These remarks were part of a corporate accountability workshop presented by
Cate Gable as part of the Industrial Ecology 2000 conference at the Haas
School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, October 5, 2000.
Branding: Powermetaphor™, Precise Language and Imagery
We like to say that a picture is worth a thousand words but sometimes the
opposite can be true too. In one of the stories Alec Guinness told about
himself, he checks his hat and coat at a restaurant and asks for a claim
ticket. ''That will not be necessary, sir,'' the attendant smiles.
Pleased at being recognized, Guinness later retrieves his garments, puts his
hand in the coat pocket and finds a slip of paper on which is written, ''Bald
with glasses.''
Those three little words turned his world around. They required a completely
new interpretation of reality constructed from the same set of facts.
So, with the power of words in mind, I’d like to start by sharing with you
one of Robert Frosts poems called "Fire and Ice." Frost (1874-1963) is one of
America’s best-known and best-loved poets. He won four Pulitzer Prizes in his
lifetime and read at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration.
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire.
Some say ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
The most sophisticated technological tool ever developed by humans is
language and this poem demonstrates one of our most powerful aspects of
language: the metaphor. Most people think that the metaphor (or its sibling,
the simile) is a device for poets, but, in fact, all of us use metaphors and
similes everyday to enhance our written and spoken English.
In this poem, fire is a metaphor for passion, desire, even greed. Ice could
be a stand-in for hate, abandonment, and rejection. Both of these primal
earth forces can destroy.
A metaphor is simply a comparison that uses something known to describe
something unknown or less known or, even, unknowable. Sometimes a metaphor is
used to enhance the effect of a phrase or idea.
Some examples of metaphoric expressions:
- Make your money work for you. (Money takes on human form-becomes
personified.)
- The sea chewed up the ship and spit out the pieces. (The sea is an angry
and fierce wild creature.)
- He talks like a house on fire. (Well, you get the ‘picture.’)
- She’s a shark with competitors.
My concept of powermetaphor™ is a special kind of stand-in object -- one
that, because of its tremendous appropriateness, visual power, and the timing
of its creation catalyzes a quantum jump in understanding in a vast number of
people.
The ‘information superhighway’ is a perfect example of a powermetaphor™. It
appeared at a time when the world wide web (not a bad metaphor itself) and
the Internet were first being ‘discovered’ by a larger group of users. But
the beauty of calling the Internet and the web the information superhighway
is that every person in the western industrial world has driven a car on a
freeway. So whether you have any knowledge of computers or not you have a
visual image of what the Internet might be like.
The metaphor -- information superhighway -- created a visually accessible
name that so accurately described the Net that rather quickly it became a
communications phenomenon. I believe that the powermetaphor™ propelled the
concept of the web and accelerated its acceptance in the general public. It
gave the media a buzzy handle for the IT revolution; it even allowed
politicians to talk about technology as if they knew what it was.
Another example of a powermetaphor™ is one aspect of a computer operating
system that was developed at Xerox PARC and later adapted by Apple engineers.
The ‘desktop’ became a software stand-in for an actual old fashioned desk,
which became a visual and literal metaphor for the most successful user
interface in computer history (so far). The Apple operating system and the
friendly Mac hardware revolutionized computers and made them interesting and
accessible to a mainstream audience.
Another use of language that is an important tool in business is naming,
whether it’s the naming of a company or a concept. The power of naming is an
aspect of entrepreneurship that should never be overlooked, especially in
this era of Internet commerce which emphasizes the importance of branding.
The power of a name became clear in the early stages of the abortion movement
when some brilliant anti-abortionist wordsmith (or marketing consultant?)
landed on the phrase "pro-life." What then was left to their opponents --
"pro-death," or "anti-life"? Pro-choice was a decent comeback.
Another naming phenomenon illustrates the extraordinary capacity of our
language which now accepts as ‘words’ a kind of alphanumeric hybrid. I
remember discussing the "year 2000 bug problem" with a group of e-commerce
software developers in Pittsburgh, PA in 1997 when a consultant friend of
mine called from Silicon Valley talking about "Y2K." Here’s a case where,
with a little de-coding, the acronym actually made sense and obviously filled
a need -- it caught on quickly.
So what qualities should a good name/concept possess:
- clarity -- does it accurately describe what it is
- brevity -- short ‘n sweet ‘n simple is always better than complex
- punch -- make it catchy, memorable but never at the expense of clarity
- coherence -- does it hang together from a holistic point of view
My choices for strong naming examples:
- Garage.com
- Office Depot
- Performance Art
- Think Tank
- 24/7
- Whole Foods
- B2B
In the workshop we went on to discuss some visual imagery in several
advertisements, particularly images derived from nature, to analyze their
coherence and effect. We closed our session with a small group critique of
several pricey two-page ads from the magazine the Industry Standard. When we
actually examined our impressions and the subtle discontinuities in the ads,
we found ourselves puzzled, confused, or even offended.
Our conclusion was to be sensitized to the power of words and images, to
understand their significance in a comprehensive, holistic way, and to think
deeply about how to utilize the power of language and imagery appropriately.
