Page 99 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

43 SHORT OR TALL?

Product naming isn’t the only area of marketing where simple
word choice can influence sales, but it’s a powerful one. A client of
mine once showed me an ad for a car whose name, translated into
Spanish, was a slang term meaning “wanker.”

We all hope to avoid committing that kind of cock-up, but even
seemingly OK choices can put people off and depress sales, even
when the product itself is fine. In our favorite deli and coffee shop—
Bird and Carter—the lattes and cappuccinos come in two sizes:
“short” and “tall.” Nothing unusual there. To my simple male mind
though, it seemed easier to ask for a “large” latte.

The idea

From Bird and Carter, a deli
Co-owner Joff Bird explained to me that his female customers
feel happier asking for a “tall” drink rather than a “large” one.
Subconsciously, they associate their buying decision with its effects
on their figure. So, give your calorie-rich treat a nice, innocuous-
sounding name and you sell more. (Except, I suppose, to women
over 5´10´´.)

It’s undeniable that synonyms rarely carry exactly the same shade of
meaning. I was coaching some copywriters at a large British charity
and the word in question was “expensive.” My group were weighing
up the alternative, “costly.” I pointed out that people are often keen
to possess expensive things: houses, cars, clothes, jewellery. Yet
offer them something costly and they’re likely to balk.

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