The book Doublespeak by William Lutz defines the term as language that:
Pretends to communicate but does not
Makes bad things seem less bad, negatives appear to be positives, unpleasant things appear to be attractive or at least tolerable
Shifts responsibility and hides causes
Conceals meaning and prevents thought
Language should serve communication, but doublespeak is about “misleading, distorting, deceiving, [...]
With Michael Vick stepping back into the role of spokesperson, an old blog post “When a Brand Is a Person” is newly relevant. That post was written while Martha Stewart was rebuilding her brand. Now, years later, we can look back and consider what drove her successful comeback. We can also look at the [...]
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur has some interesting (if sometimes contradictory) observations, tips and advice for businesses and individuals in this post: Things Not to Do on Social Media Sites
It was just a matter of time before the kinds of people who vandalized brand symbols at world economic summits resorted to brand cyber-vandalism. The Wikileaks hacktivists have targeted and threatened global brands like Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, Amazon, Twitter and Shell.
Gone are the days when a brand was a simple guarantee of product quality. Brands [...]
Today on Mashable.com, customer engagement expert Matthew Latkiewicz writes about new online marketing
trends. He notes that early marketing efforts in new media were really attempts to apply broadcast
and print advertising techniques to this new world. But new thinkers are exploring new ways to communicate.
This article, which quotes Merriam Associates, reviews what is working and what [...]
Brand licensing is what built a $50 million a year business to a $500 million a year business for Kraft and Starbucks. But problems with the business deal between the two companies threaten to cost billions and destroy a notable brand success. Talk about clouds in the coffee.
In 1998, Starbucks and Kraft struck a deal [...]
We went out into the rainy, dark, early morning hours of Black Friday, November 26, 2010 to take the pulse of holiday shoppers. Despite the continuing recession, we found a spirit of enthusiasm, a hunger for brands, and a nose for bargains. Here’s what bargain hunting consumers had to say while out holiday shopping very, [...]
The blogosphere is up in arms that Facebook may own the word “Face.” The U.S. Patent And Trademark Office issued Facebook a Notice of Allowance, granting them a trademark on the word “Face”. Trademarking of common English words is actually rather common.
The USPTO generally grants trademarks on common words used in uncommon ways. [...]
General Motors has done more than reorganize its finances. GM has turned its brand architecture upside down.
Trimming nameplates like Pontiac, Saab, and Hummer from its stable of brands was just one aspect. Beginning in August of last year, the GM “chicklet” logo has been quietly disappearing. It is no longer slapped on the doors of [...]
You might not think of brands when in commodity trading. Yet the unprecedented bull market for gold and the fact that my mother, who is otherwise pretty sharp, just bought in at an historical price high, indicates gold is behaving more like an emotion-driven brand than a commodity.
As part of my [...]
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