“Because we think harder.”

My daughter and her friend Fouzan dropped in for a short-lived fall break from college last weekend. Fouzan was raised overseas and therefore largely unfamiliar with American holiday traditions, so we decided to visit a pumpkin patch and introduce him to pumpkin carving.

A Side Trip

On the way back from the pumpkin farm my daughter suggested we drop by Brainstorm and give Fouzan a quick tour of our offices.

Fouzan was immediately taken by Brainstorm’s logo design - fascinated by the simple elements and concepts it symbolized: A power outlet, a thought or dialog bubble, a head, a user interface, a monitor or television, a brain, a spark, an idea… a brainstorm. He remarked about it several times, seeing the tie-in to what Brainstorm does as well as the potential brand and service talking points the mark might inspire.

“Because we think harder,” he mouthed, noting our tagline.

Seeing Symbolism in Tradition

Afterward we returned home and retired to my kitchen to butcher the pumpkins. Almost at once everyone became engrossed with their respective pumpkins - particularly Fouzan.

Fouzan’s pumpkin carving and the Brainstorm icon

A gEEk’s Carving

At last Fouzan unveiled his carving. He smiled broadly as he turned his pumpkin toward me. And there it was, an interpretive work - the Brainstorm icon. “Not bad for an electrical engineer,” I said. “There are double “EE’s” in gEEk for a reason - and that’s a gEEk carving,” I joked, impressed.

He had planned to take his creation back to college then offered it to me instead, encouraging me to place it outside prominently on Halloween night where it would get more brand exposure than the stoop at his college abode.

Engineer? I think Fouzan may have a nose for business and a natural brand agent sensibility.