Sexysexysexy names.......
We all know that sex sells (so does fear and feeling), but how far can you go before it just gets silly? I'm not talking about sexually explicit material (you can stick all the women you want in an ad till the cows come home but it might not drive ROI), I'm talking about the sexing up of terms, names and so on.
When you're faced with a product that has little or no rational USP, what can you do? CokePepsi dilemma...Some go for the emotional purse-strings, others sell a lifestyle/image, whilst others try and expand the market via brand extensions etc. But don't fall into the trap of changing something into what's already there (don't get me wrong, rebrands and relaunches have worked wonders for some).
But when all that's changed is the name, then I wouldn't expect much from the product. Take a dog poo for example, if I were to call it a 'canine pavement present' it wouldn't change the fact that it's still a dog sh*t. The same goes for brands and art (calling a object art, unmade beds aside, doesn't necessarily MAKE it art, this is just suggestive perception however).
When you're faced with a product that has little or no rational USP, what can you do? CokePepsi dilemma...Some go for the emotional purse-strings, others sell a lifestyle/image, whilst others try and expand the market via brand extensions etc. But don't fall into the trap of changing something into what's already there (don't get me wrong, rebrands and relaunches have worked wonders for some).
But when all that's changed is the name, then I wouldn't expect much from the product. Take a dog poo for example, if I were to call it a 'canine pavement present' it wouldn't change the fact that it's still a dog sh*t. The same goes for brands and art (calling a object art, unmade beds aside, doesn't necessarily MAKE it art, this is just suggestive perception however). I remember walking into a Topshop in London and seeing the staff labelled 'retail advisers'.....so they're not just shop assistants? It gets better, McDonalds staff are labelled as 'sales ambassadors', not merely cashiers or kitchen staff.
When you get sexy sounding products it starts to make me cringe because it's telling me that there is nothing beneficial about this item, (even though there may be), almost like a desperate sell, a cop out. Unfortunately this is what agencies may have to work with from a clients brief.
After all this banter I'm going to nip down to Homebase and get me some Forest Lake coloured paint...whatever the hell that colour is......
(I'm not bashing AMV of course, who I think did the Dulux ads, just the names Dulux chose for their product).
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