Some of the participants came from abroad (Malta and Germany) to have the opportunity to learn from Alessandra herself, who prepared this workshop especially for ART. Alessandra started the day by telling us to be brave and share our thoughts as this was the best way to learn. As she promised that what happened at the workshop stayed at the workshop I will not share the individual contributions but just the material covered.
First Alessandra cleared up misconceptions on what a successful slogan is and shared the findings of research carried out in 2014 by Dass et al. Next came rhymes, figurative language, rhetoric (text and/or figures) and symmetry, climax, variation and allegory (symbolism).
Rhetoric devices include accismus, alliteration, antonomasia, idiom variations, anaphora, chiasmus, diaphora, epanalepsis, similia, metaphors, metonymy, synecdoche and rhetorical questions.
These terms were new to most of us even though we do understand how these work. It is good to know the terms when having to discuss the reasoning behind your choices with the customer. Next, we all brainstormed on a slogan, either on our own or in pairs or small groups. We also discussed options which were or were not viable in specific target languages.
Some of the options were just funny but not viable, but in a friendly atmosphere, by discussing options you realise that we sometimes think along the same track and sometimes we most certainly do not. The six-hour workshop was over before we knew it, which is a good sign.
Written by: ART