News & views
Blog / October, 2008 /
27 October 2008 /
by Ian Roberts at 9:06 pm 27 October 2008
Filed under: Branding, Identity
Tags: azure, Identity, microsoft, naming
Microsoft Cloud Computing
…what Port25 is to Open Source.
Is it me, or is ‘Azure’ the worst name you possibly could think of for a Cloud Computing initiative? The word Azure reminds people of a cloudless sky, a clear day. A world without clouds.
If you look up Azure in a dictionary, you get ‘cloudless’ over and over again. If you look up ’cloudless’ in a Thesaurus, you get Azure as the #1 synonym. Perhaps this is reverse engineering the Microsoft thought process.
It reeks of Phillip Morris’ nicotine addiction programs or oil companies’ alternative fuel advertising. Blatantly disingenuous.
So, what message is Microsoft, the traditional software company, trying to convey with this naming strategy? I think the answer is as clear as day.
20 October 2008 /
by at 2:38 pm 20 October 2008
Filed under: Branding
Icesave's Website
As pointed out by Tom Friedman in the [NY] Times yesterday, Icesave (one of the Icelandic banks needful of being saved from from the ice) now has the following notice (typeset in brand-consistent blue!) at the top of their homepage:
“We are not currently processing any deposits or any withdrawal requests through our Icesave internet accounts. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.”
Don’t you just LOVE the ‘any’? That’s my favourite bit. At *any* rate, the question is what could possibly have been on Icesave’s mind when they chose to greet their panicked customers with such insulting, shopworn balderdash?
Hemingway supposedly said “Writing’s easy, until you start to think about the reader.” I guess branding and banking are easy, too — until.
13 October 2008 /
by Wally Olins at 11:41 am 13 October 2008
Filed under: Branding
2008 Toyota Prius: Estimated Market Price: $22,130
Stop for a second and think about the Toyota Prius’ basic marketing claim. This is an automobile sold not as the fastest car, the most comfortable car, the sexiest or sportiest car, or even the most economical car, but the cleanest car. Read more…
7 October 2008 /
by Juan Ramírez at 10:28 pm 7 October 2008
Filed under: Branding
Tags: Banksy, New York
Banksy's Canvas at 441 Broadway in Soho, New York
Pseudo-anonymous Banksy is one of the few graffiti artists that feels equally comfortable exhibiting his work on a wall in Shoreditch or in a gallery in LA. His work delivers sharp wit loaded with the heavy ammunition of social criticism. Allan, our office manager in NY, has been recording with his iPhone the birth of Banksy’s latest piece of work on our office building on Broadway. The guys daubing the paint claim Phil Collins is the author.
Read more…
