Achin Ganguly [for those who remember a vintage advertising man] addressed the Ogilvy [then OBM] Account Management Workshop on brands. It was 1989 at Marve Beach near Bombay [yes, Bombay, not the rebranded Mumbai]. Now, a word about account management types in advertising agencies, before the word on brands – most advertising types, at least in those days, felt that brands and marketing were a money plant that grew out of a broken light bulb in their toilet. David Ogilvy be damned, let Kotler fry in hell and may all clients be cursed with scurvy or syphilis depending on experience and management school. No one talks branding to an advertising type because, if you must ask [roll of eyes], we wrote the book on it, or will in due course. Just don’t start…
Anyway, coming back to Achin and branding, he talked to us about branding cattle on ranches in the US of A. How the tenderloin from range AA was better – the stuff from Lazy Y was plain dead meat in comparison. Maybe the grass was greener on the other side! And much before the ranches, across the pond, the flour from John’s Mill made your cake rise better [and if John’s Mill qualified to carry the Royal seal then the cake would rise higher and be softer too, a paradox, some would say, but perfect logic to a marketing man].
Sometimes I think if someone had prepared a survival manual that laid out our lifepath littered with Everyday, Maggi, Pepsi, Bata, Cruze, Pass Pass, Toyota, Crocs, Musso Ssangyong (!!) 90% of newly born would have raced back to the womb. A mobile phone called Nokia and a TV called Sony?? Who thought this up and what went right? Who names countries – withhold the bonus of the guy who came up with Liechtenstein, and please do not even talk to me about Burkina Faso.
So then, when the head is held high and the mind is without fear [rare, I might add] I often wonder, who brands brands? Who in his or her right mind would embark on this most nerve racking, mind numbing of expeditions, fraught with extreme danger to life and livelihood. And there are so many approaches to branding. Any professional who’s been in the business long enough knows that the brand names suggested by the MD’s pup or other family members are instant winners. No amount of name research and focus groups can dilute the equity of a name blessed by the astute board member’s marketing savvy wife!!
I was introduced to Nike in Greek legend and my son knows her by her swoosh. The Goddess Nike’s roman equivalent is Victoria – imagine the FIFA world cup sponsored by Victoria. It’s a tricky road – sometimes well taken, sometimes well invested and increasingly well nurtured. This enables the right message, in the right weight to be delivered to a global audience delivering a strong brand called Garnier!! You can’t pay enough for a name like that, and spare some thought for the ice cream magic called Haagen Dazs or Movenpick [some unfortunate would have tried Picknmove or Pickneat and failed miserably].
What are you drinking tonight? After the hype of a scotch whisky called Kuch Nahi how about a vodka called Whatever? Did you ever think that a Blackberry wouldn’t be good for you while driving and people would line up overnight for an Apple. Or that De Beers would stand for diamonds and Corona would be a beer – or that fashionable ladies would vote for Jimmy Choos for shoes?
No wonder we are crowdsourcing brand names now – let the guy who uses them name them!
Anyway, coming back to Achin and branding, he talked to us about branding cattle on ranches in the US of A. How the tenderloin from range AA was better – the stuff from Lazy Y was plain dead meat in comparison. Maybe the grass was greener on the other side! And much before the ranches, across the pond, the flour from John’s Mill made your cake rise better [and if John’s Mill qualified to carry the Royal seal then the cake would rise higher and be softer too, a paradox, some would say, but perfect logic to a marketing man].
Sometimes I think if someone had prepared a survival manual that laid out our lifepath littered with Everyday, Maggi, Pepsi, Bata, Cruze, Pass Pass, Toyota, Crocs, Musso Ssangyong (!!) 90% of newly born would have raced back to the womb. A mobile phone called Nokia and a TV called Sony?? Who thought this up and what went right? Who names countries – withhold the bonus of the guy who came up with Liechtenstein, and please do not even talk to me about Burkina Faso.
So then, when the head is held high and the mind is without fear [rare, I might add] I often wonder, who brands brands? Who in his or her right mind would embark on this most nerve racking, mind numbing of expeditions, fraught with extreme danger to life and livelihood. And there are so many approaches to branding. Any professional who’s been in the business long enough knows that the brand names suggested by the MD’s pup or other family members are instant winners. No amount of name research and focus groups can dilute the equity of a name blessed by the astute board member’s marketing savvy wife!!
I was introduced to Nike in Greek legend and my son knows her by her swoosh. The Goddess Nike’s roman equivalent is Victoria – imagine the FIFA world cup sponsored by Victoria. It’s a tricky road – sometimes well taken, sometimes well invested and increasingly well nurtured. This enables the right message, in the right weight to be delivered to a global audience delivering a strong brand called Garnier!! You can’t pay enough for a name like that, and spare some thought for the ice cream magic called Haagen Dazs or Movenpick [some unfortunate would have tried Picknmove or Pickneat and failed miserably].
What are you drinking tonight? After the hype of a scotch whisky called Kuch Nahi how about a vodka called Whatever? Did you ever think that a Blackberry wouldn’t be good for you while driving and people would line up overnight for an Apple. Or that De Beers would stand for diamonds and Corona would be a beer – or that fashionable ladies would vote for Jimmy Choos for shoes?
No wonder we are crowdsourcing brand names now – let the guy who uses them name them!
What's in a name, huh? :P
ReplyDeleteSir this is brilliant. So simple so interesting. Look forward to more such blogs from you. Or is it by you?
ReplyDeleteAshish, you write brilliantly! Keep 'em coming, my friend!
ReplyDelete