“Just do it.” “A diamond is forever.” “What’s in your wallet?” “Have it your way.”

While picking a business name is important, coming up with the perfect slogan is just as vital. New research from the University of Missouri, which analyzed 820 slogans, suggests that a memorable slogan is best for a new company, whereas a likable slogan is best for an established company.

That’s because the qualities that make a slogan easy to remember — such as longer sentences and including the brand name — tend to be less fun and catchy. It’s the difference between “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” and simply “Like a neighbor.”

As another example, in 1905 Coca-Cola used the slogan, “Coca-Cola revives and sustains.” Today, it’s “Real Magic,” which, while lacking the (now-famous) brand name or specific claims, conveys an emotion.

As your brand becomes more recognized, you can shorten and make the words in its slogan more abstract, according to the researchers. So crack open a can of Real Magic (or Diet Real Magic, or Real Magic Zero) and start brainstorming.

Today’s Edition...

Temu: What’s the deal with the site’s deals?

Infographic: Four-day workweek by the numbers.

Dyslexia: Podcast highlights neurodiversity.

What’s the Deal With Temu’s Deals?

(Source: Shutterstock)

If you got bombarded by Temu ads this year (and you probably have been), your first question was probably, “What is Temu?” Your second question was probably, “Why is this stuff so cheap?”

Temu is a digital marketplace that offers rock-bottom prices in every imaginable category — paired with a barrage of gamified discounts that barf out coupons like slot machines. It’s also the No. 1 free app on the Apple and Google app stores. Most products are factory-direct from China and lack a level of marketing copy and imagery that would appear, uh, “professional.”

Along with the app Shein, Temu is taking a bite out of Amazon’s market share, and Amazon doesn’t match its prices. Temu deliveries take much longer to arrive than Amazon Prime orders do, but when you’re selling electric frothers for $1.72 or knockoff Hoka sneakers for $7.99, the formula works.

Ironically, if that formula sounds familiar, it’s because you saw it on Amazon first.

On today’s Amazon, familiar name-brand products are lost in a whirlwind of copycats sold by China-based wholesaler brands with random capital letters such as NVEESHOK and COKUNST. (Amazon prefers trademarked brands, and these nonsense names are easy to trademark.) The dupes’ sales text often seems run through Google Translate without any further editing, and the prices undercut everyone else.

Still, U.S. consumers overwhelmingly trust Amazon (albeit less so than in the 2010s), which has a generous return policy. Since Temu popped off stateside late last year, it’s racked up hundreds of complaints at the Better Business Bureau, under which they’re not accredited. Cybersecurity experts have warned about potential data mining.

But Amazon set the rules of this new game, which Temu has rapidly mastered. If you race to the bottom, someone's going to beat you there.

The Four-Day Workweek by the Numbers

Your might not have a long weekend until Labor Day, but the movement calling for a four-day workweek is picking up steam with a major (and, by all accounts, successful) international trial. Based on these figures, it could be a pertinent HR issue by next Labor Day:

Dyslexic Design Thinking Podcast Rebrands Disability as ‘Hyperability’

What do the lightbulb, the Ford Model T, and the Macintosh computer have in common? They were all designed by dyslexic thinkers.

On the podcast Dyslexic Design Thinking, Gil Gershoni — founder of San Francisco creative agency Gershoni Creative — introduces contemporary dyslexic rocket scientists, actors, ad execs, and pro kickboxers. The pod celebrates nonlateral thinking and smashes negative stigmas about neurodivergence.

Almost every young dyslexic person hears the question, “What’s wrong with you?” But on Dyslexic Design Thinking, they’ll hear it’s “a hyperability that offers insight into the way we think, create, and relate to one another.”

It’s a similar vibe to Made By Dyslexia’s recent DyslexAI campaign. Created in partnership with Virgin Group — whose founder Richard Branson is dyslexic — the campaign concluded, “AI can aggregate, dyslexic thinkers innovate.” The nonprofit will offer a free LinkedIn Learning training to companies of all sizes in October.

🤿 DIVE DEEPER