Free Association

The work I'm doing at the moment is very much brand-focused. It shapes the way I think about things. I watch commercials a little differently. I notice messaging where maybe I wouldn't. But it isn't a keen eye that caused me to take pause when I saw an ad for Universal Technical Institute, or "U.T.I." It's a trade school, and I'm sure they're mostly marketing to men, but isn't there someone who wants to do something engineering-related who knows what a urinary tract infection is and maybe doesn't want to go to school in one? It reminds me of those appetite suppressant chocolate chews they had back in the '70s with the unfortunate brand name "Ayds." They didn't last long. Their brand message was eclipsed by a much more popular disease with a homophonic name. You have to be careful what you call yourself. Sometimes it actually makes a difference.