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WordCount is a new interactive presentation of the 86,800 most frequently used English words. It’s just one little example of the creative thinking out of Fabrica, the Benetton Research and Development Communication Centre, in Italy, a think tank that supports the creative development of young artists and researchers from all over the world.
In its role as a laboratory of applied creativity (its name comes from the Latin word meaning “workshop”), Fabrica deals with new forms of communication, following two key principles: a hands-on approach to training (the young grant holders are invited to “learn by practice”), and a multi-disciplinary approach.
Like the Medici of Renaissance Italy, the Benetton family has long been a patron of creative artists. The relationship between Benetton and creative artistic expression was formulated by Luciano Benetton and Oliviero Toscani, the creative genius who separated branding from advertising for the Benetton Group.
Luciano Benetton : “The purpose of advertising is not to sell more. It’s to do with institutional publicity, whose aim is to communicate the company’s values (…) We need to convey a single strong image, which can be shared anywhere in the world.”
Oliviero Toscani pursues this : “I am not here to sell pullovers, but to promote an image”… Benetton’s advertising draws public attention to universal themes like racial integration, the protection of the environment, Aids…
The history of Benetton’s unconventional advertising under the unfettered direction of Oliviero Toscani is legendary, and the subject of many an interesting case study. Since the departure of Toscani from Benneton in May 2000, after the controversial death-row campaign, the house of Benetton has taken a less shocking approach to branding.
Fabrica is now the communications arm of the Benetton Group. And, a different approach to branding the company and advertising its fashion is now evident in their magazine, Colors, on The Hip Site, and with their brand extensions Playlife and Killer Loop, and their “most trend-setting brand,” Sisley.
Along with this fresh approach to advertising, Benetton remains committed to social responsibility as a brand characteristic of the group, by working on social causes like racial discrimination, poverty, child labor, and AIDS awareness, but in less controversial campaigns than Toscani’s. As pointed out on Snark Hunting, Benetton has found new ways to promote social causes without shocking imagery; like “Food for Life” in partnership with the World Food Program of the United Nations.
Originally posted by Abnu on our sister site, Wordlab.
A brand new brand strategy name: Igor has just named a new brand strategy agency. In this case, the client zeroed-in on a thought from a recent Snark Hunting post that read, “The key to any effective naming, marketing or branding effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation.” Since branding is about demonstrating ideas and advertising is about explaining them, they wanted a name that demonstrated rather than explained their core concept. And because it had to be about taking ownership of a conversation, we really had no choice but to name the company Whisper. The idea being that when you shout people lean back, when you whisper they lean forward, engage, and listen. We don’t think there’s a better name out there for a branding, marketing or advertising agency.
Enrondezvous: Enron Corporation was named “America’s Most Innovative Company” by Fortune magazine for five consecutive years, from 1996 to 2000, and was on the magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” in 2000. The next year, Enron was exposed as “the largest corporate failure in history, and became emblematic of institutionalized and well-planned corporate fraud.”
The fraudulent accounting practices that led to this monumental failure were complicated, and the cleverly named energy scams like “Death Star” and “Fat Boy” are still not understood by most people. Even the company’s former CEO, Kenneth “Kenny Boy” Lay claims to have been clueless about the fraudulent goings-on at Enron.
What soon became clear to everyone was that this company was definitiely going to need a new name. In the first quarter of 2002, NPR’s listeners, many of them probably still reeling from the personal financial impact of the collapse of Enron, offered suggestions for a new name including End-Run, Enwrong, and Moron. The people hated Enron. So much, the Houston Astros paid Enron $5 Million to get the damned name off their baseball field.
Two years later, a federal judge has now cleared the way for the Enron corporation to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Its corporate identity will fade into history, but the Enron name will continue on the record in criminal prosecutions and civil litigation, and in the vernacular as a synonym for executive greed and corporate malfeasance. After the sale of most of the assets of Enron in the bankruptcy, the remaining Enron holdings will be managed and operated under the name Prisma Energy International.
It is not known if company executives consulted Houston Astrologers to divine this name, or if they checked a dictionary to see if a prism is really “a medium that distorts, slants, or colors whatever is viewed through it.” It doesn’t matter–as long as it’s not called Enron.
Originally posted by Abnu on our sister site, Wordlab.
Slate coughs up a critical tactical error in the product naming arena in their Chatterbox gossip column, deriding the name of Dairy Queen’s latest product, the MooLatte:
A friend recently alerted Chatterbox that Dairy Queen is marketing a new frozen drink called the MooLatte. Isn’t that, he observed, er, kind of in poor taste? What he meant was that “MooLatte” sounds a lot like “mulatto,” which is a word, not in much use nowadays, that describes a person whose father is white and mother is black or (less common in bygone days) the other way around.
…Doesn’t Dairy Queen have any black employees? Or at least somebody who’s seen Show Boat? Why didn’t anyone point out the MooLatte-mulatto problem? It seems inconceivable that the resemblance would be deliberate, given corporate skittishness about generating controversy in the marketplace. In any event, a quick Web search shows that Chatterbox isn’t the first to notice, and to take offense (click here, here, here, and here). You say MooLatte, we say mulatto. Let’s call the whole thing off.
The tactical error is not Dairy Queen’s, it is Slate’s. Their literal, negative deconstruction of MooLatte has no basis in reality. It is just this kind of analysis that would knock a name like Starbucks off the table. Won’t people think Starbucks is a troupe of male strippers? Or a game show in which celebrities compete for cash?
Or what about a name like Crossfire, the sports car from Chrysler? Innocent women and children get killed in a crossfire, don’t they? Does that mean Crossfire is a bad name for a car? Of course not. But why not? Because the public accepts names in the spirit and context that companies provide. Consumers never engage in literal deconstruction — if they did there would be an endless line of protesters at the door of Banana Republic, because Banana Republic is a negative cultural slur aimed at Latin America. Except when it’s the name of a clothing store.
Our dear friend Lucian James is at the helm of Agenda, which, for those who have been living on the Afgan/ Pakistani border for the last few years, is the go-to agency for market research on brands that “operate in the accelerated pace of the pop culture marketplace.”
In keeping with our long-established reputation as a pooper scooper, we present you with a Snark Hunting exclusive, the first paparazzi photo of Lucian’s new pet, “Vern”:
Initial reports identified Vern as a Welsh rabbit, but we have subsequently learned that he is legally considered to be a dog. (For scale, that’s an actual bumblebee in Vern’s mouth.)
Next time: the inside poop on Seth Godin’s shaved ferret.
Jesus Christ Super Star: Or super-pissed, anyway. There’s a new Jesus action figure in town, and he ain’t happy. This is not the kind, loving Christ portrayed in the musical — this one has a hankerin’ for famine, flood and a whole lotta smitin’. He’s the perfect gift to scare the devil (and the crap) out of any innocent child. Or better yet, to unnerve that co-worker you love to hate. Next time the object of your office-centric murder fantasy is on a promotion-making or breaking call, just play (loudly) this clip of the voice of Injection-Molded Jesus.
(via Agenda) The International Herald Tribune reports that the 1-to-5-star hotel rating system that we have all come to depend upon to match the quality of a room with the quality of a potential roommate, is under strain:
At the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the cheapest room goes for $666 a night, and a two-bedroom suite costs $2,231. It is beyond dispute that it ranks among the world’s great hotels.
But is the Burj Al Arab merely in the upper tier of “five-star” hotels - a designation that has long been the standard for the world’s best? No: According to the hotel and many travel writers, it is the world’s first seven-star hotel. It is not alone in leaping into new galaxies of self-definition. As lodging companies rush to establish their highest-level brands in cities and resort areas the world over, scores of luxury hotels now claim six-star status.
What is going on here? Has grade inflation come to hotel rating scales? Well, yes - but for good reason, argues David Beer, a founder of Brennan Beer Gorman Architects, which has designed top luxury hotels, including the Peninsula in Bangkok. There has been so much expansion and improvement in the five-star category in the last decade, he said, that there is a need to add an extra star to describe the creme de la creme. (Beer has a list of 11 hotels worldwide that he says meet this standard, and the Burj Al Arab is not on it.)
“Around the world, a five-star rating may encompass anything from a very nice Sofitel or a very good Westin to the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong or the Gritti Palace in Venice, and they really aren’t the same,” he said, citing two hotels he believes deserve six-star status. So who, exactly, doles out these stars? Whether to describe a basic motel beside a highway or a luxurious resort, the rankings confuse many travelers. That is mostly because there are no clear standards, and there is no definitive source.
It’s a toy; it’s a sport; it’s a verb. It’s been a toy for centuries, known by many names throughout its history, including bandalore, quiz, twirler, whirl-a-gig, and other names in different cultures.
The yo-yo was commercialized in America in the 1920s by Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant who produced the first Yo-Yo by that name in California. Not only did Flores import the idea from his native Philippines, but also the name for it; “Yo-Yo” meant something like “come come” or “come back” in the native Tagalog language.
If Pedro Flores is credited with naming the Yo-Yo, it is D.F. Duncan Sr., who is recognized for successfully building the brand. Duncan bought the business from Flores and first trademarked Yo-Yo in the United States in 1929. So successful was Duncan’s marketing, the public adopted the term “yo-yo” and rival companies challenged Duncan’s trademark. In 1965, the Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the term had become generic, and so could be used by anyone. Then, everyone got into the game.
Duncan successfully marketed and manufactured yo-yos for many decades from his hometown, Luck, Wisconsin. But, as luck would have it, the Duncan company went bankrupt during the yo-yo heyday of the 1960s. The Duncan brand was acquired by Flambeau, and is still a leading name in yo-yoing.
Now, in the 75th Anniversary year since Duncan trademarked the name for Flores’s toy, the yo-yo craze is coming back. In addition to technological advances, the Internet is helping a new generation learn how to yo-yo and share yo-yo knowledge and skills over websites like the yoyoing blog. Just check out this amazing quicktime video showing the incredible skills of some very talented guys who have way too much time on their hands.
The World Yo-Yo Contest is one of the largest and oldest yo-yo competitions in the world, and has created a viral marketing campaign to exploit the obsessive tendencies of their fans:
Are you the World Yo-Yo Contest’s biggest fan? If so, we want to know about it, and have you — our loyal minions — help get the word out about the best competition in the world!
What do you have to do? Simple! Do ANYTHING that lets people know about the World Yo-Yo Contest! Get USA Today to print up a front-page article about it! Sponsor a “World Yo-Yo Contest Appreciation Event” that gets your area’s best players competing and excited about the World Yo-Yo Contest. Appear on David Letterman’s “Stupid Human Tricks” and mention the World Yo-Yo Contest! Use your imagination!
Adapted from an original post by Abnu on our sister site, Wordlab.
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