We were meeting with a client — more specifically, with the president, marketing communications director and consulting executive. We were vying to come up with a name for a new surgical product and had been at it for about an hour. We wondered how the name might change when line extensions came into play down the road. And so of course the talk naturally turned to shaving.
“What we’re talking about here is not unlike how shaving companies name their products,” the consultant said.
Good point, we all agreed. Gillette introduced a three-blade razor back in 1998 named Mach 3. Then it added chemical strips and “microfins” and it was the Mach 3 Turbo. Then a battery was added and it became M3 Power — the namers shortened the “Mach 3” part. Same with Fusion, the company’s newer 5-blade razor: When Gillette added a battery, it became Fusion Power.
“You know why they went to multiple blades,” the president remarked. “It’s because it’s less costly to manufacture three so-so blades than one really sharp one.”
Then we all discussed blades versus electric shavers, until we concluded that the closest shave still comes from the ancient razor strop, a single extremely sharp blade that is perhaps best left to a barber’s skilled hands.
The point is that after that exchange, we were off and running with new ideas for names. And it struck me that something as mundane as shaving might offer insight to help solve a new problem, such as naming a surgical device that presents real innovation. What’s old is new, or, more precisely, what’s old gives clues to the new.
Clients often ask us to “think outside the box,” a phrase that itself is no longer outside the box. But new doesn’t always mean better, and there’s a lot to be learned from the many successful products we use in our own lives. Medical devices are often chosen over others if they are thought to improve the status quo, either in terms of efficacy, usage or efficiency — not unlike why a guy chooses one razor over another. It’s got to shave reproducibly close day after day, do no harm (no nicks), maybe get the job done faster (please, we beg you), stand up to usage and be ergonomically friendly, all at a fair price. The name offers a hint as to its performance or technology or both. Sound familiar?
So the next time you need to think outside the you-know-what, look deep into your medicine cabinet, your tool belt or your hall closet. Your house is full of things somebody convinced you to buy. And you’re pretty smart. Do you think they thought outside the box to get you to say yes? Chances are, they thought deep inside the box instead. For that, dear readers, is where the wild ideas often are.
Rob Kinslow, vice president of strategic communications at SeidlerBernstein, oversees the quality and accuracy of branding and message strategy for the company’s clients. He makes it a point to know everything about clients’ business, products and market, right down to the smallest detail. He’s worked with clients including Bayer, Boston Scientific, Genzyme and Millipore and has won awards from the Biomedical Marketing Assn., the Rx Club, the American Medical Writers Assn. and others.
