If you’re not sure where to spend your next evening, we recommend to stay in front of your laptop or TV watching at those inspiring classics.

For a few weeks now, Opel has been airing a new ad for the Meriva in France. It’s entertaining and has a paltry tone. You get to follow a German guy, speaking exclusively in German, presenting the Meriva and its new onboard technologies. For a French speaker, you don’t understand a word of what he’s saying apart from a couple of Flex words and a “Flex technology”…

Nothing to do, whatsoever, with the Flex Fuel technology as we know it. These Flex words are introduced as real innovations on board: FlexDoors, FlexRails, FlexSpace, FlexFloor and FlexFix. All registered, as new-patented technologies would be. But really, what’s new here except the way the doors open?

Seats that you can move backwards? Storage space under the floor of the trunk? Rails you can add to accommodate extra luggage?

After digging deeper on Opel Meriva’s website we learn that this model is the first to be labeled by the AGR (Aktion Gesunder Rücken e.V.), a commission of doctors and physiotherapists that have approved the exemplary ergonomics of the car.

Is this enough to start branding all the widgets on board? At first glance the Meriva Flex technologies look rather like iPhone apps seeking to become the new Pentium.

Everybody already has extra storage space, seats that move inside (that’s a minimum no?) etc. Except from the way the doors open, these “technologies” are not exclusive to the Opel Meriva.

But, and it is an interesting but, they are the only ones to brand them with a unique concept, and moreover, one that is approved by a health commission.

Concerns about automobiles are nowadays focused on carbon footprint and safety. The flex fuel was created in answer to the environmental preoccupations as well as hybrid cars including the famous Prius (that is also branding its Pentium-like technology with its Hybrid Synergy Drive for instance). Regarding safety, a plethora of technologies have been developed from advanced airbags to tire pressure monitoring, lane departure warning…

The interesting switch that Opel is announcing here, is the wellness on board; A third pillar that could become important in the automotive world? Opel is suddenly reminding us that automobiles are also spaces where we live and where it should be comfortable and almost healthy to be.

Their flex approach reflects a new way of marketing cars as living spaces. Years ago, Renault, the main actor in this segment, created  the Renault Espace as one of the emblematic cars to be “lived in”. The FlexSpace of Opel is suddenly getting pretty close to this speech, but with a new patented approach and with a specific nomenclature.

Opel has either adopted a real new approach to branding and “living cars”, or has just created a couple of widgets that stand out through entertaining advertising. Whatever the case, it won’t harm the brand. If the new flex semantic works out, the Meriva could become the new emblem of wellness on board, introducing a new branded language; if it fails Meriva will just be entertaining with paltry ads.

Now, let’s wait and see what the sales, and consumers, tell us.

Link to the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2LE05g_SQ

(English Version / French version below)

What if French politicians were a brand? What would be the best suited name for them? Well, we put our thoughts on this and have a few propositions to share…

First, the insight: A recent study from www.linternaute.com (1) has revealed the most used words of French politicians over the last ten years. At the head of the top fifty words we find “je” “I” as well as the “nous” “we” and “vous” formal “you”.

It appeared that Nicolas Sarkozy mostly used the “I”, Arnaud Montebourg the “we” and Eric Besson the formal “you”.

It is interesting to note how these pronouns are related to the political parties of  these politicians. Obviously, nothing is random in politics:

The “I” of the one and only president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

The “we” of socialist, Arnaud Montebourg.

The “you” of right wing Eric Besson (Industry, energy and economy minister), asking you what “you” can do for the economy of “your” country.

And here we have our springboard to create winning names.

With your iSarkozy, you’ll be able to control and customize your country from the tip of your finger. Your WiiMontebourg will keep you at home playing all week-end long with your friends. And finally if you want to become rich and famous you’ll just have to upload your personal videos on YouBesson and wait until you reach the hundreds of thousands of views.

Now, if we turn the analogy around can this exercise suggest the iPhone or iPad are hegemonic technologies for individual and selfish purpose? Or, is the Wii a way to burn up all your free time and distracting you from real concerns? And is YouTube just a cash machine that can either ruin your life or make you a star? This is not rocket science, but as in any analogy there is always some truth within…

 (1) L’internaute is an online magazine dealing with general news. It is consulted by over 12,5 million visitors per month

(French Version)

Si les hommes politiques étaient une marque, quel serait le meilleur nom pour chacun d’entre eux? Après avoir planché sur le sujet, voici quelques propositions…

Yesterday morning I received a text message from a friend sharing her thoughts on a music album, signing up with “Je Like beaucoup”, which would be equivalent to “I aime a lot”.

Sounds peculiar, but also sounds good to know that someone shares your taste, doesn’t it?

As a Facebook user, my first reference was the social network application “to like” a post, a comment etc. Then, as a branding addict, this line also got me thinking about how brand innovation can create cultural words. About how much just a few words can enter the language, worldwide, and become one of the most iconic elements of a brand.

If we take Facebook, the two or three iconic brand words are the famous Like/Tag/Poke. But let’s be clear right away. When we say iconic, it means that these words have become emblematic of an action that is clearly visualized in the mind. Such clearness takes the floor over the conventional word, to become the new way of expressing yourself and therefore acting. But, and this but is very important, this language pattern modification seems to mostly happen to non-english speakers.

To put it in simple words, if you like a picture, in real life, you’ll naturally say “I like it”, but if you like a picture in real French life you’ll say “elle me plait” and not “Je like beaucoup”. And that’s exactly where brand language can play its part.

In Facebook case, the language and action pattern, related to the feeling of “liking” has slipped from the virtual world into the everyday life. The consequences are therefore a modification of language and mental representation.

If in real life I say “je like beaucoup” your picture, a burger, the latest movie and so on, I’m not only expressing my opinion or approving somebody else’s taste, I’m pressing a virtual button saying to my audience that we are connected, just by speaking the Facebook language.

I’m sure all of you remember the famous Youtube video about “Facebook in real life”, well it happens in real life.

The key lesson to learn from Facebook language is a creative scheme that can allow any brand to create real life community users on an international basis.

The scheme is simple: Innovate, name, get international.

• Innovate, because you’ll work on people behavior and mental schemes. You’ll identify the patterns that you’ll be using for branding. Identification will allow you to use these patterns as they are, or exploit them to modify behaviors through new hardware or software applications, as the Facebook “like” button is.

• Second stage, Name. Put words on these patterns and applications to bring out the related actions and therefore modify the perception of these actions. Naturally the modifications should be related to the brand positioning. Also knowing that these modifications will come from the last part of the scheme.

• Finally, get international to enter the language and culture. If your language of origin is English, the percentage of behavioral and perception shift will be weaker if you just focus on English speaking countries. The reason is simple; people learn more foreign words than local ones, mostly if these words are part of new trends and innovations. As an example, most of the 150 new words of the 2011 French dictionary were either English based such as “Pop-up” or invented words related to trends such as “Adulescent” or brands as “Google”.

To put it simply, an essential driver of cultural brand language is brand innovation. In order to build a cultural community of speakers, you’ll therefore need simple but essential components:

Identify behavioral patterns and the wording they have today.

Define a clear brand positioning that will help to innovate.

Create innovative applications, both soft and hard innovations.

Identify how to name your innovations in relation to your brand positioning and patterns. Make sure the applications names are action focused.

Design.

Test them in different languages through storytelling and real life experiences.

Validate or change.

Launch and listen to how your brand language will now spread into everyday life.

It’s now time for a petit brainstorming, pourquoi pas !?

“Sir, what is a pearl?”

- My  worthy  Ned,  I  answered, to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the sea;  to  the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies, it is  a  jewel  of  an  oblong  shape,  of  a  brilliancy of mother-of-pearl substance,  which  they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their ears; for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a little  gelatine;  and lastly,  for  naturalists,  it  is simply a morbid secretion  of  the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl amongst certain bivalves.

” Monsieur, qu’est-ce que c’est qu’une perle?”

- Mon brave Ned, répondis-je, pour le poète, la perle est une larme de la mer; pour les Orientaux, c’est une goutte de rosée solidifiée; pour les dames, c’est un bijou de forme oblongue, d’un éclat hyalin, d’une matière nacrée, qu’elles portent au doigt, au cou ou à l’oreille; pour le chimiste, c’est un mélange de phosphate et de carbonate de chaux avec un peu de gélatine, et enfin, pour les naturalistes, c’est une simple sécrétion maladive de l’organe qui produit la nacre chez certains bivalves.

Jules Verne – 20.000 leagues under the sea / 20.000 lieues sous les mers

Dirk Schächter world, in a few designed words