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Naming, Brand Identity, Self Promotion An unlikely collaboration between a Fortune 500 company and a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet makes a terrific holiday greeting.
"In 1955, the marketing department of the Ford Motor Company tried unsuccessfully for months to name their newest car. In desperation, they turned to an unusual source: the celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Marianne Moore. What Moore lacked in corporate nomenclature experience, she made up for in enthusiasm and imagination: she submitted over two dozen names for consideration, each one more delightful—and unlikely—than the last. In the end, the poet’s suggestions were rejected and the company’s chairman himself named the vehicle. Thus was born the notorious car known as the Edsel. "Pentagram’s 2022 holiday greeting celebrate(d) this unlikely encounter between art and commerce by reprinting in full the rarely seen correspondence between Moore and the Ford Marketing Research Department. The illustrator Seymour Chwast was commissioned to bring Moore’s names to life, imagining what automobiles named 'The Intelligent Whale,' 'The Dearborn Diamante' and 'The Utopian Turtletop' might actually look like." - Pentagram website |