We lean on how something feels when making a fast judgment.
More quotesCheddar and body odour were the same smell. The label did the disgusting bit.
That is an almost perfect miniature of branding. The brain does not patiently experience a product and wait for the marketing department to add a caption. It uses the caption to decide what sort of experience is arriving. The nose, it turns out, is a terrible little gossip.
A menu calls carrots “heritage, fire-roasted roots” and they acquire a childhood, a farm and possibly a beard. The same software feature feels different when called an “assistant” rather than a “workflow engine”. Recycled material labelled as waste can feel cheap; called reclaimed, it suddenly owns a tasteful lamp and reads architecture magazines.
Of course, some berk will read this and rename an ordinary biscuit “The Curator’s Reserve”. That only works until a mouth gets involved. A label that promises craft, freshness or intelligence will eventually meet the thing itself; if the product cannot support the frame, the clever name merely schedules a more articulate disappointment.
But I think “the product should speak for itself” is still lazy nonsense. Products do not arrive naked. They arrive with names, categories, prices, packaging and somebody else’s comparison already attached. Those signals tell people what to notice.
Naming is product design. The words get there before the first bite, click or sniff—and they have already rearranged the furniture.