Qwikster debacle, I called Placek to learn more about his job, and how both big and small companies might do a better job of selecting brands for themselves. Our conversation has been edited for length.
Q: Let’s start with a really annoying question. Why can’t you just tell a client, ‘I’m going to give you 25 great names, and you’re going to love one of them.’ That tactic seems to work just fine for Don Draper.
A: Ha. I think a number of clients might think like that. For us the role of a name is to help someone tell a story, to break [consumers’] habits, to convey something new — all in a world with trademark protection and the need to work fairly well across a number of languages. That’s saying nothing of needing an available URL.
In our work sessions, we might show our clients 25 names, but it’s really treasure hunting, a way for us to go back and forth and see what will get attention and general interest and get something new into the market. Most people don’t appreciate how hard this is, and how valuable this word, their brand, will be to them in the future.
Lessons from The Old Spice Man
– Craig Reiss is the former Editor-in-Chief of Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek, among more than 200 other magazines and Websites. He currently owns Reiss Media, an Internet marketing firm. This story originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com –
This week we saw two days that shook the viral marketing world. Old Spice, a long-neglected – if not forgotten – Procter & Gamble brand unleashed a social media blitz that may have changed the rules of social network marketing.
At first glance, an entrepreneur may dismiss the Old Spice phenomenon as an oddity of riches, something only a marketing behemoth like P&G could exploit. But when we dissect its marketing principles and practices, it becomes not only entirely applicable to the small business owner, but an essential (and low-cost) opportunity as well. Let’s take a look inside.
For P&G, it began with a Super Bowl ad last February that introduced its brand character, the Old Spice Man. Played by shirtless baritone Isaiah Mustafa, a handsome, former NFL wide receiver with a polished comedic sense of timing and washboard abs, the Old Spice Man promised women he was “the man your man could smell like,” even if no man could ever be as truly manly as The Old Spice Man.
The original Super Bowl commercial was created by legendary ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, which is best known (before this) for its Nike, Honda and ESPN SportsCenter commercials. It has been viewed on YouTube more than 13 million times.
Five months later, Wieden posted a simple message on Old Spice’s Facebook and Twitter page: “Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into Twitter, or maybe the Old Spice Man shows up @Old Spice.” And show up he did.
I think one of the key issues is that the ad talked to women. “Ladies, does your man look like me?” I don’t think women choose deodorant for their men. It also degrades their man in the process, “your man can’t look like me, but he can smell like me.”
Despite the social media popularity, a campaign that spoke to men (a la Axe) would have been more effective in increasing sales.
Pedro Sostre, CEO
WebLift.com
