I’ve been thinking about the beauty of brand naming. One really lovely thing is that telling a story is not always required (we don’t hear that too often these days do we?). Names are short, sometimes surprising and, in some cases, tell no story whatsoever. Thus, they give permission for a brand to build meaning and value over time, rather than demanding instant engagement and response. The much over-used term ‘blank canvas’ springs to mind. Isn’t that refreshing, just occasionally? No formula, creativity required. Hurrah for the non-scripted nature of brand naming I reckon.
Recently, I found myself forced to consider the antithesis of blank canvas, for I spent a few days laid up watching Afternoon Telly. It’s been many years since I was exposed to quite such unadulterated tripe, but in places it was strangely captivating. Particularly the ‘house hunting abroad’ stuff. With love and respect to Jasmine and Johnnie (for you are exactly what the Exec Producer ordered mid-afternoon), may I reflect on scripted content and how it manipulates our expectations, just a little?
I kind of like looking at foreign houses. I would say 20 minutes of these 1 hour shows is spent inside houses. The rest is all about building the ‘story’, the characters, the personal angle, the ‘reality show’. All slightly nauseating and unnecessary, if like me you just want to reconfirm that £150,000 in Spain still gets a 4 bed villa with pool, if you engage location radar. The interesting thing on the language front is how scripted, how formulaic, how non-blank-canvas these shows are. There’s one linguistic approach and they take it endlessly. I started to be entertained by the words, phrases and conversation that each and every one of these shows puts forward. And then I realised how much of television is about delivering ‘comfort factor’ – an expectation of language and tone, a formula which ensures I stay right where I am for sub 60 minutes, with no surprises and no deviation from the plan, whether 5 bed Florida villa or Nerja cave house. It’s linguistic unanimity start to finish. By the end of my few days gazing at the screen, I was mighty pleased to be in brand naming I can tell you. My letter count may be limited, but it lets me breathe as a writer, in a way scripted content just can’t.
So, here’s just a little nod to the homes abroad story, with trnalsaaation…….long live the humble brand naming industry I say. A proper blank canvas.
