Filtered dossier

Brand Language

Vocabulary a company teaches you to use about yourself.

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    Brand Language Entry #0491

    The reason a tagline avoids verbs

    A verb states an action that can be checked. A noun phrase states nothing checkable, which is why the safest taglines are the ones that assert least.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0491

    A verb can be audited. A noun phrase can only be interpreted, and interpretation is the reader’s liability.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0490

    Why a category name decides the competitors

    A product is compared with whatever its category contains. Choosing the category name therefore chooses the comparison set, and the comparison set decides the price.

    Master
    The hidden part #0490

    A category name is not a description of a product. It is the list of things the buyer will compare it against.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0489

    The reason a brand adopts the language of its critics

    Adopting the critic’s vocabulary is not a concession. Once the firm supplies the definition, the word can no longer be used against it as an outside standard.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0489

    Adopting your critic’s word does not concede their standard. It relocates the standard inside your own report.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0488

    Why premium never appears in genuinely premium marketing

    Status cannot be asserted by its holder without loss. Saying premium is a bid for the category; belonging to it is shown by not needing to bid.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0488

    The word premium is not a description of a tier. It is a membership application, and members do not apply.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0500

    Why the tone of a confirmation email is a strategic choice

    Transactional messages are the only ones almost everyone opens. Whatever relationship the wording implies is therefore delivered at close to full coverage.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0500

    The receipt is the most-read thing you publish. There is no neutral register for it, only a chosen one that nobody signed.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0499

    The reason a brand claims a colour

    A colour is recognised faster than a word and across more distances. It is also, unusually, an asset that can be occupied in a market before anyone contests it.

    Master
    The hidden part #0499

    Colour resolves before letters do. That is why it is worth owning, and why ownership is established by repetition rather than by announcement.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0498

    Why sustainability language converged industry-wide

    Firms facing the same scrutiny from the same raters adopt the same vocabulary. Convergence is evidence of shared audiences, not of shared practice.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0498

    Identical wording across an industry evidences a shared audience, not a shared practice. Nobody had to coordinate to arrive there.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0497

    The reason a company avoids naming its competitor

    Naming a rival spends your attention on their brand. The mention is remembered after the argument around it has been forgotten.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0497

    A name is the most durable part of any sentence. Mentioning a rival buys them attention with money you spent.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0496

    Why customer becomes guest, member, or partner

    Each of those words carries a different set of expected obligations. Renaming the buyer quietly rewrites what both sides are entitled to ask for.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0496

    Relationship nouns carry rulebooks. Calling the buyer a member invites the fairness standard that a refusal will later be judged by.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0495

    The reason a brand’s font is treated as a voice

    Letterforms are read before the words they spell. By the time the sentence is understood, a tone has already been assigned to it by the shapes.

    Master
    The hidden part #0495

    The letterform is read before the sentence. Tone is assigned by the shapes and then credited to the words.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0494

    Why the word solution replaced the word product

    A product has edges, a price and a comparison set. A solution has none of those, because the noun describes an outcome the buyer wants rather than a thing being sold.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0494

    A product can be compared. An outcome has to be defined first, and whoever defines it controls what the comparison includes.

    Open file
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    Brand Language Entry #0493

    The reason a rebrand starts with a new noun

    Associations are attached to words, so a new word arrives without them. Changing the noun is the cheapest available way to detach a history from an organisation.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0493

    A record is retrieved by its key. Retiring a name does not delete the history, it just removes the key most people were using.

    Open file