It’s not often that a brand name generates so much interest. Belgians woke up March 1 to discover that the retail branch of the troubled bank Dexia is now called Belfius. The reactions were instant and entirely predictable as people began looking for the hidden meaning. Jokes ranged from...
I’m currently busy preparing for a trade fair, Midem in January. So like everyone else, I spend a lot of time mining the event database looking for potential partners. I’ve done this from different sides of the table for 15 years now (both copywriting and sales), and I still...
Britain’s Observer magazine had an interesting supplement this weekend: a list of Britain’s coolest brands. The research body Superbrands commissions an independent survey of experts and consumers to produce a yearly barometer of the coolest brands, people and places in the UK. You’ll find out more about it on...
When will we run out of names? Although I originally got involved in product naming as an add-on feature to the business of copywriting, it really does call on very particular skills. It’s often thought of as the ultimate in creative writing, as so much is condensed into just...
I’ve been working on a few projects recently that can best be described as “personal branding”, coaches or consultants that decide to build their business under their own name. But “personal branding” has a very selfish ring to it. At its worst, it’s an exercise in ego-stroking. But as...
I was amazed when an art director at a major agency recently told me that on average, their contact with a client had changed every six months over the past three years. That’s quite a turnover, with the inevitable loss in productivity and continuity. Coincidentally, coach and consultant Serge...
The EU’s DG Health & Consumers have come up with a viral campaign produced by the Mostra agency to increase awareness about online rights for younger shoppers. They just needed a wrap up line and did we have any ideas for a suitable URL? Finding URLs is a bit...
Names are probably one of the most difficult things to get right. Over the years, I have been able to come up with a fair number of product or company names. But there is no single way to get this right. Amongst the recent successful ones is the MIPIM...