Annotated Bibliography February 13th, 2021
Topic: Branding/Advertising in design
Entry #2
- Name brands, off brands, house brands, brand Nu? By Ralph Caplan
- Ralph Caplan is an American designer that has written three books on design and why it’s important. His article was found on the national AIGA page.
- In the article “Name brands, off brands, house brands, brand Nu?”Ralph Caplin digests the idea of why you should rebrand and why rebranding often starts with the name. At the beginning of the article Ralph discusses how names can be the downfall of brands. An example he used in the article was the school Slipper Rock and how announcers always shared the scores of the football games not because the school was good, but because the name was the beginning of many jokes about the school. A quote from the article I found extremely interesting was, “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, She was of course wrong.” He says this because a brand’s whole identity starts with the name. You wouldn’t buy an apple product if it was cold blue cheese because the name is important for recognition and identity. “Branding is more than naming, but the process of branding aims to burn the positive perception of a name into a product, a product line, a company, and public consciousness.” What Ralph means by this is everything starts with naming and the way a name or word is perceived can make or break your brand.
- Caplan, Ralph. “Name Brands, off Brands, House Brands, Brand Nu?” AIGA, 4 Oct. 2005, www.aiga.org/aiga/content/inspiration/voice/name-brands-off-brands-house-brands-brand-nu/.
