Brand Autopsy

As a marketer it's important to have a way with words. It's important to be able to communicate meaning clearly - either directly to customers or through an agency on behalf of your customers.

Several years back, as a marketing manager in NYC, I was speaking with a reporter at the NY Times regarding the density of Starbucks Coffee locations in Manhattan. I was describing how in suburban areas, a store supports the neighborhood that lies in blocks surrounding the store. However, in the city, Starbucks may have a store on the ground floor that supports 25+ stories of customers above. I referred to this a VERTICAL NEIGHBORHOOD. I was proud of this term (and still am obviously).

Last week I came up with another good one.

I'm working on a project with the IT team. I was trying to communicate to the project lead to be sure not to skip us as they developed their plan... to make sure they included us. I said to her... "I want to make sure we don't MISS ANY BELT LOOPS as you move forward..."

I'm certain this term will quickly work its way into popular culture and soon appear as a "word of the day" on Word Spy. (You can say you read it here first!)

So, know you have a resource here at Brand Autopsy. If you need any quotable quotes, drop us a note!