Background:

Because of the recent death of Elizabeth Arden, her empire and products have been in the news. Not only did she build a skin care empire, she built some very powerful brands. And she also acquired the complete stable of Estee Lauder, with products such as Clinique, Origins, Aramis - as well as the famous Estee Lauder brand itself.

Clinique in particular fascinates us, because the root word of the name is negative to a certain degree! Can you imagine suggesting to your boss that you use the word clinic as a root for your products - unless you are in the medical or healthcare fields specifically?

We all love the fact that there are clinics out there when we need them, but unless we make our living working in one, most of us would rather not go near them.

But oh the power of the French language. So beautiful when you want to add a touch of class or fashion. Clinic combined with another English word unique, that has French origins, gives you a very French ooh la la sound to it, and, voilá, we have a lovely new name for a product. Not quite as easy to do nowadays, as so few people in the US study French, but fairly simple for your naming agency linguists to suggest. So you might want to have them explore these avenues for your next classy product.

As for the logo and total brand image, how could we fault such a perfect execution (even though we seem to recall we personally preferred the old logo when it included a French accent)?

For a total on-line brand presentation that is so elegant and clean, many another company (especially our Silicon Valley friends) could learn a lot from visiting www.clinique.com.