Skip to main content

Worst Branding Idea Ever

In what is possibly the worst branding make-over in modern retail history, Cost Plus has begun to focus on itself as World Market. And to top it all off, the stores look, feel, and smell a lot like their primary competitor, Pier 1. If you think long and hard about it, you probably can not come up with a more generic, replaceable, and ineffective name.

Your name is... well, your name! It is the thing the world uses to talk about who you are and what you do. The more memorable and unique, the better. Would you remember Target, if it were called Slightly Better Than Other Mega-Stores Mega-Store? Or would your friends remember to look up the Old Fashioned Pharmacy you recommended to them?

Consider Ritz Carlton or Wild Oats. Their names alone convey their place in the world and begin to tell their stories. Before you choose a name, think about your story, your values, what you want to accomplish, and who you want to attract. If you have yet to set those outlines, you may have even more work to do.


Popular posts from this blog

Recommended Reading

I support literacy (no revelation there, not that many are against it) and would like to share some good books with points of view about the world at large. The first in the series is... Dry by Augusten Burrows. A truly witty, and thus endearingly honest, memoir of an advertising guru's journey into and through sobriety, friendship, and mortality. It seems real enough to pass for autobiographical .

List Of Convenient Excuses To Avoid Change

1. "That will never work." 2. "That said, the labor laws make it difficult for us to do a lot of the suggestions you put out. And we do live in a lawsuit oriented society." 3. "Can you show me some research that demonstrates that this will work?" 4. "Well, if you had some real-world experience, then you would understand." 5. "I don't think our customers will go for that, and without them we'd never be able to afford to try this." 6. "It's fantastic, but the salesforce won't like it." 7. "The salesforce is willing to give it a try, but [insert major retailer/corporation/partner here] won't stock it." 8. "There are government regulations and this won't be permitted." 9. "Well, this might work for other people, but I think we'll stick with what we've got." 10. "Our team doesn't have the technical chops to do this." 11. "Maybe in the next b...

The... OUCH... Hard... YIKES... Way...

I learned an important lesson today. Starting in the middle of a concept and talking about it to the end makes you sound really smart, if not so smart that the concept can zoom right over your audience's head. That can be a good thing... or a bad thing. When starting from an assumed position, whether it be philosophy or knowledge, you are going to come across as thoughtful or knowledgeable to your audience. This mostly happens because they are starting from a position of less experience. If you want to bowl someone over, start in the middle. Being overwhelmed by information and trying to fit pieces of it together to make sense of the last half of a story is tiring and confusing. Of course, this has its place. It is like walking into a primitive village with a lighter.... By the time you bite off the head of a snake and chug down the local beverage, everyone will be ready to listen when you shout, "Follow me!". Both religion and Ron Popeil have recruited millions t...