“NAMING BY NUMBERS - when words aren’t enough, it might be time to start playing with numbers.”

According to SALT Branding numbers are the new names in naming and branding. Just look at XBOX 360, Forever 21 or 747 airplanes. You see, numbers can have provocative meanings, just like words. SALT is so hip to the new numbers game they tell us 7×7 magazine reports on “the happenings within the 7 square miles that make up San Francisco.” uh, fellas…The square of 7 is 49. If you’re going to tout numbers as the next trend in brand naming, you may want to brush up on your arithmetic.
- image from www.trendsinbranding.com
Eric Boehlert at Media Matters fires off a quick missive with very interesting implications. In a brief attempt to draw a bit of context in to the discussion of the economic recovery plans of the Obama administration, Boehlert cites Gingrich’s 1993 claim that the then Clinton administration policy would wreak havoc on the economy. If that claim was faulty, why then do reporters repeat identical Republican sound bites 15 years later, Boehlert wonders, when they’ve been shown to be less than accurate economic predictors?
Boehlert calls for context in political reporting, but he’s not likely to see it from the mainstream media (MSM).
HERE’S WHY: Context, history, call it what you will - most publisher’s pets editors label clear, contextual journalism with dirty words like analysis, editorial or bias and cut it for “space considerations.” It makes you wonder how many journalistic conventions are based on the dying dead paid-print advertising model which only supported X column inches of news per Y column inches of advertising.
JUST WONDERING: Wouldn’t it be great if most news beats could be divided in to “breaking news” and “news context.”?
The phone rings at 3am - Who do you want on the other end of that line? The schmoozer who thinks the definition of good PR is being able to hold your liquor? Or the person who successfully defended his clients reputation from the vitriol of state senators, the person whose steely nerve in the midst of a client’s shareholder lawsuit won him accolades, the person who helped put a human face on a despised corporation and in so doing brought meaningful change to the company and its culture.