Drew – Props for suggesting corporate branding. My personal favourite is the UK Post Office renaming itself ‘Consignia’ in 2000. Not only did the public hate it, the organisation’s own employees boycotted the name. In 2002 the powers that be regained their senses and renamed the organisation ‘Royal Mail Holdings’.

Mary Anne – I like Richard Bandler’s take on subjectivity. He said ‘it’s the one thing in life you can’t be wrong about. If that’s the way it seems, that’s the way it seems’.

Eric – Excellent example! Anthony Trollope did a similar experiment in reverse: at the height of his fame he published some stories under an assumed name, and watched them attract little or none of the attention that usually greeted his new works. He concluded that ‘very much consideration is due to better feelings of disappointed authors’.

I agree that the “expert opinion” is not always as objective as they like to think. That is why something can gain critical fame and loose out on the masses and vice versa.

Regarding subjectivity–whether in a creative or “uncreative” (?) field–whenever people are doing the judging, there’s no escaping it.

This post also caused me to contemplate the reference to ‘creative field(s).’ I understand your contextual use of the term here.

But I found myself asking, “Is there any field of work that doesn’t involve creativity?”

The answer brought me right back to the human element. Creativity is a factor in every field because people are involved… even in the most sterile, seemingly unimaginative areas of work.

Thanks for another provocative, awareness-boosting experience.

An appraisal is an expert’s opinion of what a collectible is “worth”. But collectors pay based on appraisals, so the whole system is based on consensus of opinion. Any appraiser who consistently provides estimates out of line with recognized experts is deemed to not be a true expert. Credentials are the degree to which an individual is able to reflect the existing consensus.

For corporate branding, look at Tropicana’s recent “historic integrated-marketing and advertising campaign … designed to reinforce the brand and product attributes, rejuvenate the category and help consumers rediscover the health benefits they get from drinking America’s iconic orange-juice brand.” http://adage.com/article?article_id=135735

It turns out they were completely wrong, and sales plummeted 20% in the month after the new design was introduced.

For a glorious collection of rebranding mumbo-jumbo, google for “whalesong site:theregister.co.uk”. You’ll find such gems as, “The implied Swiss cross in the logo, the warmth of the red shade and the axis as the central starting point create a sense of closeness, combining and uniting our customers’ different experiences. The dynamism of the logo shows that life is a moving force and full of surprises. Swisscom gets things moving, has its fingers on the pulse and is part of everyday life.”

Excellent story, though, and a very salient point about the importance of critical judgment — and being very skeptical about geniuses (poetic or financial) that appear out of nowhere.