Thursday, May 12, 2005
Branding: a Cynic's View
"The archetypal prose of the branding guru manages to be both simplistic and
opaque, is relentlessly optimistic, and littered with tendentious assertions. In
keeping with branding’s preoccupation with facile slogans and imposing surfaces,
intellectual clarity is habitually conflated with portentous incoherence. The
success of this semantic manoeuvre suggests that many corporate clients are
unable to distinguish between the two. Apparently, the more difficult a maxim is
to comprehend, the more meaningful it is deemed to be. (Aquaveta, ‘sub-branded’
as ‘nutrient enhanced water’ was announced thus: ‘A refreshingly new and
innovative functional near-water product for Cadbury Schweppes with the
fashion-conscious female in mind.’)"Will companies ever stop talking to themselves?
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