myAsylum: Branding 101
Technorati tags: Humor, Marketing, Branding, myAsylum
Recently, the myAsylum marketing supreme council called Walski to an urgent meeting. The council raised a long-standing concern about how myAsylum was being linked to in the bloggerhood...
myAsylum's marketing supreme council...
The correct, correct, correct - and only - way to properly write the name of this blog is (either in italics or plain - color not an issue):
myAsylum
Now, you might think that Walski is being picky, but we're talking about branding here, folks. And the marketing supreme council for this blog has been very concerned about how bloggers have been totally mis-writing the name of this blog.
If you're the forgetful type, just remember this: small 'm', big 'A'... and you should be able to get it right every single time...
But before Walski continues with this lesson in branding, allow him to clarify that he is indeed very thankful to anyone and everyone who's been kind enough to link here...
(the story behind the name, and more, in the full post)
Walski reckons that after two years plus, you readers deserve to be privy to what the brand name myAsylum really means.....
First of all, the definition of the word "Asylum", courtesy of Websters Online Dictionary:
asylum - n.
- A shelter from danger or hardship
- A hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
Now there are those people who think Walski's a little whacked out, and probably assume that the second meaning applies. WRONG! The intended meaning, in context of what this blog is about, is the first meaning... more specifically, a refuge from the madness of life around us. And, of course, a place for Walski to blow off a little steam every now and again.
The prefix to the name, "my", has nothing whatsoever to do with possession. Otherwise, this blog would've been called Walski's Asylum. Nope - the "my" is actually the very commonly used abbreviation for Malaysia.
Putting it all together, myAsylum denotes a refuge from the madness and infuriation of life here in our beloved homeland, Malaysia. And if the capitalization isn't where it is, it just wouldn't convey the same meaning. Plus it gives the brand name a certain symmetry...
Walski's never revealed this in any of his posts before. So, now you know. And it tickles Walski to see the various ways that the name myAsylum gets mangled when you folks link to here... heh heh... No, of course Walski's not angry... those that know him personally know just how un-petty he is. But this is a branding issue. And how has myAsylum been mangled elsewhere in the bloggerhood?
Most common mis-usage: My Asylum, MyAsylum, my asylum, Walski's Asylum, etc. Again, it's nothing to do with an asylum that Walski owns...
Most hilarious mis-usage: My Assylum or MyAssylum or similar... Yeah, yo' Ass... Actually, there probably are other blogs with the name 'My Assylum'... just not this one.
Some of you have chosen to link here using Walski or Walski69 as a label... Since this probably reflects your preference to identify the blogger, and not so much the blog, that's A-OK by the marketing supreme council... and Walski.
You must be thinking... "what's the big deal?" It so happens that branding is an important aspect of product marketing, which relies on unique product recognition elements. This post, in fact, has been a long time coming... just that it wasn't really a big priority. Incidentally, in real life, Walski is involved with product marketing, among other things. So you now know where this is coming from...
Walski reckons, though, that it's the thought that counts more importantly, at the end of the day. So, whether or not you decide to change the link label is entirely up to you. It's not like Walski's gonna sue, or anything drasitc like that. And so, to all you linkers (and future linkers), once again Walski sez THANK YOU!
