One Word

[John Scott]

Maurice Saatchi, who once resurrected his career after he was ousted from the ad agency he had co-launched and made the world's largest, wants to rescue the industry from a looming death.
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He told advertising executives from around the world, who are convened at their annual meeting in the south of France, that they and their clients ought to reduce their strategies to finding just one word to characterize their brand.

"What I am describing here is a new business model for marketing, appropriate to the digital age," he said in formal remarks to the gathering. "In this model, companies compete for global ownership of one word in the public mind."

To help companies develop and implement what Saatchi calls "one word equity," his firm, M&C Saatchi Plc, is launching a new business unit called The Word.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060623/...dia_saatchi_dc

[Kasparoff]

That's an interesting marketing trend. Thanks for the info John.

[John Scott]

I think it's a bit simplistic, but definitely worth some thought.

[BinkyMelnik]

"The word that guides everything that is the god, or the brand, is one word," Saatchi said. "You can't have two words. Two words is two gods and two gods is one too many."

As examples, he said Google Inc. owns the word "search," Apple Computer Inc. "innovation" and America "freedom."

And his own firm's word equity? Simplicity.

I read the article on tenterhooks, waiting to get to the meat (the "one words"), and then my heart sank. I think that only a small handful of the very biggest companies can ever hope to find and grab hold of the "one word." We "little" guys have little hope ofever getting ourselves associated with a single word (unless it's "failure," or "minuscule," or "hopeless" (grin))

What we *can* do is to hope that some day, we'll turn into a Google or an Apple and then become synonymous with a single word!

(I think I'll start working on "BinkPod," or "BinkRank.") (Maybe that latter word should be "PageBink"?)

[John Scott]

What single word could Google be associated with?

[BinkyMelnik]

John, you big silly:

What single word could Google be associated with?

From my post, which excerpted the article:

Google Inc. owns the word "search"

(You really had to ask? (grin))

PS: Did anyone ever tell you how much you resemble Sean Bean?
http://www.jamiehughesphotography.co...s/seanbean.jpg
http://forever.dreamers.com/rev/love/sean11.jpg

[John Scott]

Google doesn't own the word search any more. They diversified too much.

[kickstart2]

Imo this would only apply to all the established companies, thereby eliminating 90% of the other businesses in the process.

For example, there can only be one company who owns the word "Internet marketing", leaving thousands of others well behind.

Therefore, with all due respect to everyone, it could very well be redundant to most of us, unless you wholly monopolize your niche.

That said, it's still a good idea to contemplate,

[CJ Jefferson]

Originally Posted by JohnScott

What single word could Google be associated with?

Broken

[BinkyMelnik]

John:

Google doesn't own the word search any more

Of course they do! You google every day, several times a day, and other folks tell you to google stuff. You know zactly what they mean when they say it, too. You don't Yahoo! stuff, or MSN stuff, or DMOZ stuff. You *google* it. It's become a verb meaning to search.

Doesn't matter what else Google does; even old grandparents know what it means.

[JuggoPop]

your right but I don't think they own the word search, they own the word "google".

Like in the south, we don't say soda or pop or cola... we say coke. no matter the brand we say coke. Say "grab me a coke", and they'll ask you what kind.

So does that mean coke owns the word "soda"? no, they own the word "coke".

My point is advertising for one word wouldn't be the same as the public using your name as a general term. now if everyone called coke "soda" and you could assume that anytime you asked for a soda you would be give coke brand, then they would own that word.

Same for google. If you could assume that when you tell a person to "search" the internet that they would think google and no one else... that's they day they would own the word "search".

[BinkyMelnik]

Juggo:

they own the word search, they own the word "google"

And to "google' means "to search."

In your example, Coke and soda aren't synonyms because when you ask for a coke, people hafta then ask you what kinda of soda you want. When someone suggests you google something, you understand that you're to search for it on the net (even if your own favored method for searching is Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Dogpile, whatever).

[JuggoPop]

to say give me a coke is to say get me a refreshing carbonated drink... "even if your favored drink is pepsi, shasta, whatever."

in the south... as in my example. they are synonyms.
my point about them asking a flavor was to say that the word works exactly the same as soda. "get me a coke" and "get me a soda" mean the exact same thing.

[John Scott]

As examples, he said Google Inc. owns the word "search," Apple Computer Inc. "innovation" and America "freedom."

All of those are dead wrong.

America is known internationally as a police state. Japanese say it, Danish folks are saying it, and even Americans are saying it.

Apple Computer is known as nerdy, or geeky, or just plain querky. Most think of it as less than mainstream. They own the phrase "Not Applicable".

And, Google currently enjoys less than 44% of searches, so I'd have a hard time saying that they own the word "search".

[EricBlackwell]

John;

Interesting article...

I like to hypothesize on it a bit more...who owns one word IN YOUR MARKET? It is actually a brilliant question, but I think it goes back to another buzzword: mindshare

if I say: Search what do you think of (Binky's point about Googling)

In my local market in the real estate business, when we say Technology --one office comes to mind. Ours.

i am actually trying to shift somewhat to our office being known among agents for "leads". Leads are associated with Revenue.

I think by targeting ONE WORD, you tend to drown out some of the other negative one words that may be associated (or tried to be associated) with you.

I think that some in America want that word to be FREEDOM. Some associate it with the words that John described. I definately don't think America has succeeded in owning the word. But owning the word is more than being associated with it. it is being associated with it so strongly that it overpowers other associations that people would otherwise have (deserved or not...doesn't matter--we are talking about perception here)

An excellent example is Apple as john describes--they do own a word kind of--but not completely enough to drown out the other words that many associate with them.


Best;

Eric

[EricBlackwell]

Additional note:

I think there is a TON of profitability loaded into owning a word in a given market. One needn't dominate worldwide to have a successful brand. The only thing that is required is to dominate your target audiences mind. That could be as limited as real estate agents in Louisville Kentucky.

Eric

[Daniel-Z]

Branding is definitely key I think

Which company do you think of everytime you hear "Can you hear me now?"

I also agree that the one word branding is a good idea concerning the digital age

[Bjorn Solstad]

Very interesting trend there, but I tend to believe it is just another attempt to hype-up an idea. People are different. Markets are different. Cultures are different.

[digiweb]

Originally Posted by JohnScott

All of those are dead wrong.

America is known internationally as a police state. Japanese say it, Danish folks are saying it, and even Americans are saying it.

Apple Computer is known as nerdy, or geeky, or just plain querky. Most think of it as less than mainstream. They own the phrase "Not Applicable".

And, Google currently enjoys less than 44% of searches, so I'd have a hard time saying that they own the word "search".

Not applicable?

I think both of you can be right, because whether the branding/binding of a word with a company has occurred or not can depend entirely on the demographic you ask.

The V7n forum-ers live in a rarified world of sensible cynicism. We probe for the truth and we recognize the lies behind what marketers would have us believe. We absorb, doubt, then discard or accept.

99% of the world does not do that. They just accept.

I was saying Bush was going to Iraq before he was even elected. The US Congress is just getting angry about the war 3,000 American and dozens of thousands of Iraqi dead later.

I'm hard to fool. But if you ask me if America Equal Apple Pie my brainwashed mind will answer "yes."