Salt Branding Internship
Writing Intern, Salt Branding / 2015
~ copywriting, product naming, marketing
~ copywriting, product naming, marketing
I worked with Salt's Creative team in San Francisco on various writing assignments. This work included accomplishing product naming assignments, producing branded website content, and contributing to video marketing ideas.
︎ View Salt’s website
︎ View Salt’s website
Responsibilities:
Naming
Naming is tricky. Did you know a brand's name has been thought over, and contemplated for over 1000 times. A brand's name is everything, and means more than you think.
Every company needs a name, and at Salt Branding they are known for naming top brands and products such as: Jawbone, Microsoft Surface, X-box One, and more.
The various naming projects I contributed to were for a wide range of industries such as: air conditioning, healthcare, virtual reality, and office spaces. I was lucky enough to work for clients such as Blueshield of California, LindenLab, Aspen Air, and Red Wing to help in the process of naming new sectors, products, and company names. I even wrote a blog article for Salt about my experience with naming. Fun fact: I was the winner of a naming contest for one of Salt's conference rooms.
My role was to help produce as many names and variations of names as I could for the client. The strategy team would provide me with the brand positioning, and this would lead to a more specific direction to head into for naming. For each client, there would be about 3 rounds of naming, and I would produce up to 500 names per round.
Every company needs a name, and at Salt Branding they are known for naming top brands and products such as: Jawbone, Microsoft Surface, X-box One, and more.
The various naming projects I contributed to were for a wide range of industries such as: air conditioning, healthcare, virtual reality, and office spaces. I was lucky enough to work for clients such as Blueshield of California, LindenLab, Aspen Air, and Red Wing to help in the process of naming new sectors, products, and company names. I even wrote a blog article for Salt about my experience with naming. Fun fact: I was the winner of a naming contest for one of Salt's conference rooms.
My role was to help produce as many names and variations of names as I could for the client. The strategy team would provide me with the brand positioning, and this would lead to a more specific direction to head into for naming. For each client, there would be about 3 rounds of naming, and I would produce up to 500 names per round.
Brand messaging
I was given the brand positioning and voice and asked to portray the brand's messaging in that voice, in a selection of different ways.
Usually this started with the company description for themselves. For example, if the company was said to be 'honest, reliable, and tough', I would create messaging for that company that would directly fit their brand positioning and the voice that was given to me by the strategy team. I was also provided personas in which I would create messaging/narratives for each that fit the brand voice. These were all done through multiple iterations.
Usually this started with the company description for themselves. For example, if the company was said to be 'honest, reliable, and tough', I would create messaging for that company that would directly fit their brand positioning and the voice that was given to me by the strategy team. I was also provided personas in which I would create messaging/narratives for each that fit the brand voice. These were all done through multiple iterations.
Web content
Salt completed a variety of brand overhauls, which included the brands' websites. Working with senior writers, I helped write website content; such as headers and body content, for clients.
Not only would I work on forward facing content (homepages, about pages, etc.) for clients, but I would also create work for the nitty gritty details such as the FAQs and even a video script for one of our clients.
Not only would I work on forward facing content (homepages, about pages, etc.) for clients, but I would also create work for the nitty gritty details such as the FAQs and even a video script for one of our clients.
Featured project:
ClearXChange
One of the main projects I worked on at Salt, had me playing a huge role in writing the web content for the new ClearXchange brand. I worked on every single page of the website, wherever there was written content to be said.
Since I was writing for a company that had people's security and money safety in mind, I had to keep the voice professional. However, the client did want some colloquial writing, as the audience for the product are tech-savvy individuals. At the beginning of the project I was given the strategy for the brand voice and types of messaging ClearXchange wanted and converted that voice into the content seen throughout the site.
︎ View clearxchange’s website
Since I was writing for a company that had people's security and money safety in mind, I had to keep the voice professional. However, the client did want some colloquial writing, as the audience for the product are tech-savvy individuals. At the beginning of the project I was given the strategy for the brand voice and types of messaging ClearXchange wanted and converted that voice into the content seen throughout the site.
︎ View clearxchange’s website
Reflection
Overall my experience with Salt Branding was a very positive one. I grasped the importance of communicating on behalf
of a brand, and even more so the importance of iteration. I grew more confident in my writing skills and learnt to clearly pitch my work and educate others on my rationale.