Robert Stephens, founder and chief inspector of The Geek Squad, contends “Marketing is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.”

We agree.

We take it a step further — Advertising and other forms of marketing is the tax you pay for an ineffective brand.

For organization leaders who rush to an advertising or PR campaign without an understanding of the value of branding — including the brand name and narrative — the price they pay is steep.

[More posts about Branding Definition | More posts about Brand Definition | More posts about Laws Of Branding | More posts about Branding vs Marketing | More posts about Branding vs Advertising | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Simplicity | More blogs about Branding Definitions]

The Los Angeles Times reports on the success of Alibaba:

Alibaba.com was founded in June 1999 by Jack Ma, who saw an opportunity to play matchmaker for small and medium-size Chinese manufacturers, which lacked access to global markets for products as varied as bamboo toothpicks, bath towels and machine tools. Likewise, international buyers interested in goods from manufacturers in China lacked the communications channels to find them.

Ma established two websites to address those markets: one in English to facilitate international trades (alibaba.com) and one in simplified Chinese for domestic business (china.alibaba.com), from which the company derives more than 70% of its revenue.

Alibaba.com Ltd. shares began trading on the Hong Kong exchange Tuesday and tripled in value by end of the day.

There is, however, an interesting backstory to Alibaba, and that is how the company acquired its name. Our sister naming group, Igor, offers the story on the brand name, Alibaba.

[More posts about Brand Naming | More posts about Brand Positioning | More posts about Brand Narrative | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Branding Companies | More posts about Branding Technology | More posts about China Brands | More posts about Alibaba Brand Image | More blogs about Brand Naming]

In storytelling, the surprise ending is remembered over the predictable finish.

In movie making, the surprise beginning engages the viewer to watch a two-hour film.

In brand strategy, the unexpected wins out over the expected when an audience is exposed to a brand name and brand narrative.

Use of the unexpected creates attraction, a door opener, through which real conversation may begin with an audience any brand seeks to attract and convert. Understanding our Law of the Unexpected and putting it to use works to ensure a brand name or narrative is not forgotten among the 3,500 advertising messages individuals are exposed to daily.

The New York Times reported on the work of Barbara Kahn of the Wharton School and Elizabeth Gelfand Miller of Boston College, and the effect names of colors and flavors have on consumers:

…[U]nusual names were more popular…the unexpected won out when subjects were given the opportunity to think about it, as a shopper at a cosmetics counter generally does… [T]he key seemed to be unexpectedness itself, which essentially engages the consumer in an attempt to solve the puzzle of the name. This rapid, essentially unconscious cognitive process, Kahn and Miller wrote recently in The Journal of Consumer Research, ‘’results in additional (positive) attributions about the product and thus, a more favorable response.'’ This seems to affect not only whether a person chooses to buy something but also, oddly, how much she enjoys it.

People will mentally stop and invest their time to fill-in-the-blanks when they see an unexpected name or message for a product. Again, from the New York Times:

Kahn and Miller cite two theories of mental processing that may be at work. In the case of ‘’unexpected descriptive'’ names, we may be able to solve the puzzle to our satisfaction. With the more logic-defying names, we essentially conclude that there must be some reason for it, and given the circumstances (it’s a product for sale in a market society), the reason must be positive.

As our sister brand naming group Igor describes it:

It comes down to making sure the puzzle we create is not too easy nor too difficult to solve. It’s about making the gap wide enough for your audience to lean forward and make the leap, but not so wide they have nowhere to land. If it is too short a jump it’s not interesting, too long and no one will even attempt the journey. And it is all about making sure that puzzle is multi-layered and contextual.

The Law of the Unexpected is about creating a brief mystery in product name or brand narrative to create attraction. Consumers will often stop and invest their time and mental effort to hear a thought expressed in an unexpected way.

Famous examples of organizations relying upon the Law of the Unexpected in naming themselves and later, in their brand narratives, include Apple and Virgin.

Use of the Law of the Unexpected also led to the unique and memorable name of a professional services firm engaged on behalf of brands internationally. This one.

[More posts about Brand Naming | More posts about Law of the Unexpected | More posts about Laws of Branding | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Narrative | More blogs about Brand Naming]