Very interesting article in Ad Age on Monday.
Not standard fare for this page – I usually focus on media as opposed to broader marketing or creative topics, but I found this article thought-provoking. The author argues that establishing the right name for a new product category can be just as important in the long term as establishing a brand presence within it and uses several effective examples to illustrate the point.
While his goal is to highlight the importance of thinking carefully and independently about the product name and the category name, I don’t think he would argue that both are essentially branding exercises. I.e. the same level of thought that goes into branding a product should also go into branding a new category, should you be lucky enough to have that opportunity.
Definitely a theme that we’d be wise to keep in mind in a space as dynamic as online advertising where it seems there’s a new acronym every quarter, whose definitions can often lack clarity even within the industry itself.
I was immediately reminded of the goosebump-inducing carousel scene from the finale of Mad Men Season 1 (worth watching again even if you have seen it several times, by the way).
With all the attention on media and media technology these days, let’s not forget the creative.
Andy's Blog 
One thought on “Creative matters.”