Okay, a bit on the nose there.
Recently I have been very busy with a new project. But I finally finished this, er, brainy book by David DiSalvo. As always, I’m confounded and fascinated by the paradox of the mind–how are we addicted to things that are bad for us, and what science might suggest we do about it. If you’ve ever explored psychology you know how quickly it bumps into philosophy. And here’s why this is so difficult: Psychology is innately inaccurate. How do you measure the brain’s behaviour? How do you measure satisfaction? How do you measure happiness? Beyond the ‘yes/no’ analyses of brain scanning, it gets murky. Continue reading
It’s generally believed that the first known ‘PC’ on the market was called the Altair 8800–the one Bill Gates and his buddies famously giggled excitedly over, as they flew down to Albequerque, New Mexico, to get their humble software to run on the thing. The Altair was not meant for human beings to use; it was meant for computer geeks to tinker with. It did very little–okay it did nothing. Still, it was exciting enough that the company that sold the Altair, MITS, couldn’t handle all the demand. Suddenly, a metal box with a few blinking lights was selling like hotcakes.
My recent curiosity with Neuro Linguistic Programming has led me to another book on the subject, this one focusing primarily on confidence. 
You may have heard of NLP, but if you haven’t it’s not your fault: Neuro Linguistic Programming (fittingly) has been simmering below the surface of the public consciousness for a few decades now. NLP is the study of how our minds use, interpret and process language and thought. This seemingly geeky subject turns out to be incredibly fun and useful, if you can figure it out. Using NLP in your day to day life effectively is kinda like the ‘stop the bullets in mid-air’ scene in The Matrix. Yes, I’m talking about hypnosis. Buckle up. 
What is a brand? Is it a name? A logo? A funky design or attitude? A brand is a symbol for an idea. More specifically, a brandname is a word that can be uttered in any country, in any ‘language’ and mean the same thing. If a company is consistent and strong in repeating the same message over and over, in time, its brandname will become synonymous with an idea. If the company keeps changing its stripes, the name never catches on, and means nothing. McDonalds is about Family Food. Subway is about Fresh. Pepsi is about Fun. If you get really good at this, as a Brand Manager, and you create a brand new product and its name can describe an entire category. A few examples of unbeatable brandnames often mistaken for actual words:Xerox.Band-Aid.RollerBlade. Even the iPod for a time was the ‘placeholder’ word that meant ‘Digital Music Player’.
