David, You are raising a question that I’ve been grappling with since I arrived in San Francisco 12 years ago, when I was “boxed” as a technology/interactive writer. I have long struggled to break out of this rigid definition of who I am and what I can do. Thereafter, I’ve seen this “specialization” in every walk - be it wrist specialists who don’t know a thing about the elbow, or electricians who specialize only in a certain type of light fixture and can’t do the other. Today, I’m delighted to be at Wunderman’s creative department, where the philosophy is no longer working into a medium or a category, but into a concept. I respectfully disagree with Mencken’s perspective. Look at Greg Norman – he’s great at golf; he’s great at wine. Thank you for the thought-provoking week-starter. Rohini

Greg also makes OK sportswear...or at least gives his name to it -- but still hsi golfing is what drives it all. Having said that you raise a great point -- CONCEPTS -- the beauty of them...media agnostic; integrated from birth; bigger than life -- amazing how often we forget that

Most of you are aware of these, but when it comes to localisation and understanding of different cultures these are outstanding, I still can't understand why "Bite the Wax Tadpole" never caught on for Coke. Here's a look at how some slogans translate into foreign languages: When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, "Fly in leather," it came out in Spanish as "Fly naked." Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer from diarrhea." Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," sounds much more interesting in Spanish: "It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate." When Vicks first introduce its cough drops on the german market, they were chagrined to learn that the german pronunciation of "v" is f - which in german is the gutteral equivalent of "sexual penetration." Not to be outdone, Puffs tissues tried later to introduce its product, only to learn that "Puff" in german is a colloquial term for a whorehouse. The English weren't too fond of the name either, as it's a highly derogatory term for a non-heterosexual. The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. "No va" means "it doesn't go" in Spanish. When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave." When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the characters used meant "Bite the wax tadpole." They later changed to a set of characters that mean "Happiness in the mouth." A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that mist is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the manure stick. When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as here in the USA - with the cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside since most people can't read.

But just think of what Frank Perdue could have done with that slogan....