The Blog
In 2016, I got a call from Josh Weltman. Josh is a long-time friend from back in my LA days. He’s also a creative director, co-producer of Mad Men and author of “Seducing Strangers.” Josh had gotten a call from the Chairman’s office of Sokon Industries Group, which is headquartered in Chongqing, China. The Chairman and his team wanted to talk to Josh about launching a electric vehicle into the U.S.
“You want to join me for the meeting in LA?”, Josh asked, and then with a laugh, “if it’s for real, it’s probably at least a two-person job.”
The meeting took place in Century City and the Chairman and his team were particularly interested in our thoughts on building a brand, establishing a U.S. headquarters in Silicon Valley, and the insights we had regarding the U.S. consumer and the market.
It was the founding client for our brand consultancy; Walker|Weltman. Almost three years later, our recommendation for the global brand name finally became public. There were multiple reasons for the recommendation of Seres (pronounced like it looks, the same as ‘series,’) as the brand name, but my favorite part of the back story for the name involved the history of the silk road. Seres was the name of the people of Serica, along the Silk Road that connected China to the world.
Congratulations to everyone from SOKON, SF Motors, and Walker|Weltman that made this a reality. Well done. It’s been quite a journey.
Naming a global automobile brand. That’s one to check off the bucket list.
Josh and I at SF Motors HQ in Santa Clara for the launch of the SF5 and SF7
