A lady, sitting next to Raymond Loewy at dinner, struck up a conversation.
“Why,” she asked “did you put two Xs in Exxon?”
“Why ask?” he asked.
“Because,” she said, “I couldn’t help noticing?”
“Well’, he responded, “that’s the answer.”
–Source: Alan Fletcher, the author of “The Art of Looking Sideways”
Raymond Loewy, the iconic father of industrial design and the world’s leading expert in creating visuals, probably helped to sell the most products in history.
He was born in France and remained proud of his country, but became an American citizen where his design accomplishments were enormous. Mr. Loewy lived from November 5, 1893 to July 14, 1986.
“From toothbrushes to automobiles, Raymond Loewy’s streamlined designs of thousands of consumer goods and their packaging radically changed the look of American life.” — The New York Times
A mere sample of his global impact
- Air Force One’s sleek look for President John F. Kennedy
- Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives
- Boeing’s 307 interior
- Coca-Cola bottle’s sleek look
- John F. Kennedy postage stamp
- Sears Coldspot refrigerator
- Schick electric razors
- Studebaker models (including my favorite as a teen, the Avanti)
- U.S. Postal Service’s eagle logo
An interview with Mr. Loewy
Not only did he create memorable designs, he was not shy. As a young news director at a Palm Springs all-news radio station in 1976, I once answered a telephone call, which was to become a career highlight.
“Hi, this is Raymond Loewy. I’m a listener. I really like your station. I’m taking a little time off from work and thought you might be interested in interviewing me.”
Mr. Loewy telephoned me after he had finished designing the Air France Concorde interior, and the interior of NASA’s Skylab space station. Wow! That was heady stuff.
“The most beautiful curve is a rising sales graph,” he told me. “Between two products equal in price, function and quality, the one with the most attractive exterior will win.”
He was proud of his work, and was not ashamed to promote it. That was one of my first lessons about public relations. He knew how to make people notice his highly visible creations — he was a walking press release. His enthusiasm was contagious.
As a former broadcast journalist and now as a writer and business-performance consultant, I have a long history with press releases. If they’re put together well, they’re a source of power to create visibility.
The moral: You have to visually define your identity to get noticed.
Press releases – multimedia
Now comes a timeless validation on how to increase the power of press releases. You can greatly enhance your press-release visibility – by as much as 9.7 times – if you use the right multimedia content according to a 2012 study by PR Newswire.
PR Newswire analyzed thousands of press releases that the company published from 2011 to 2012. It wanted to evaluate the impact of photos, videos and other downloadable content. The company released the data – as you might expect – in a press release.
The data shows that simply adding a photo to a text-only press release increases visibility by 1.8 times, while adding a video to a text-only release delivers 4.3 times the number of views.
Including both photo and video content further enhances a story, driving visibility by 7.4 times more than plain text releases.
Power of videos
Although the number of such stories was fewer than those with just photos and videos, they received even more visibility and interaction — they represented the potential for releases with photos, videos and downloadable files to drive up to 9.7 times more visibility over text-only releases.
“Photos, videos, infographics and other types of multimedia assets present information in a more compelling and attractive way so it’s no surprise that they boost content visibility so significantly,” says Rod Nicolson, vice president, global reporting, PR Newswire.
Certainly, Mr. Loewy would agree.
The moral: You have to visually define your identity to get noticed.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are related tips:
How You Can Leverage the News Media to Brand your Business — Social media is OK for promotion. But if you need blockbuster publicity, use the best practice in marketing — public relations with great press releases.
How to Newsjack for Publicity of Your Content Marketing — Newsjacking – the art and science of obtaining mountains of free media coverage and social-media spin by getting your content injected into late-breaking news stories.
For a Bounce in Revenue, Try Strategic Press Releases — Ever wonder why some companies are always in the news or how they succeed on the Internet? It’s a good bet they have a good PR consultant or have mastered the art of writing press releases. You, too, can level the playing field with effective press releases.
5 Vital Elements to Successfully Pinpoint Your PR Targets — Even in this advanced age of the digital economy, a sound public relations program remains one of your most-powerful marketing investments. PR can give you power with an implied endorsement from the media. Even if journalists aren’t motivated to give you publicity, a strong PR campaign will help you to circumvent them.
Marketing Strategy That Best Defends Your Company Against Competition — What do I mean by the phrase, “A marketing strategy that best defends your company”? Protecting your assets with the right marketing strategy results in the shielding and enhancing of your brand, as well as protecting your customer base.
“Ugliness does not sell.”
-Raymond Loewy
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