Interview: Steve Manning, Igor International

Steve Manning is one of the US’s leading brand-naming copywriters. After running a highly popular blog about brand naming, he launched Igor International where he is busy naming and shaping the identities of some of the most high-profile brands across every type of business.

I find the whole idea of work obnoxious, and I’m not qualified to do anything. I don’t like work. I’m 47, and I hadn’t written anything until six years ago. I worked for many years as a film editor and cameraman for a travel channel in New York, but it had been a random choice, like everything else in my life. I decided I’d had a great time traveling the world, but I was going to make a complete change.

I sold everything and flew to San Francisco. I told the cab driver to “take me somewhere nice” and he took me to Sausalito, where I booked into the best hotel. After about 100 days the money ran out; I found work as a cab driver, which I did for three years. It was a truly horrible existence. It was a small town, but a guy from a big New York agency got in my cab regularly and we got to know each other. We talked, and he’d seen my press over the last five years. He told me that he owned an agency, and he asked me if I wanted to be an assistant in a new naming company.

The two of us started an agency that we called ahundredmonkeys.com – it was during the dotcom boom and we were getting a lot of work in. My boss was charging $15,000 for a naming job. I was looking to earn more for myself, and I proposed to him that if I could sell the work in for $20,000 I wanted 10 percent of the fee, for $35,000 I wanted 15 percent and so on, up to $75,000 where the scale went up and I wanted 35 percent of the fee. He didn’t believe that I had a chance, but he let me have a go.

The next time we quoted, the client accepted the price of $75,000, and I got my bonus plus the lease on an Audi A8. It’s a numbers game, and by sticking to it we know it will work. We don’t mind if we miss out on work because of quoting a high fee. We lost a lot of clients, and many would ask if we could do it for cheaper and I’d say “no.” A couple of hours later they’d invariably call back to hire us. They can’t tell how to assess the fee – it’s all about confidence.

Next, I started my own agency, called Igor, with my partner, Jay, who I’d met at art school. We don’t have degrees, and we didn’t have any money. We thought that if we kept adjusting our website, taking notes of our observations on how these changes affected our listing on Google, maybe we could crack the Google search-criteria code. Thousands of pages later we cracked it! There are books by professors on how to figure it out, and we’ve done it! It’s given us a huge profile.

Our name needed to do so many things, and one word needed to capture so many ideas. The best names are the ones that are demonstrative of the qualities rather than being purely explanatory. Everyone said “Igor” won’t work, no one will hire you. But a few years down the line we’re working on the MTV downloading service, naming top hotels and working for the Navy and Department of Defence. Igor says “hunchback grave robbers” to most people; a corporation would say this is a negative connotation. But I see us as the ultimate assistant. We chose to use Igor because we had to demonstrate we believed in turning around a negative connotation associated with a name.

The brand name Igor eliminates the need for advertising, PR, and sales calls. We get a ridiculous amount of press, because when journalists search our field they see lots of bland names and then spot Igor and think “this looks interesting.” Also, we know that our clients are risk-tolerant if they have the nerve to recruit a company called Igor.

Our blog was critical of the war and of the Bush administration, and we had a surprise call from the Department of Defence. Two days later they came round and grilled us. We realized that they clearly wanted to hire us, but they were very creepy. I quoted them a month’s time for their brief, fairly randomly, sending them a high price ($55,000) to send them away, then we worked on projects to name the next generation of their command and control systems.

“I never attempt to write anything over 100 words, because I specialize in brand naming.”

I never attempt to write anything over 100 words, because I specialize in brand naming. When we quote a price we provide a week-by-week breakdown of it, but this is all hoo-hah really. I named a hotel in Dubai for $40,000, which took two weeks of naming, and I have just turned down a brief from a major corporation because they only wanted to pay $35,000 and they said that we couldn’t use the name we create for them in our portfolio. We emailed them back and said we were not interested.

A large organization that we didn’t like too much approached us for a quotation for creating the name for a significant new brand. I didn’t want the work, so I quoted $150,000, and said I wouldn’t look at it until they deposited $75,000 in our account upfront. They said “no way,” but a few days later they called back. After they put the money in my account I took six weeks before I started the project, but they came back with new briefs a further six times.

If you’re a company and you are launching a multi-billion initiative, you have to figure out which naming company to hire, so you approach three of the leading agencies. Two say they can do it for $15,000, or $10,000 if you’d want them to, and another says it’s $150,000 and we won’t even think about it unless you deposit half in our account upfront. You’re launching a multi-million dollar brand, so which naming agency are you going to choose?

When we sell it in we do several funks to help get the client dialled in, excited, and confident, and get them on board with the whole concept. A lot of people want to get their two cents in, but they are always critical and they don’t know how to achieve their objective. I tell them to forget the name we’re naming now and dissect existing brands. I take them through the top ten US brands, for example looking at airlines. We agree that the name should say “experience, dependability, confidence, and professionalism.” Something like “Transatlantic Air” would cause no problems. Then I reveal the Virgin Atlantic brand, and show that “virgin” says “never done this before, inexperienced, young, and naïve,” and how it is likely to offend Catholics. My client starts to understand they would never have created the names of the top ten US brands.

We critique them all, and then they collectively go “these are all good brand names, but we’ve got the wrong attitude – we would never choose these names.” We then present the leading five to seven proposed names and some basic visuals that we have created, that we call “contorted support,” which usually consists of about 15 print advertising treatments [see left].

Some think the availability of the dotcom name should lead the brand-naming process, and if it’s not available not to use the name. Having the name.com is seen to carry cache – it’s the prize. Clients say they’d rather have the dotcom, but I don’t see it as a priority; we didn’t have the dot.com for Igor but that didn’t stop us choosing it as our brand name. We show up in the top three when you search product naming, and that’s what counts.

We show hundreds of options, and make sure that the client feels at the end of the project that they’ve examined every possibility. Clients keep checking dictionaries when considering the proposed brand names, but they have to realize that people – their audience – don’t run to dictionaries every time they see a brand name that they don’t understand. We have created the scientific name for new chemicals when we know nothing about it at the start.

A recent project was to brand a new vodka that costs $50 a bottle. It has to be all natural, really sexy, with worldwide trademark availability (for any beverage, not just alcohol). We use online sites to search for trademark availability and always search a name before we show the client. The new brand is named Sliver.

Searching for availability

The rule of thumb is that if you create a brilliant brand name then it is bound to be registered somewhere. You have to be confident that the names you are presenting are unrestricted and at this point you must have the names checked (or check them yourself) for availability in the relevant trademark categories. This can initially be done via the internet, and the searches can be free and quick. Try the following websites – US trademarks: ww.uspto.gov; UK trademarks: www.ipo.gov.uk; international trademarks: www.wipo.int; European Union trademarks: www.oami.europa.eu. A full search for trademark availability should be carried out by experienced intellectual property lawyers before the client commits to the concept. This can be expensive, and should be quoted to the client upfront.

“Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith, and perseverance to create a brand.”

David Ogilvy

Clients may use formal or informal focus groups to test your proposed brand names, and you will need to be strong-minded and diplomatic to manage these sessions so that they remain objective and focused. Set your proposed brand names in a clear, well-known font such as Helvetica and print them out in a large point size, one per page. Present them one at a time, and don’t sell them in. The aim is to get a balanced and considered response to each name, one that you can use to guide your creative thinking. You may find new ideas within the research group, so listen intently – this is your target audience.

It’s fine to use research to guide work, but never let the results make the decision. A few years ago the president of Renault ignored customer research rejecting a new car concept, and launched the Scenic, which become one of the best-sellers in Europe. Unfortunately, not every launch is so successful.

There are increasingly fewer words available for brand names and this is forcing creatives to come up with increasingly unusual solutions. This can be dangerous territory – there are rarely strong arguments for rebranding an existing business with a strange new name, as the brand equity that has been built up over many years can be lost overnight. It is much better to retain the existing brand name and refresh its personality in these cases. Entirely new names are more appropriate for start-up businesses or new groups.

Brand language is all about the big picture

Don’t confuse your objectives for the overall use of language of a brand with your objectives when writing each specific piece of communication. The role of a brand’s language is to communicate its core principles and messages clearly and consistently, so that every time customers have contact with the brand they receive the same impression of what the brand is all about. It’s about long-term relationship management.

On the other hand, the writing you create for marketing activity and other creative communications is intended to promote something and generate a response from the audience, which is more about short-term promotion. While marketing campaigns come and go, the brand is ever-present. Both are vitally important and have to live alongside each other in harmony.

Most of the individual communications that you will write will have a short shelf life. A marketing brochure should have a shelf life of two years, but this is still a relatively short time compared to the lifespan of the brand itself. If the leaflet you’re writing is being mailed out, or if your advertisement is appearing in the press, it will be an active piece of marketing material for only a matter of weeks. These communications tend to burn brightly but fizzle out quickly. Make sure you use the basic brand tone of voice, but be prepared to flex it to suit specific briefs, bringing more impact to direct marketing, and being more conceptual with advertising and more succinct with point of sale.

The subject matter presents challenges, which are handled with skill. VegNews has to support the vegetarian cause and reflect the views of the reader, yet must retain complete integrity and avoid being perceived as biased. The approach taken is to keep body copy factual and objective, with a few light touches to steer readers and hold their interest.

Writing and managing a consistent voice within a client’s overall brand communications require you to stand back and consider the personality being projected by the combined messages of the organization. For better or worse, they always reflect the personality of the organization. Bear in mind the heritage, performance, and vision (past, present, and future) of the brand and develop a tone of voice that will create a strong sense of credibility and build a lasting and positive relationship with the customer. This is not necessarily about fabulous creative writing, it is about the appropriate and controlled use of fresh and inspiring language. The overall look and feel of your brand messages may not dazzle in their intensity, but they will cast a strong light across a wide area.

The elements within the mix of a brand’s communications, from the website and company brochures to advertising and promotional messages, target diverse audiences and may well be generated by different teams or individuals. Each of these writers will be taking contrasting approaches to their copy. Controls are needed to manage the way everyone writes within an organization. These usually take the form of a restriction on who can generate high-profile copy, and training these writers to understand what is on-brand and off-brand in terms of tone of voice, use of language, and style of writing.

“Economics is now about emotion and psychology.”

Professor Robert Shiller, Yale

There are two key factors to consider: the correct tone of voice or personality that should be communicated across the organization; and the way that this is managed and controlled for maximum consistency without hampering creativity or ignoring the real needs of different target audiences.

Creating a brand tone-of-voice guide

Copywriting for effective brand communications centers on consistency, and there is enormous value in coordinating the messages that a client organization projects to the outside world. Achieve this and every piece of communication supports the others, backing up the core brand messages that lie at the heart of the business. This continual reinforcement – and lack of contradiction – builds credibility and trust, increasing the likelihood of customers buying into the products or services on offer.

Many organizations have a brand design manual that provides templates, color and imagery guidance, and direction on how to make sure every item produced has the definitive brand “stamp.” The correct approach to copy is rarely included in these, partly because it is not often clearly defined and also because it is difficult to encapsulate, manage, and control the way copy is written within a large organization.

Your starting point for creating a tone-of-voice guide is to consider its role. Why produce a guide at all? How many different writers will be working on the brand in the next few years? Are they professional copywriters or in-house staff? What type of material will be produced? What are the core values that are being projected? Answer these questions and you will be able to build yourself a brief for the guide itself, knowing what its function is, who the audience is, and how the guide will be utilized.

Your audience will be the writers and managers who are working on the brand communications. They will need clear guidance that is easy to understand and makes sense. A crucial element is explaining when they must stick to the rules without fail and when they might be allowed to break free and use a more creative or unpredictable voice (which is sometimes allowed for creative advertising campaigns, for example). Be very clear about this from the start and you will have a better chance of controlling their approach.

Having determined the role of your tone-of-voice guide you will have an idea of the best approach to take. If it’s a formal brand for a large organization and a number of writers will be working on it, a detailed document is most appropriate. If it is a younger brand, you may feel it is best to keep your guide short and sweet by focusing on the ideal language and the fun expressions that can be used. Whatever your approach, the tone of the guide should always reflect the tone of the brand. Most companies will have a written mission statement supported by some detail on attitude, values, and purpose. If these have not been defined you should try drafting some of your own so you have firm guidelines to follow and refer to. Studying these statements gives you the direction you need to create an effective and relevant tone-of-voice guide.

“Your brand is created out of customer contact and the experience your customers have of you.”

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, chairman, easyGroup

If the guide is too long and ponderous no one will refer to it; if it is too short and punchy it will be open to many different interpretations. You should aim for something that is between five and ten pages long, makes perfect sense, and gives the approved writers lots of support and guidance without taking away their freedom to create strong concepts and ideas.

Marketing communications are all about the audience

With the brand defined and the tone of voice being guided, you can now focus on delivering the marketing communications for your client. Your objective with any marketing communications activity is to reach your audience, attract their interest, and elicit a positive response. It’s worth remembering a few of the basics. Short, clear words and simple sentences (depending to a certain extent on the audience and the nature of the marketing) are far more effective than complexity.

Clarity usually means simplicity, and while this is relatively straightforward to achieve by controlling the voice and style, you also have to have worthwhile things to say. You can’t cover poor messages or lack of content with good technique, so be sure to understand the core of your message before you start. This means thinking through and researching your ideas and concepts, arguments and logic.

If your material is weak it is up to you to strengthen it. Conducting original research to boost your raw material is a good way to discover a suitable creative angle. A compelling fact, revealing piece of information, or unusual insight can form the whole concept and help your finished communication to stand out.

Another important technique is to question your client. Simply tell the person from whom you’re gathering the raw material that you need to ask a few “stupid” questions and then ask for clarification of the points that everyone assumes are understood. “What is your business really about?,” “Why would the audience find this interesting?,” “How is this better than the current products on the market?,” and so on. This approach allows you to dig deeply into the brief in search of great selling messages.

Be clear about the role of each piece of marketing

The function of a brochure or leaflet dictates the approach you should take to writing it. Most marketing falls into two distinct categories: education (in healthcare, for example) and selling.

Brochures that are intended to educate the reader will require you to process all of the information without any ambiguity or error, and to structure the copy in the most logical way. Your titles and sub-titles must guide the reader through the content and ensure that the information makes perfect sense.

By contrast, a brochure that is designed to sell a concept, service, or product needs to work a lot harder. Your copy has to be compelling, which means the reader can’t help but read it because it is presenting information to them in a way they can’t resist.

The distribution method is also a key consideration – the way in which it is being picked up or received by the audience will affect the way you write your headlines. Is it being sent to their homes? Are they supposed to pick it up in-store, or is it a leave-behind brochure to help with sales calls? A powerful, benefit-led headline is essential if the brochure is to be picked up in passing, but a gentler, more intriguing approach is more suitable for a brochure that is being given personally to the reader.

“A brand is a living entity – and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.”

Michael Eisner, CEO Disney

Not all of your readers will pore over every word, so cater for the skimmers too. If the only words that are read are the cover title, sub-titles, and picture captions, the core messages must still come across effectively and completely. Test this by reading your headlines and picture captions, and consider adding a few highlighted quotes from the body copy to bring out other vital points. Link your copy to the imagery where you can so that the completed item is fully coherent and integrated, not the merging of two separate directions.

Staring into space – or getting on with it?

Creative writing for business is like any other form of creative writing – it can be slow, hard work and you may struggle to find inspiration. A copywriter hard at work may look like a normal person sitting at a desk staring out of the window. Exploring your head for ideas and chasing lines of thought does work, but this can be an interminable process, and one thing you won’t have much of with a commercial brief is time.

Fear not the blank page, for writer’s block is a myth, it does not exist. Writers get blocks only when they rely on inspiration springing into their minds out of thin air. You are not searching for a wonderful new concept for a novel, you’re not grasping for the perfect emotional poetic resonance, and you’re not a Hemingway or Burroughs living the life of a tortured writer. Not yet, anyway.

There is an efficient process for preparing and drafting copy that will help you focus on the ideal solution by breaking down a job into small, manageable tasks. Every copywriter will use different techniques; there is no definitively right or wrong way to approach the challenge. Your deadline is the most effective taskmaster. Don’t leave things so late that you can’t do a thorough job; do all of your preparation as early as possible and you’ll give yourself every opportunity to deliver well-crafted copy on time. It always takes longer to write copy than you think, so start early and get the groundwork out of the way.

Brochures that cover many pages need proper planning in order to maintain balance throughout. Sketch a thumbnail page plan for yourself and allocate content accordingly. Consider the word count, and the spread and flow of information. You can keep it very short or opt for long copy – decide this before you start.

Internal communications are marketing communications

With increasing global competition, new ways of working with suppliers and customers, new technologies, and changing marketplaces, companies are undergoing consistent change more than ever. Keeping employees properly informed and briefed is becoming increasingly vital, and the tools developed for marketing communications are the way to achieve this.

Internal communications have often been the poor relation of marketing communications, “poor” being the operative word. It’s mainly down to budget. Whereas marketing teams have large annual budgets to reach their audiences, those looking after training, motivating, and informing the people who work for the organization rarely have much to work with.

The audience for internal communications is not difficult to reach, should have a strong inclination to absorb the material, and ought to respond in a positive manner if the message is constructive and clear. Internal communications have to develop strong relationships. This is where effective copywriting comes into play. Without making serious dents in the available budget, copywriting can turn average or predictable internal communications into compelling information to which most employees will react positively.

Traditionally the voice used for internal communications has been patronizing or excessively formal. Messages from the top speak down to the staff on the ground, often use jargon or fail to explain the full context, and generally leave the reader cold. You can overcome this by creating a fresh and upbeat tone of voice and using targeted copywriting to make the messages relevant, interesting, and compelling. Create a communications strategy that will ensure that all of the key points in the calendar are covered and that each item builds on the others. Consider the role and frequency of the company newsletter, the value of a well-managed intranet site, the need to give a quality feel to training and guidance, and the power of creative communications on posters and exhibition sites.

There can be a lot of value in creating a word bank and company dictionary. Does our retail network consist of “branches,” “stores” or “shops”? Do we refer to our people as “employees,” “staff,” “our people,” or even “you”? What is an RDU, a cascade session, or a round table meeting?

You have a diverse audience, from senior directors to junior office workers, from people out in the field to those in head office. Your challenge is to find a voice that suits everyone. The key is to link your content to the overall company strategy. If the board has announced a new focus or initiative then feature this in your communications and use different ways to bring it to life and make it real. Find out what the implications might be for the different people in the business, interview some store staff and some head office managers, and pool the information to give everyone an insight into each other’s situations.

Your content has to be open, honest, and accurate. There is no point telling a de-motivated workforce that there is a new initiative to save money by cutting back on their perks and making them work in a different way. You have to explain why profits are harder to find, create a sense of team responsibility, show how everyone is sharing the burden, and how the measures being taken now will help secure a long-term future for everyone.

Great copy makes the reader feel good

Here are a few tips on how to find the right voice for your copy: