#favouriteword

Week 3 - One word week

During this weeks lecture we learnt about the importance of using just one word and the impact that this can have on audiences.

We also learnt about the 15 most powerful words in advertising and how SEO has made dogs of us, salivating over the most wanted words.

- Free

- Sex

- Now

- Easy 

- Best 

- New

- Save

- Safety

- Proven

- Love

- Discover

- Guarantee

- Health

- Results

- You

The only word not included on the list above is the word ‘fear’. This is the word that drives the industry. It creates adverts that make us as a society feel not beautiful enough, not happy enough, not rich enough, not healthy enough.

Many brands have one word that sells them and explains what they are about. Below are some of the words that are used to describe some of the top brands.

Primary brand value - 

- Victory - Nike

- Creativity - Apple

- Happiness - Disney

- Wisdom - Waterstones

- Information - Google

- Free-spirited - Virgin

- Energy - Starbucks

- Convenience - Amazon

- Price - Asda

One word ad campaigns are rare to see, however there are some brands that can just about get away with it.

One brand that can still get away with a single word streamline is Budweiser.

We then went on to learn about the seven laws of naming. 

So how do you name something?

- Read it, write it, say it, hear it. Get used to all different modes of how you, your staff, your peers etc will come across the name.

- Freedom to grow. Names give off signals and attract stigmatism's. Good names need to adapt to new markets, languages, age groups and systems. 

- Point of truth. If there is a story or a layer of thinking behind the name, it creates substance and meaning so it'll last longer. It could be your location, your history, your offering, your personnel or the tinniest detail along the way.

- Tone of voice. A loud name can be softened with a light font. Or a gentle name can be hardened with a weighty font. What it looks like really matters. From the word on the page/screen to the way you answer the phone, it’s all tone of voice.

- Originality. Rarity is priceless. Take a risk. Invent a word that becomes a verb: Skype, Google. Conjoin words: Snapchat, YouTube. Better to be too bold than too timid. You can always bolt on a sensible suffix that aligns you to your industry/sector.

- Simplicity. A good name knows how to make new things familiar and familiar things new. HP has been doing this for years - they make inventing easy and useful.

- Names have their own rules. People may abbreviate you, for instance DM’s, Chevy, KFC, Fedex. Journalists may also nickname you, such as Tescopoly. The streets may graffiti you, ADIDAS - All Day Dream About Sport/Sex. Remember that society can call you what it wants. 

Within the one word week seminar we were set multiple challenges surrounding the idea of using just one word.

The first challenge was to choose an existing word that we adored and to write down why we loved it.

I chose the word ‘Pamplemousse’ which is the French word for Grapefruit. I love the way this word sounds and love that it is an unusual word. 

We then had to create a new word and become a neologist. The word neology means ‘the making up of new words.’

I came up with the word ‘Edumacation’ which is ‘the act of learning in a non-academic environment.’

Our penultimate task of the day was to name something new. Eg a brand, band, boat, bar, pet etc. I decided to rename a boat and call it ‘The Floater’. This is both a funny name and can also be an innuendo for other things. 

For the last task we had to create and invent a new character for the alphabet. Myself, Lily Elliott and Lucy Barnes created the letter ‘ED’ stated and drawn below. We did this so that at the end of words such as ‘watched’ and ‘talked’ there would be an easier way to put this.