Tuesday, June 22, 2004 – On page 73 of their incredibly insightful book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, celebrated marketing strategists Al Ries and his daughter, Laura Ries, couldn’t be more succinct — and sagacious — in writing that “the most important branding decision you will ever make is what to name your product or service. Because in the long run a brand is nothing more than a name.” Of course, it takes much more than just a catchy name to succeed in business, but the Ries’ point is well taken. And they do expound on this law, reminding their readers not to “confuse what makes a brand successful in the short term with what makes a brand successful in the long term. In the short term, a brand needs a unique idea or concept to survive. It needs to be first in a new category. It needs to own a word in the mind. But in the long term, the unique idea or concept disappears. All that is left is the difference between your brand name and the brand names of your competitors.” Not surprisingly, here at Yellowfin Direct Marketing, we’re asked all the time about the origin of our moniker. Unlike Ries & Ries (the world-renowned marketing consultancy named after its founders), or Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero’s Red Hot Copy (the acclaimed copywriter, author and marketing professional), our brand name is metaphorical, not literal, designed to pique your curiosity and stick in your mind. It’s as unique as our ideas and concepts, an extension of our corporate personality. Our brand name means a lot to my boss, David (he and his wife once caught 32 Yellowfin tuna off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico), but it likely means even more to our clients, given the trust they place in us as a small, entrepreneurial direct response advertising agency. And that, when all is said and done, is why the law of the name is so immutable.
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