A World We Live In - Unit6

UNIT VI

Advertising

WHEELS

A.Hailey

Born in Luton, England, in 1920, Arthur Hailey was educated in English schools until age fourteen. After a brief career as an office boy, he joined the British Royal Air Force in 1939 and served through World War II, rising through the ranks to become a pilot and flight lieutenant. In 1947 Mr Hailey emigrated to Canada, where he was successively a real estate salesman, business paper editor and a sales and advertising executive. He became, and still is, a Canadian citizen. In 1956 Arthur Hailey scored his first writing success with a TV drama, “Flight into Danger”, which later became a motion picture and a novel “Runway Zero-Eight”. Since then, as a novelist and one of the great storytellers of our time, he has acquired a worldwide following of devoted readers and his books are published in twentyseven languages. The sensational Hailey bestsellers include: “Hotel”, “Airport”, “Wheels”, “The Final Diagnosis”, “In High Places” and “The Moneychangers”. For his creative achievements he has been given several awards. Since 1969 his house is in the Bahamas.

Outside Conference Room 1 a red MEETING IN PROGRESS sign was still flashing. Clients loved the flashing signs for the aura of importance they created.

Barbara went in quietly and slipped into her chair halfway down the long table. There were seven others in the dignified, rosewood-paneled room with Georgian furnishings. At the table’s head was Keith Yates-Brown, graying and urbanely genial, the agency management supervisor whose mission was to keep relations between the auto company and the Osborne J. Lewis agency friction free. To the right of Yates-Brown was the auto company advertising manager from Detroit, J. P. Underwood (“Call me J.P., please”), youngish, recently promoted and not entirely at ease yet with the top-rank agency crowd. Facing Underwood was bald and brilliant Teddy Osch, OJL creative director and a man who spewed ideas the way a fountain disgorges water. Osch, unflappable, schoolmasterish, had outlasted many of his colleagues and was a veteran of past, successful car campaigns.

The others comprised J. P. Underwood’s assistant, also from Detroit, two other agency men - one creative, one executive - and Barbara, who was the only woman present, except for a secretary who at the moment was refilling coffee cups.

Their subject of discussion was the Orion. Since yesterday afternoon they had been reviewing advertising ideas which the agency had developed so far. The OJL group at the meeting had taken turns in presentations to the client - represented by Underwood and his assistant.

“We’ve saved one sequence until last, J.P.” Yates-Brown was speaking directly though informally to the auto company advertising manager. “We thought you’d find them original, even interesting perhaps.” As always, Yates-Brown managed an appropriate mix of authority and deference, even though everyone present knew that an advertising manager had little real decision power and was off the mainstream of auto company high command.

J. P. Underwood said, more brusquely than necessary, “Let’s see it.”

One of the other agency men placed a series of cards on an easel. On each card a tissue sheet was fixed, the tissue having a sketched layout, in preliminary stage. Each layout, as Barbara knew, represented hours, and sometimes long nights of thought and labour.

Today’s and yesterday’s procedure was normal in the early stages of any new car campaign and the tissue sheets were called a “rustle pile.”

“Barbara,” Yates-Brown said, “will your skipper this trip?”

She nodded.

“What we have in mind, J.P.,” Barbara told Underwood with a glance to his assistant, “is to show the Orion as it will be in everyday use. The first layout, as you see, is an Orion leaving a car wash.”

All eyes were on the sketch. It was imaginative and well executed. It showed the forward portion of the car emerging from a wash tunnel like a butterfly from a chrysalis. A young woman was waiting to drive the car away. Photographed in color, whether still or on film, the scene would be arresting.

J. P. Underwood gave no reaction, not an eyelid flicker. Barbara nodded for the next

tissue.

“Some of us have felt for a long time that women’s use of cars has been underemphasized in advertising. Most advertising, as we know, has been directed at men.”

She could have added, but didn’t, that her own assignment for the past two years had been to push hard for women’s point of view. There were days, however, after reading the masculine-oriented advertising (the trade called it “muscle copy”) which continued to appear, when Barbara was convinced that she had failed totally.

Now she commented, “We believe that women are going to use the Orion a great

deal.”

The sketch on the easel was a supermarket parking lot. The artist’s composition was excellent - the storefront in background, an Orion prominently forward with other cars around it. A woman shopper was loading groceries into the Orion’s back seat.

“Those other cars,” the auto company ad manager said. “Would they be ours or competitors’?”

Yates-Brown answered quickly, “I’d say ours, J.P.”

“There should be some competitive cars, J.P.,” Barbara said. “Otherwise the whole thing would be unreal.”

“Can’t say I like the groceries.” The remark was from Underwood’s assistant. “Clutters everything up. Takes the eye away from the car. And if we did use the background it should be

Vaselined.”

Barbara felt like sighing dispiritedly. Vaseline smeared around a camera lens when photographing cars was a photographer’s trick which had become a clich; it made background misty, leaving the car itself sharply defined. Though auto companies persisted in using it, many advertising people thought the device as dated as the Twist. Barbara said mildly, “We’re attempting to show actual use.”

“All the same,” Keith Yates-Brown injected, “that was a good point. Let’s make a note

of it.”

“The next layout,” Barbara said, “is an Orion in the rain - a real downpour would be good, we think. Again, a woman driver, looking as if she’s going home from the office. We’d photograph after dark to get best reflections from a wet street.”

“Be hard not to get the car dirty,” J. P. Underwood observed.

“The whole idea is to get it a little dirty,” Barbara told him. “Again - reality. Color film could make it great.”

The assistant ad manager from Detroit said softly, “I can’t see the brass going for it.”

J. P. Underwood was silent.

There were a dozen more. Barbara went through each, briefly but conscientiously, knowing how much effort and devotion the younger agency staff members had put into every one. That was the way it always went. The creative oldsters like Teddy Osch held back and - as they put it - “let the kids exhaust themselves,” knowing from experience that the early work, however good it was, would always be rejected.

It was rejected now. Underwood’s manner made that clear, and everyone in the room shared the knowledge, as they had shared it yesterday, before this session started. In her early days at the agency Barbara had been naive enough to inquire why it always happened that way. Why were so much effort and quality - frequently excellent quality - utterly wasted?

Afterward, some facts of life about auto advertising had been quietly explained. It was put to her: If the ad program burgeoned quickly, instead of painfully slowly - far slower than advertising for most other products - then how would all the auto people in Detroit involved with it justify their jobs, the endless meetings over months, fat expense accounts, the out-of- town junkets? Furthermore, if an auto company chose to burden itself with that kind of inflated cost, it was not the agency’s business to suggest otherwise, far less to go crusading.

The agency did handsomely out of the arrangement; besides, there was always approval in the end. The advertising process for each model year started in October or November. By MayJune, decisions had to be firm so that the agency could do its job; therefore, auto company people began making up their minds because they could read a calendar too. This was also the time that the Detroit high brass came into the picture, and they made final decisions about advertising, whether talented in that particular direction or not.

What bothered Barbara most - and others too, she discovered later - was the appalling waste of time, talent, people, money, the exercise in nothingness. And, from talking with people in other agencies, she knew that the same process was true of all Big Three companies. It was as if the auto industry, normally so time-and-motion conscious and critical of bureaucracy outside, had created its own fat-waxing bureaucracy within.

She had once asked: Did any of the original ideas, the really good ones, ever get reinstated? The answer was: No, because you can’t accept in June what you rejected last

November. It would be embarrassing to auto company people. That kind of thing could easily cost a man - perhaps a good friend to the agency - his job.

“Thank you, Barbara.” Keith Yates-Brown had smoothly taken charge. “Well, J.P., we realise we still have a long way to go.” The management supervisor’s smile was warm and genial, his tone just the right degree apologetic.

“You sure do,” J. P. Underwood said. He pushed his chair back from the table. Barbara asked him, “Was there nothing you liked? Absolutely nothing at all?”

Yates-Brown swung his head toward her sharply and she knew she was out of line.

Clients were not supposed to be harassed that way, but Underwood’s brusque superiority had needled her. She thought, even now, of some of the talented youngsters in the agency whose imaginative work, as well as her own, had just gone down the drain. Maybe what had been produced so far wasn’t the ultimate answer to Orion needs, but neither did it rate a graceless dismissal.

“Now, Barbara,” Yates-Brown said, “no one mentioned not liking anything.” The agency supervisor was still suave and charming, but she sensed steel beneath his words. If he wanted to, Yates-Brown, essentially a salesman who hardly ever had an original idea himself, could squash creative people in the agency beneath his elegant alligator shoes. He went on,

“However, we’d be less than professional if we failed to agree that we have not yet caught the true Orion spirit. It’s a wonderful spirit, J.P. You’ve given us one of the great cars of history to work with.” He made it sound as if ad manager had designed the Orion singlehanded.

Barbara felt slightly sick. She caught Teddy Osch’s eye. Barely perceptibly, the creative director shook his head.

“I’ll say this,” J. P. Underwood volunteered. His tone was friendlier. For several years previously he had been merely a junior at this table; perhaps the newness of his job, his own insecurity, had made him curt a moment earlier. “I think we’ve just seen one of the finest rustle piles we ever had.”

There was a pained silence through the room. Even Keith Yates-Brown betrayed a

flicker of shocked surprise. Clumsily, illogically, the company ad man had stomped on their agreed pretense, revealing the elaborate charade for what it was. On the one hand - automatic dismissal of everything submitted; an instant later, fulsome praise. But nothing would be changed. Barbara was an old enough hand to know that.

So was Keith Yates-Brown. He recovered quickly.

“That’s generous of you, J.P. Damn generous! I speak for us all on the agency side when I tell you we’re grateful for your encouragement and assure you that next time around we’ll be even more effective.” The management supervisor was standing now; the others followed his example. He turned to Osch. “Isn’t that so, Teddy?”

The creative chief nodded with a wry smile. “We do our best.”

COMMENTARY

1.Georgian - (Georgian) style of architecture and furniture of the time of any of the first four Georges, kings of England (18c. - mid. of 19c.) or of George V and VI (20c.)

2.Twist - dance popular in the 1960’s in which there is twisting of the arms and hips

3.brass (also: top brass) (colloq.) - senior officials

totally (adv) volunteer (v)

to be directed at smb; to be harassed; to be out of line; to catch the spirit of smth; to cost smb smth; to create the aura; to develop ideas; to give no reaction; to know from experience; the masculine-oriented advertising; preliminary stage; to show in everyday use; to take charge (of smth); to take the eye away (from smth); to take turns (in).

Exercises to the Text

I. Think over the questions and give detailed answers.

1.Who was present in Conference Room 1?

2.What was the subject of their discussion?

3.How did the O.J.L. group present advertising ideas to the client?

4.Why were the representatives of the auto company so particular about the Orion advertisements?

5.What idea united the layouts presented by Barbara?

6.What details were introduced into the advertisements to make them real? Describe each sketch in brief.

7.Do advertising people resort to special tricks to achieve the desired effect?

8.Why did Barbara try so hard to eliminate male-oriented advertisements?

9.How did the representatives of the auto company react to the presented sketches?

10.How can you appreciate the behaviour of the O.J.L. representatives during the

session?

11.Why were all the layouts rejected? What was especially disheartening for Barbara and her colleagues under the circumstances?

12.Why did the car ad programme burgeoned far slower than advertising for most other products?

13.Why did Barbara feel frustrated at the end of the session? What mistake did she

make?

14.Why was Yates-Brown displeased with Barbara?

15.Why did Yates-Brown try to sound both humble and flattering at the end of the

session?

16.What feelings did the members of the O.J.L. creative group experience at the

moment?

17.Can you account for Underwood’s unexpected declaration at the end of the session? Could it change anything?

18.What problems of advertising industry are revealed by A. Hailey?

19.How great is the role played by creative people in an advertising agency?

20.What are the functions of the executives?

21.Does the author provide the reader with authentic information?

22.Does this approach to the subject help to penetrate into the hidden secrets of advertising industry?

II. Arrange the following sentences according to their logical order. Explain and expand on them.

1.If an auto company chose to burden itself with that kind of inflated cost, it was not the agency’s business to suggest otherwise, far less to go crusading.

2.Yates-Brown swung his head toward her sharply and she knew she was out of line.

3.Clients loved the flashing signs for the aura of importance they created.

4.Her own assignment for the past two years had been to push hard for women’s point

of view.

5.Photographed in color whether still or on film, the scene would be arresting.

6.“Barbara”, Yates-Brown said, “will you skipper this trip?”

7.Can’t say I like the groceries. Clatters everything up and if we did use that background it should be vaselined.

8.His mission was to keep relations between the auto company and the Osborne J. Lewis agency friction free.

9.The assistant ad manager from Detroit said softly, “I can’t see the brass going for it.”

10.Many advertising people thought the device as dated as the Twist.

11.But nothing would be changed. Barbara was an old enough hand to know that.

III. Support or challenge the following statements.

1.The only thing that Yates-Brown cared about was to please the clients.

2.The layouts presented by the O.J.L. agency were a complete failure.

3.The choice of an advertisement depends on the tastes of clients, not on the originality or quality of the advertisement itself.

4.Barbara was one of the best creative workers in the O.J.L. agency.

5.Each advertisement is a result of a long and painful work.

6.Advertising as any industry has its problems.

IV. Judging by the information from the text state what are the most characteristic features of the people employed in the advertising field. Be ready to quote the text to prove your point of view.

V. Using facts from the text state the pros and cons of working in an advertising agency (work in pairs). Sum up the results of your discussion and present them to the class.

VI. Retell the text choosing one of the suggested variants:

1.Give an account of the conference from the point of a) Barbara; b)Yates-Brown; c) Underwood; d) Osh.

2.Express Barbara’s views on the situation in advertising.

3.Tell about the work of a modern advertising agency.

4.Tell about the problems of a modern advertising agency.

Vocabulary Exercises

I. Write out from the text all the words and word-combinations connected with advertising.

Use them when speaking about modern advertising.

II. Give their Russian equivalents for the following words and word combinations.

a red MEETING IN PROGRESS sign; dignified rosewood-paneled room; urbanely genial; creative director; to spew ideas; to outlast one’s colleagues; an appropriate mix of authority and deference; the arresting scene; to sign dispiritedly; to go through a sketch; to justify one’s job; the out-of-town junkets; inflated cost; time-and-motion conscious; to get reinstated ; to cost a man his job; a graceless dismissal; a pained silence; the elaborate charade; fulsome praise.

III. Give English equivalents for the following words and word combinations. Reproduce the situations containing these expressions from the text under study.

администратор; развивать идею; сберечь напоследок; по очереди; в предварительной стадии; показать в повседневном употреблении; хорошо выполненный; не отреагировать; быть направленным (на к.-либо); реклама, ориентированная на мужчин; фон; конкурент; отвлекать; устаревший; записать; вкладывать усилия; добросовестно; знать по опыту; принять окончательное решение; отвергнуть; принять; уловить дух(идею); один, в одиночку; представлять (на рассмотрение).

IV. Compare the meanings of the following words in English and in Russian. State the difference; be ready to account for it.

assistant - ассистент real - реальный brilliant - бриллиант review - ревю

presentation - презентация original - оригинальный film - фильм

camera - камера sketch - скетч session - сессия realize - реализовать

V. Paraphrase the marked sections of the following sentences; make necessary changes.

1.The pupil was suspended from school because of his bad behaviour.

2.The retreating troops were constantly attacked by the enemy.

3.Drop this item, it is of no special importance.

4.I intended to squeeze all my things into one bag.

5.Many advertisements are still directed only at men.

6.The hall was carefully decorated for the occasion.

7.They watched the progress of the battle from the nearest hill.

8.The mountaineers were awfully tired after the long climb.

9.I couldn’t hire anybody and continued to build the house alone, without any help.

10.If you don’t take care of your eyes you will be completely blind in a year or so.

11.The financial position of the company is not firm.

12.Many slang expressions popular in the 1970s are no longer current.

13.Who is responsible for cases put forward for consideration ?

14.I appealed to her pity but she did not respond.

VI. Give synonyms to the following words. Make up your own sentences to illustrate their usage.

complicated; to rescue; first earliest; matter; fastidious; open-handed; complete, entire; to arrange, provide for; snobbish; to offer; to carry out.

VII. Give words with the opposite meaning. Classify them according to the principles of word-formation.

to reject; security; approval; banal; generous; oldster; conscious; logical; directly; normal; to fail; professional; senior; dated.

VIII. Give definitions of the following words using an English-English dictionary. account; particular; point; to submit; to fix; security; elaborate; original.

IX. Translate the following word-combinations and learn them. Note the different meanings and shades of meaning of the words to exhaust, to save, to volunteer, total, superior.

to exhaust resources; the soil; a subject; a mine; patience; oneself

to save the situation; money; time; strength; one’s soul; one’s face; one’s skin; to save somebody from death; to save somebody trouble; to save against a rainy day

to volunteer one’s services; the remark; the opinion; to volunteer for the army; to volunteer to do something

total number; population; war; eclipse; ignorance; failure

superior forces; qualities; leather; smile; air; body; officer; a very superior man(2); to get superior; to be superior to something (2).

X. Translate into English using:

a) accept, take, receive, adopt, admit.

1. Это лекарство следует принимать три раза в день. 2. К сожалению, я не могу принять ваше предложение. 3. Резолюция была принята единогласно. 4. Как он принял эту новость? 5. Нам пора принимать меры. 6. Я думаю, мы примем ваше предложение.

.7 Директор занят: он принимает иностранную делегацию. 8. Отставка министра не была принята. 9. Он успешно сдал экзамены и был принят в университет.

b) surprise, astonish, astound, amaze, flabbergast.

1. Ее удивил чистый воздух на улицах города. 2.Ученики никогда не перестают изумлять меня. 3. Она страшно удивила нас, сообщив, что ей уже за сорок. 4. Его гoрячность поразила всех. 5. Должен признаться, вы меня огорошили.

XI. Insert the suggested words into the sentences according to the sense. a) notice; observe; remark; watch.

1. People who are not interested may occasionally ... the stars when they are bright.

Those who look frequently will ... that their position in the sky change from night to night.

2.An astronomer ... all the motions of the heavenly bodies having some scientific problems in mind.

3.Are you going to play or only ... ?

b) discuss, debate, argue, dispute, talk over.

1. ... my suggestion and give me answer tomorrow.

2.The opposition is going to ... the results of the elections.

3.Let’s ... what is to be done.

4.The question of whether war can be abolished has often been ... .

5.I ... with him about it for hours.

c)clever, intelligent, brilliant, ingenious, smart, bright. 1. He is ... but he is not very clever.

2. How ... you are!

3. He’s ... and a nice guy and all that.

4. The conversation was easy and ... .(W. S. Maugham).

5. Who would have thought that such an ... plan wouldn’t work out? 6. He is a ... scientist and a gifted artist as well.

d)do, perform, execute, accomplish, act, fulfil, carry out.

1.He ... in a week what others do in a month.

2.We must ... ; there’s no time to waste.

3.I was a soldier; I was to ... orders.

4.For nearly three years he had been ... research in Oxford.

5.The instruction must be ... to the letter.

6.It was clear that he wasn’t going to ... his promise.

7.Who ... the operation?

XII. Write out from the text phrasal verbs, give verbal synonyms to them. Comment on the wide usage of phrasal verbs in modern English.

XIII. a) Study the models according to which the following two sets of compound nouns are formed. State the meaning of these words; give their Russian equivalents.

1.layout, breakthrough, breakup, holdup, take-off, take-down, pick-up, get-away, sitin, write-off

2.background, downpour, overtime, onset, undergrowth, outskirts, in-patient

XIV. Fill in the prepositions, postpositions or adverbs where necessary.

A.1. Barbara knew ... experience that final decisions ... advertising would be made ...

May-June.

2. Few car ads are directed ... women.

3. The card ... the easel presented a sketched layout ... preliminary stage.

4. The members ... the creative group took turns ... presentations ... the client.

5. Today Barbara took charge ... presentation ... and went ... the layout briefly but conscientiously.

6. The new secretary was not entirely ... ease ... clients.

7. You are ... ... line. Clients are not supposed to be harassed ... that way. 8. My idea was to show the car ... everyday use.

9. The girl entered ... the room quietly and slipped ... her chair.

10. I’m afraid this background will take the eye ... ... the car.

11. This project is superior ... the other ones submitted ... the committee.

12. Let’s make a note ... the last point. It may be ... use ... us.

B.“The trouble ... our kind ... advertising”, Barbara said, “is that we offer a nonexistent car ... an unreal person”. The three of them had almost finished their latest

martinis; she was aware ... her own speech slurring. “We all know you couldn’t possibly buy the car that’s ... the ads, even if you wanted to, because the photographs are lies. When we take pictures ... the real cars we use a wide-angle lens to balloon the front, a stretch lens to make the side view longer. We even make the color look better than it is ... spray and powder puffs and camera filters.”

Osh waved ... a hand airily. “Tricks ... the trade.” Barbara insisted, “It’s still a nonexistent car”.

“That’s jolly good!” Nigel Knox clapped vigorously, knocking ... his empty glass and causing occupants ... other tables to glance their way amusedly. “Now tell us who’s the unreal person we advertise it ... “.

“Detroit executives who have the final word ... advertising don’t understand people. They work too hard; there isn’t time. Therefore most car advertising consists ... a Detroit executive advertising ... another Detroit executive.”

(from Wheels by A. Hailey)

XV. Fill in the articles where necessary; explain their usage.

... advertising experts have discovered that ... right words can alter ... things, at ... least in ... minds of their customers, and they practice their magic on us every day.

For example you are not asked to buy ... product in ... package of ... large size. You are sold ... “economy size”. No dealer tries to sell you ... second-hand car. There aren’t any of them any more. They are “reconditioned”. ... steamship lines no longer sell third-class or steerage tickets. They are always ... “tourist class”. ... piece of ... furniture becomes irresistible when it is called ... “snuggle sofa”.

... clothing is never cheap. It is “underpriced”. There are no old men where ... clothing is concerned. It is made for “men” and “young men”, and ... women’s dresses are designed not for ... fat figure but for ... “classical” figure.

One time ... experiment was tried. Two counters were arranged with men’s hats of ...

identical make displayed on each. On one counter ... sign was set with ... word “Tyrolean” on it. ... other counter had no sign. Three times as many men purchased ... gray hats called

“Tyrolean” than those which were unnamed.

... another similar experiment was conducted. In ... fashion described above, two lots of plain beige stockings all of them ... same brand, were placed on two tables, one nameless, ...

other bearing ... display sign “Gala”. Ten times as many of ... “Gala” ones were sold. And doggy shades in ... hosiery such as Spaniel and Collie sell ten to twenty times more than anonymous shades. Women seem more susceptible to ... word magic than men!

(from: S. Shevtsova “Getting English in Focus”)

XVI. Translate into English with particular care for the marked words and phrases.

1.Самые оригинальные эскизы мы приберегли для завтрашнего заседания.

2.Руководитель творческой группы заметил, что использование устаревших приемов не может быть одобрено.

3.Он хорошо зарекомендовал себя и через месяц, возможно, будет повышен в должности.

4.Какой замысловатый узор, как щедро вы используете краски! Вам удалось, наконец, уловить дух древнего кельтского орнамента.

5.Помните, что малейшая ошибка может стоить вам жизни.

6.Я знаю по опыту, что общее число товаров конкурирующих фирм, представленных на выставку, будет меньше нашего.

7.Дата нашего отъезда назначена, а ты останешься, приглядишь за детьми.

8.Я слишком устал, чтобы идти куда-либо. Кроме того, я не очень-то люблю

вечеринки.

9.Дело в том, что реклама должна быть адресована как мужчинам, так и женщинам.

10.Я вызвался завершить всю работу в одиночку, но шеф никак не отреагировал на мои слова.

11.Он - талантливый человек, он великолепно разрабатывает идеи. Но он очень посредственный администратор.

12.Чувство безнадежности и непрочности своего положения изводило его.

13.Она высокомерно улыбнулась и отвернулась. Я чувствовал себя совершенно уничтоженным.

14.Работа над проектом все еще находится в стадии предварительной разработки.

Discussion Exercises

I. Read the text. Explain why a good brandname is crucial for a product’s success. Sum up the demands which a good brandname must meet. Comment on the process of choosing a brandname.

THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

When we buy a product, we rarely think twice about its name. But a lot of time, money and effort goes into choosing the right name for the right product. We visited Novamark International, a company that specialises in finding names for consumer products, to see how complicated the process is.

John Murphy, Novamark’s managing director, believes that a good brandname is crucial for a product’s success. This is because it creates a personality that makes people regard a product in a particular way. For example, suppose the product in question is a cheap family shampoo. If it is given an elegant, expensive sounding name, it would be inappropriate for the product and mislead the consumer. If it is given too feminine a name, some men may be reluctant to buy it. If it is given too “national” a name, that makes us think of England,

France or wherever, this could cause marketing problems in other countries.

Practical considerations have to be thought of as well. If the shampoo is to be sold in an upright plastic bottle, with the name on the front, then its name has to be short. It wouldn’t make sense to have a long word that ran round the bottle, because it would be difficult to read it. If a brandname is to be moulded on to a product, as with many soaps, the same sort of problem could arise.

The last 20 years has seen a massive growth in consumer products that all have to be checked when anything new comes on to the market. Novamark’s approach to creating brandnames is very systematic. The Novamark team includes trade-mark lawyers, psychologists, linguists, copy-writers and marketing experts. These people, with the help of a word library and a computer, seek to create a brandname that is legible, memorable, pronounceable and with positive connotations in the countries it is to be marketed.

First of all various detailed facts and figures have to be found concerning budget, competitors and existing trademarks. Then the product and its needs are examined in order to isolate key words, themes and ideas. Novamark’s word library is invaluable at this stage because it can produce lists of words from various chosen roots. For example, suppose Novamark are working on a new soap and want to evoke an image of water and freshness, they might suggest aqua as a word root. This word is taken straight from Latin and literally means water. From this root all sorts of words are suggested such as aquamarine, aquarium, aquatic, aquarius etc. The large number of words obtained are then screened for relevance and appropriateness (i.e. legibility, memorability etc.).

A short list of 300-500 words is now available. These are tested on consumers and