What's in a name? Twitter, X, Liz Sarkissian, Iman

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

I know am not the first person to write about Twitter becoming X. A lot of people tangled themselves in pretzels to explain how X works/does not work as a brand, how X is a brand/not a brand, how X will become/will not become a super app, how X can/cannot be patented and the list continues.

The good news? X is here. The bad news, everyone keeps referring to X as "formerly Twitter". Well, if you are going to change your name, why bother keep calling you by your former name (I know the trans community is very sensitive about bringing up their "dead names") but this is Elon Musk we speak of, so any comparison to trans people is not really appreciated.

So what does this have to do with the actress Iman? Well, her original name is Liz Sarkissian - she highly intelligent, polyglot (8 languages), studied pharmacy and what have you - so when she wanted to launch her career in Egypt, she changed her stage name to Iman (which means faith). Until it turns out everyone kept calling her Liz Sarkissian. So the anecdote (and sorry I have no original reference to it) is that a friend of hers suggested she'd just put her name as "Iman, formerly Liz Sarkissian". Which obviously reminds me of X (formerly Twitter) in this case.

But truth be told, old names have a way of sticking around. When I used to go to work by bus, I used to pass "Damascus road" daily, specifically the stretch called "Becahra El Khoury" (it's near Sodeco if you want to know). At one point I just had to ask the driver as to why it was called so. Apparently there was a statue of our former president there, which got dismantled during the war, but eventually the name stuck. Another example? Cell phone carriers in Lebanon have changed names since at least 20 years. From Libancell to MTCTouch (then just touch), and from Cellis to Alfa. Yet, the major headquarters of the latter are still being referred to as "Cellis" despite the name change. Well, no one even bothers with "Alfa formerly known as Cellis", just Cellis would do.

So my question is - if X is going to hold as name, not sure why everyone keeps calling it by its other name.  

BeitMoune - am ambivalent about their selling line.

Sometimes you give extra grades for the effort. Even if you are not in love with the result.

Case in point BeitMoune.

Moune in case you do not know are homemade products you stock up for the winter time, and Beit means house. So this is a brand of homemade items - such brands are quite rampant in Lebanon and procure a wide variety of products. 

Which brings us to its selling line - bitmoune madame.

Bitmoune is Arabic for "your only have to wish" and of course it is very close in language to "BeitMoune"... Hence the appreciation to the effort. But also the "hmmmm, I am not really convinced". I really know that if this came my way during such an excercise at university I'd be like "keep it as an option but come out with something better" because sometimes what works on instinct might not be the best option there is in the market.

I feel they settled too early. Yes, there was effort injected in all the branding - but not enough for me to be wowed.

Kylie Jenner, her son, and branding

Aire Scott - Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

"Nike" -well, when the brand really started getting momentum in the market in Lebanon in the 80s people would always eyeroll. In case you don't know it, nike is slang for "screw" - you know, the sexual act not the tool (sorry, no pun). Siri means penis in Georgian and Lumia is slang for prostitute in Spanish and the list goes on. 

Which brings us to Kylie Jenner and her son (from rapper Travis Scott), when the baby arrived it was called "Wolf" - except that the parents decided it was not a fitting name for the boy. After a long debacle the parents decided the boy's name - and it was revealed with his face only very lately - is "Aire". The issue? 

If Nike was not enough, Nike Air was a literal double whammy. "Nike" - I already explained what it was, "Air" well this is what you do the nike with... So the poor boy - and I mean the Jenner/Scott offspring - has a very strange name in Arabic. Not to pick on the boy or harass him or what not but seriously....

My heart goes to all the Arabic news anchors who had to talk about former prime minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault. Because in slang his family name literally means "his tool".

All this reminds me of French author Marcel Pagnol - in his lovely "la gloire de mon pere" (my father's glory) - he tells the story of how his aunt Rose forced her husband to be called "Jules" rather than his original name "Thomas" because she heard that in the countryside people called Thomas their chamber pot, not knowing that Jules is an even more widely adopted euphemism for the same object.

So if Wolf did not work, and Aire did not, I wonder what the boy's third iteration will be.

Self-branding: Noblesse Difficile as an example

The poster above appeared in 2008 for a woman posting her candidacy for the Beirut municipality as an independent. Her name is "Nabila Mohammad Saab" Fathallah (Fathallah being her married name). Her main slogan (in French mind you) was "noblesse difficile" - how come? Well "nabila" is "noble" and "saab" is "difficult" as a direct translation. Put 2 and 2 together or name/surname together and what do you get? "difficult nobility" or "noblesse difficile". Underneath there were plenty of hearts printed on pink papers.

"Faith in God and the country (heart) education and culture (heart) Love and affection 

A  complete building = man + woman"

The image above is obviously a composite from my archive. Actually I was so fascinated by this poster I tore it out and kept it. I always think of it as an intriguing relic. Both avant-garde and retro. Remember, in 2008 most politicians had transitioned to digital campaigning and images printed with large budgets and those who did not have budgets at least managed to get them designers (sometimes in the printing presses) to do layouts for their campaigns and all.

But Mrs Saab (Fathallah) put her passport photo all with shiny 80s earrings and a floral dress (florals for elections? groundbreaking!) and obviously her own copy because I doubt anyone could have come up with something so kitsch (and anyone who knows me knows I love kitsch) which is so totally her but also so totally out of this world.

If I am writing this today it is because the issue of self-branding is so fascinating for me. Just look at linkedin, the major outlet for self-promotion. I have a hobby, every so often I go there, look at the profiles the system is suggesting for me and see how they "brand" themselves. What titles do they give themselves - rational, totally out there, ego-based? Possibilities are endless.

Of course, most of the time I am not exactly impressed. I myself say I am a "think tank and multimedia artist" which honestly, means anything and everything and tries to blend the wacky artistic experiments I do with the fact that I do research most of the day (not always being paid to do it - this blog is a major example).

Still, sometime in 2016 I went on a major "digital restructuring" operation. I was spread too thin in sub-brands (my publishing arm had a name, the blog had a different name, my films had a further different nom de plume (or nom de director) and so on...). I simply tried to shed all these entities to agglomerate them  under the umbrella of - what else? - "Tarek Chemaly".

I know it seems obvious, but trust me for a long time it was not. Call it convoluted circumstances. But still, now that it is done, it makes - ahem - sense. Now before anyone starts assuming things - no, the "Tarek Chemaly" is not, Tarek Chemaly. And before anyone starts thinking I am talking philosophy - you know the eternal French conundrum of "l'etre et le paraitre" (the difference between what is, and what is seen) - I mean the "brand" is not the man behind it.

I let you see what I want you to see, and - again believe it or not - people think that what I am allowing them to see is what is actually behind the image. Of course, we all do that as humans. Project and imago which is not the person. But to many, image and person are one and the same with little distinction. In my case, it is a little bit more complicated. 

But this does not mean I am "lying" or "misleading". I simply divide myself upon my audiences. Very few people get to see certain aspects of me. Lately however, a student of mine who came back from France told me "you scared me the first day I saw you. When all of us were trying to hide behind masks, there you were, parading yourself unafraid of who you were". Does this mean I told her my utmost secrets and showed her sides of me only very close people know? No. But it also means I was not trying to be someone I was not or projecting the image of someone who is not "me" (or the "me" I wanted to project to students).

Well, there are numerous books, treatises and articles written on self-branding. This one does not pretend to solve the riddle. But to me "noblesse difficile" will always remain that fascinating exhibit. A testimony of someone who knew who they were and what they wanted to portray and how to portray that. And in itself, this is self-branding.

Malone Souliers, Mentos - can you diversify a brand named after one product?

Mentos! Yes, that Mentos!

Named after its minty breath-refreshing ingredient. Then came... Mentos Strawberry. 

Today I read that upscale shoe brand Malone Souliers just offered bags for its first time. Souliers in case you do not know literally means "shoes" in French. 

Is it just me or some brands ought to have thought about their naming when a potential for a new product could actually negate their original raison d'etre?

Brand naming is one of my specialties, and yes, many clients still do not understand why they should shell the big bucks just to have a "name". Because, duh, your name defines you. It will make people cherish you and come to you and pick you. But when your name is very very related to one product you make, no matter how known you are for it, it becomes very difficult to go out from under its shadow.

Think of this other luxury shoes maker - Golden Goose. Thankfully, they can now offer clothing and other accessories without having an issue about their name. But Malone.... Souliers?

Malone Sacs in this instance.

Well, whereas I am against rebranding, maybe the time has come for Malone Souliers to become Malone. 

Car companies new logos: rebranding away from 3D

Well, when everyone does it, it is no longer a novelty. But it seems everyone is doing it out of necessity. After the bigtime fad of the 3D quasi-airbrushed logos for car brands, in the last few months, no less than 10 different brands have announced new logos (Volvo, Nissan, BMW, Mini, Dacia, Renault, Kia, Peugeot, VolksWagen, and Fiat have all went this route).

Actually, I also read somewhere that Audi has filed papers for a new logo very much in line with the ones presented in the image above. What is interesting is that in all cases, suddenly a new 2D logo has appeared. Truth be told, there are many elements of similarity with these brands' old logos from the 60s/70s. However, nostalgia is certainly not the driving element to be sure. Rather, it is the new social media. 

Let me give you this design secret, long time ago (that would be till 2010 or so), to make sure a logo worked, we used to put it on the smallest surface on which it will be printed - namely the business card, if the logo was still visible then it was acceptable. Today, the smallest surface on which the logo will be displayed is no longer the business card but your Instagram handle. And the less complicated the logo, the more streamlined, simple, 2-Dimentional, the more you have the possibility of being immediately seen by your audience as everyone is competing for eyeballs. 

However, in defense of the car brands, each one tried to keep its own identity separate as opposed to clothing brands who went almost anonymous with their new logos (for some odd reason major luxury houses have decided to go the let-us-all-look-the-same route). If you do not believe me look at the image below.

Claim your narrative, I claimed mine.

Recently, I saw the poster of an exhibition which dates back to 2015 which was hosted by a certain institution. The concept of the exhibition, the scenography, the artworks, the elements on the poster the whole she bang was mine. On the said poster, my name was nowhere to be found. Nowhere. 

Interestingly, I was thankfully in charge of the communication as I always am in my exhibitions. So the press material and the elements that were distributed digitally all had my name on them. 

This is but one detail of the many things that happened where my name as - intentionally or not - omitted. Still, I claim these events as ethically mine. Actually, a few years back I went into a "digital regrouping mode". There were too many sub-brands to my name, even the name of my previous blog was something that did not mention me (Beirut/NTSC). My publishing arm arm was called 7UPstrairs though it was a one-man-army. My writings were generously offered to other publications which, again, did not give me credit several times - or worse, hired me only to give me a salary reduction one week later (guess, who slammed the door behind him?). Actually even my LinkedIn profile was slightly altered so that it would not be telling the whole truth, without telling a lie. As a matter of fact, even tarekchemaly.com was a masking tape for another sub-brand which did not take off.

Long story short, the digital regrouping worked, even if it meant sacrificing brands, side-projects and withholding my name from several other publications (these days, very rarely do I accept my work to be published elsewhere but here). I understand that for many - my name is fragmented: people who follow the blog might not be aware of my art, or my research, or know that I taught at master's level for fifteen years, or the other hats I wear. But that was a deliberate strategy on my part, and I wanted it to survive the afore-mentioned "digital regrouping".

Still, the exercise was worth it. I tightened the screws of the name, the "Tarek Chemaly" brand, controlled the ramifications of the projection to any of the works that has my name stamped on it. And despite setbacks because I am in Lebanon, which the quasi-totality of the Lebanese have suffered, my price list remained unchanged. I know that others are trying to adapt to the post-crash market and totally understand them, but to me - my clients which are stationed abroad were offered the same pricing as before the crisis started in Lebanon which brought the desperate need for "fresh money".

Lately, I was talking to someone and I told him I left my teaching position because it made more financial sense to remain at home, and his reply was "you can afford it". Well, here's the deal - if I can afford it or not, including my financial machinations are all part of a image am projecting to people. What happens behind the facade is purely mine, because the narrative I claimed does not include this part. 

Claiming your narrative allows you to control how you are seen. And to quote rapper Saweetie: "However, if you don't have a voice and if you don't speak up and create your own narrative, someone else will".

Burger King goes back to the future with "new" logo

Burger King just went back to the future with its logo, which is actually a small change on the logo it used between 1994 and 1999 (which the brand update on the one it was famous for between 1969-1994). Actually, there is an element of why-bother-come-up-with-something-new-when-we-have-this-jewel-in-store. With everything going retro these days, it is no wonder Burger King went back to a safe territory - "woke" millennials will be happy, older customers will see something they recognize too, and design aficionados will relish the new (is it new?) identity. I always wondered why Burger King went astray with its logo it used between 1999 and 2020. But hey, with that small enhancement on the older element (yes, it is the name inside two buns!) all I can say is "groovy, baby!"...

Gmail has a new lovely logo.

Gmail has anew logo. And am really in love. Remember when Instagram had a new logo? Everyone basically hated it, and well, what is the point of arguing with a behemoth like Facebook (parent company to Instagram) so I thought "we will end up getting used to it". And just like Youtube changing its logo, thus on too works beautifully well... The colors, the way they interlock, and yes, the "idea" of envelope (though less visible than before). And looks also lovely on the app too!... Apparently plenty if people are whining about it. Personally I think it is lovely and on point.

Le pré - sips of nature

Well, this is a surprise: As far as I know, Le Pré is a new brand in the Lebanese market and I stand corrected if it is not so. But launching a natural juice at this time is nothing but gutsy (do not know if it is natural juice but certainly the packaging and branding both imply upper bracket juice - hence "natural"). With a signature like "sips of nature" as well, this certainly implies a "fancy" brand. Well, whereas limited, the ads show immediately as the absence of other ads in town makes any ad prominent these days! Here's my two cents: With a name like Le Pré, they missed the opportunity to use the classic French expression "le bonheur est dans le pré" - I know what you will say, "this will make it uppity French", but ahem, what language is Le Pré to begin with?

UAE rebrands

So the Emirates drops the eage and goes towards an abstract design which according to the National newspaper, is somewhere between wave and and dune in terms of movement and shape - and is also an abstract map of the country. The new logo is accompanied by a selling line "Make it happen" which reflects the journey of the nation. As the new logo helps propell the Emirates into the future, apparently 10 million trees will be planted (one for every vote) in West Papua, Indonesia, a centre for marine biodiversity, and at the Amaltaari planting site in Nawalparasi, Nepal to support the endangered species, such as the Bengal tiger, that live there. Now, CSR aside, the logo must live and prosper according to its own merit.