Forget strategy, we’ll shift spadefuls of your product

I enjoyed Hugh Pearman’s Private View – A toast to mediocrity (DW 31 March), largely about his fogey tastes and somewhat about brand positioning. It’s very 21st century to call a spade a spade.

We call it ‘Ronseal marketing’ (It does what it says on the tin). And zeitgeezer Malcolm Gladwell is winning all the plaudits for his book Blink, which seems pretty much to be stating the bleeding obvious.

This directness might be OK for pointing to work you’ve done that’s out there, but it’s very difficult to proclaim a design company ethos as ‘Good Ordinary’, like a decent claret.

If you say Experienced, Effective, Creative, Strategic, or even No-Bullshit… it still feels like you’ve got some dodgy teen T-shirt on saying ‘Great Personality’ or ‘Fanny Magnet’ – it’s too self-conscious and a lot of fluff, plus not really in the gift of the giver to judge.

At Loewy this week, we’re cutting back on all the creativity, passion and strategy with a strapline: ‘We help you shift more product at decent margins’. I’ve also asked the designers to put a spade on our new brochure.

Likely as not, something completely ‘other’ will come back from the studio, but it was worth a try.

Charlie Hoult

Chief executive

Loewy

London SW1V