Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Dear randolphar,

"Blessed are the cheese makers!" When it first came out, people were outraged, but monty python's "The life of Brian" is a classic.

So, you've got a problem, eh? Look. Just stop. Put down your pencil. Step away from your notepad. And go for a walk.

Phil's right. This won't be the first time you are stuck, nor will this be the first time you struggle. Get used to it.

That walk you're going to take?, take a sheet of note paper with you and a pen and just wander. Stray signs on doors, odd snatches of conversation, the titles of books in the library as you wander along a shelf?

Somewhere out there your headline, your idea is waiting for you.
It's your job to go and find it. So, go on: shoo! Be off with you! Go forward and discover something for yourself.

I'm urging you to do this because you know who you're talking to, you have your finger on the student pulse, you are familiar with the zeitgeist of the new as it slopes across the campus, on its way to meet some ... "thing" that's as yet, undiscovered.

At some point, someone—possibly your new boss, whoever that might be—at 2:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, that someone's going to say "Randolphar! I need 40 headlines by 3:00 p.m. Get stuck in! Come on: chop! Chop!"

And you're going to have to perform.

Your new boss will have hired you because you were sharp, witty, and attentive at the interview, and because you're incredibly talented.

I am a creative director and marketing expert with the best part of 25 years experience under my belt ... and on both sides of the Atlantic.

When I'm hiring—which I do from time to time—I look for people who, when faced with a marketing problem, can come up with ideas on their own, without someone from an online forum holding their hand.

I know this sounds brusque, but it's the reality of the workplace.

When you start off with cheese, don't stop with just the cheese and then give up, hands up in the air, with your thinking adrift in a sea of "It's impossible!"

It's NOT impossible. If that's your outlook on the matter, your thinking is setting you up to fail. Look again, but this time, OPEN YOUR EYES!

Begin with the cheese. Then add in different ingredients from that walk you've taken: a few crackers, some grapes, a bottle of half decent wine, some French bread, a smattering of paté, a cork screw, a couple of glasses, a babbling brook, a blanket, and a beautiful person to share it with as the sunshine lances down through dappled foliage.

Suddenly, when you take the time to do this, what might have started off as your perception of a cheesy idea, suddenly, it becomes a Renoir.

Paul Cezanne, one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist period said “With an apple, I will astonish Paris.”

Your idea? It's out there. All you have to do is look for, SEE IT,
and take the time to assemble the pieces.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA