Do you know your brand history? (True or False series #8)

by Éléonore Toubin

Do you really know your favourite brands’ history as well as you think you do? Test your knowledge thanks to the sixth part of the True or False series.   In 1994, Jeff Bezos resigned from his well-paid Wall Street job as the vice-president of a global investment management firm and moved to Seattle to launch a start-up. He ended up founding Amazon, which was originally called Cadabra; the name was later changed to Amazon partly because the Cadabra sounded…

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Can a word be trademarked as a brand name?

by Emmanuelle Haincaud

A brand name isn’t necessarily a neologism. It isn’t rare for a word to be used as a brand name (ex: Apple, Windows, Bonobo, etc.). This can lead to legal issues when this word is used by another brand for one of its products. Is this a word and therefore everybody can use it or is it a protected brand name? The general principle, known as “the Principle of Specification”, is that a word, a household name can only be…

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Do you know your brand history? (True or False series #7)

by Éléonore Toubin

Do you really know your favourite brands’ history as well as you think you do? Test your knowledge thanks to the sixth part of the True or False series. René Lacoste (1904-1996) was a French tennis player whose victories in both national and international tournaments were notorious during the 1920’s. His tenacity on the tennis courts gained him the nickname “the Crocodile”. When the first tennis shirts were produced, René Lacoste took to wearing one on the courts and personalised…

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Brand safari: why brands should save their logos

by Éléonore Toubin

Numerous brands have animals as their logos, emblems or mascots. Those animals were carefully picked because of the values they embody or the feelings they awaken in their audience. They help build the brand visual identity and increase engagement amongst customers. On this little brand safari you can spot: Bacardi’s bat; Redbull’s bull; Puma’s puma; Twitter’s bird; Japan Airlines’ crane; NBC’s peacock; Dove’s dove; Abercrombie & Fitch’s moose; Camel’s camel; Ferrari and Porsche’s horses; Dodge’s ram; Playboy’s bunny; The Laughing…

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Do you know your brand history? (True or False series #6)

by Éléonore Toubin

Do you really know your favourite brands’ history as well as you think you do? Test your knowledge thanks to the sixth part of the True or False series.   Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield met in their early teens when they both attended the same gym class in high school. After Jerry had failed to get into medical school and Ben had dropped out of college, they decided to partner together and open their own business. They both completed…

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When brands speak emoji

by Éléonore Toubin

Having studied literature, I always felt strongly about language: I fancy beautiful long old-fashioned words or any words that is slightly out of our usual day to day vocabulary. As a matter of fact “pulchritudinous” and “tintinnabulation” are two of my favourite words. As a firm advocate of perfect spelling and grammar, I am allergic to misspelling. Therefore, you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that text language is one of my biggest pet peeves. To my great dismay, it…

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Of the importance of words

by Éléonore Toubin

In 44BC Roman philosopher and political theorist Cicero wrote this verse: “Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea linguae” in an essay titled De Officiis (which can be translated as On Duties or On Obligations). The first words of this verse, Cedant arma togae, basically mean “Let arms yield to the toga”. They can be understood literally as “let military power give way to civil power” but also hold a deeper meaning “words are more powerful than weapons”. As a brilliant orator,…

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Do you know your brand history ? (True or False series #5)

by Éléonore Toubin

Do you really know your favourite brands’ history as well as you think you do ? Test your knowledge thanks to the fifth part of the True or False series. In 1911, car dealer George Whitaker meets car racing enthusiast Samuel Rootes through common friends. Rootes also happens to be the heir of the Bamford factories, a bicycle business located in suburban London. George and Samuel make fast friends and in 1913 they decide to produce their own vehicles by turning…

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Easter eggs are the best marketing tool

by Éléonore Toubin

Do you know what an Easter egg is? Are you sure? If your answer is: egg-shaped chocolates that are sold and eaten around Easter time; then you are ri…hum…wrong! Actually, the term Easter eggs also refers to messages/animations… hidden in computer programs, websites or video games. These hidden bonuses are called Easter eggs in parallel with the custom of hiding and then hunting Easter eggs (the chocolate kind) that sometimes contain little surprises. Indeed Easter eggs are a bonus, an…

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What if naming people followed the same rules as naming brands ?

by Éléonore Toubin

The other day, I was browsing the internet and I chanced upon this picture. It made me wonder what it would be like if just like email addresses or brand names, our names had to be unique. What if a doctor or a town hall employee were to tell you: “I’m sorry Sir, the name Nicole is already taken. Nicole_435 and Nicole2323 are still available though. Do you want one of those or do you want to choose another name?”…

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