Not so long ago, I wrote here about The Writer, just one of many posts about the way in which brands use language to distinguish themselves – in both senses of the word.
And it reminded me of uncompromising brands like Gym Jones, a gym in Utah that prides itself on nothing less than Power, Speed, Endurance, Suffering and Salvation.
As you can read for yourself in this exert from their website, they're pretty serious about what they do (and don't).
I wish more brands took themselves so seriously that they held to such an unwavering view of their place in the world, rather than allow punters to wander into a focus group and make all the important decisions for them. But alas, such instances seem few and far between.
Unless, that is, you know where to look.
It was Grace Coddington, Creative Director of American Vogue, who spoke in The September Issue about how she learnt early in her career that you should always keep your eyes open, never go to sleep in the car or anything like that, keep watching – because whatever you see out the window or wherever, it can inspire you.
And so it was that I found myself staring out of the passenger window on Saturday morning as we drove along the incredibly uninspiring and downright demoralising Parramatta Road.
All these thoughts were rattling around in my head when out of the blue – or should I say gray? – I saw a furniture store called 3 Of A Kind with this brutally honest tagline.
Butt ugly blokes building handsome furniture for beautiful people.
I wish we'd stopped to find out if it was true, but I can only imagine that there's few better places to go if you want an honest piece of original craftsmanship.
And if that wasn't enough, we then drove straight past this tattoo parlour.
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteThese examples are fantastic. But how to get our big clients talking like this?!!
This language is intended to exclude as much as attract. And in its exclusion, attract a particular type of person.
The "sell" to a mass business brand manager is to look at this exclusive language appealing to a little part of everybody, rather than the whole bodies of only a little part of the market.
Nike appeals to that little competitive part of everybody with its aggressive "winning" language. Intel inside appeals to that little geeky part of everybody with its nerd ad campaign etc etc.
Still, clients want to tick all mediocre boxes, rather than ticking a few awesome boxes.
Haven't worked out how to get round that yet.
Thanks for that comment, and I completely agree with the challenge you set.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK, for example, brands like Innocent and Jaffa Cakes have historically done work that has used language to great effect and in a way that provokes a reaction.
Those are not the only examples, although I would agree that they are few and far between. Ultimately, I think the problem comes down to the fact that many marketers and agencies take a very one-sided view of branding. People default to the visual part of their brand's identity, but ignore language as an equally valuable tool to differentiate a brand and connect with customers.
On that basis, I think much of the onus is on agencies to take a bigger game to their clients. We're the ones who spend more time thinking about the future of branding – whereas marketers, quite rightly, are spending their time thinking more about the future of their brand.
And if you want an interesting place to start, have a read of The Invisible Grail by John Simmons – it's a great book about the role of language in business and I think you'd enjoy it.
I have read it. An old boss of mine told me to.
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