It really gets up my nose when some Charlie Big Potatoes from the creative industry blogs, tweets or posts about some exotic location they’re visiting. They disguise the mention of Antigua or Paris with a dubious link to some project or other, but they actually just want you to know they’re living it up abroad. And you’re not.
Posts Tagged ‘branding’
Key notes
Friday, September 9th, 2011The real deal. 125 years of Coca-Cola.
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
A double celebration this week. Not the wedding – that was last week. No, today we celebrate my 60th post to the Creativepool blog (a nation rejoices) and rather more significantly – 125 years of the brown, sticky, fizzy liquid that conquered the world.
Whatever happened to the brilliant strapline?
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
‘Let your fingers do the walking’, ‘Put a tiger in your tank’, ‘Don’t leave home without it’.
Just where did those fantastic company straplines go?
When I set out as green but keen junior copywriter, the briefs I most looked forward to were those requiring a strapline. You know, a string of words whose intention is to capture the essence of a brand, product or service and attach itself to the consumer’s perception. A sort of catch-all selling point that was probably once known as a slogan.
Where now for the idea?
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
Most professionals provide an easily identifiable service. The lawyer offers his advice and representation, the dentist his drill and pink water. But the stock in trade of the professional creative is a little harder to pin down. Is the designer proffering Mac skills, visual awareness or a way with colours? Is the copywriter serving up a way with words, a cleverness with headlines or the ability to spell? Probably. But it’s the ideas clients really want from us.
You’re Fired! Apprentices and product design really don’t mix
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
I’m not big on reality television, I have to say. I was mildly intrigued by the very first series of Big Brother for maybe one episode, till I quickly realised that it was little more than a voyeuristic freak show. And I did quite like Pop Idol (the first ‘Will Young’ series) because, at that point, it was an entirely new experience to watch through one’s fingers people with such astounding and misguided self-belief that they possessed exceptional talent when they actually had less than none. Now, of course, people watch X Factor for that sole purpose and it’s all a bit of a circus – often literally. Strictly Come Dancing? Not interested. And don’t even get me started on I’m A Celebrity. Think about it – if that show had never happened, Peter Andre and Katie Price would never have got together and evening viewing on ITV2 would consequently be that much more pleasant without such dross as What Katie Did Next. But one reality show does grip me: The Apprentice.
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A lot of Cillit Bang for your buck
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Wandering around a supermarket when it’s not busy – like at 8am on a Saturday morning – makes one of life’s necessary evils ever so slightly more pleasurable. Not much more, admittedly – I’d rather be asleep, for one thing – but ever so slightly. One thing it does afford me is the time to look critically at the packaging which has been agonised over for months; each brand trying to outshine and out “want me!” their competitors. You can’t do that with someone’s bored five-year-old swinging from a trolley next to you and interfering with your brand-savvy critical eye.
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Is that a pair of boobs on my macchiato? How Starbucks came up with the rudest logo on the highstreet.
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
The Starbucks logo; something most of us absentmindedly encounter on a daily basis but have you ever stopped to peer at the mermaid logo which is emblazed across your morning latte? It’s caused a fair amount of controversy since the brand launched in the 1970’s owing to its somewhat racy connotations…
What makes a bad logo bad (and a good logo good)?
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
Unlike Naomi Klein, I like logos. In fact, I think everyone should have one. Not just every company – every single person. We could do away with those boring, old fashioned signatures and photos and just stick our personalised logo on things like driving licences and passports.
Going underground
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
400 miles of track (only 150 of which are actually underground), 180 million passengers a year and one 300 foot moving walkway – in engineering terms alone, the London Underground system is a staggering achievement.
Milibrand.
Thursday, September 29th, 2011After all, a brand is all about associated values and if there’s one hawker at society’s door, begging us to buy a clutch of values, it’s politics. Of course, this becomes particularly crucial when the voting public has fallen rather heavily out of love with you and your party. With this in mind, Ed Miliband set out to reposition the Labour party this week.
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Tags: Blair, branding, Brown, conference, Ed Miliband, election, JFK, Labour, New Labour, politicians, politics, Prescott, speech, Thatcherism
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