Happy New Year, everybody! Ah … after a couple of months away, I find this change refreshing and I’m inspired by it. Why?

Never underestimate the power of New. The most important words in a TV promo, for instance, are no longer time/date/station. They are New Episode. If you’re a fan, that’s what you want to know; if not, you can be with the help of some never-before-seen content. After all, you can watch a television series from all sorts of devices whenever you want to these days. Right?

I’m working on a new project –the reinvention of a brand familiar to the children’s product market. Adding the word new is an elegant, inexpensive way to get the point across instantly that you’re doing something of-the-moment; that a reader/user/fan is looking at something fresh.

Some may argue that new is an over-used concept. Really? New can have an incredibly long shelf life … as long as you’re delivering on the claim.

New is certainly not innovative. But it does deliver a topical call to action to customers that works.