Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog

More Than Your Brand Is at Stake With Similar Drug Names

September 5, 2008

No company wants its products mistaken for someone else's, that's why the US Patent and Trademark Office rejects applications it considers "confusingly similar" to existing marks. When your product is a prescription drug, that kind of confusion endangers more than the company's profits.

Yet despite the best efforts of both the USPTO and the FDA, which rejects some 1/3 of proposed new drug names because they sound too much like existing medications, the US Pharmacopeia maintains a list of more than 1,750 drug names that have been confused with one another (the printable list dates from 2004).

Changing all of those names (or even half of them) is impractical. Many have been in use for decades, and it's no surprise if someone mistakes a newer or less common drug name for that of something more familiar. Among those who study ancient manuscripts, this is known as the lectio difficilior potior, because the mistake so rarely happens the other way around. You've probably noticed something similar when the spell-checker wants to correct an unusual word or name you've used to something it recognizes.

So what's to be done, apart from taking greater care in the naming of new drugs? Electronic prescribing, which bypasses the famously poor handwriting of doctors, may be some help, but there's that spell-checker problem. Consumer Reports advocates having your doctor include both generic and brand names, as well as the drug's purpose, on the prescription form.

Now healthcare service iGuard proposes to send out e-mail alerts to patients about possible drug name confusions. And speaking of confusing names, that's iGuard.org, not the iGuard security camera company...

Technorati Tags: Prescription Drugs, Drug Naming, Prescription Drug Confusion, iGuard, USPTO, FDA

Google Chrome Offers Shiny New Browser Naming

September 3, 2008

Google Chrome is out. As a browser designed to take on Firefox, Opera and IE8, it's become big, big news.

The world already knows the Chrome name and frankly, almost anything with the name Google behind it is going to pique our curiosity, it is a brand that appeals to anyone with a computer.

Still, Chrome?

It sounds like a fragrance for men. Google claims that it refers to the typical bells and whistles around browsers, with the idea being to "minimize chrome."

Regardless, it is a name that has seen a lot of use in the XUL, "an XML user interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project."

Most of the features on Chrome have pretty standard names, although it does feature an "incognito mode" that is similar to Microsoft's new InPrivate browsing feature. Mozilla is also working on a similar feature and Safari already has a setting simply called "Privacy" for Mac OS.

Computer browsers all have odd names but I think this one is possibly a little impractical because it has been used before and because it is so jarring. "Google" is a funky word we've never seen before, but "Chrome" is not.

Nonetheless, I'm curious, and that's half the battle won for Google. And as a great blog post at Nature and Cyberspace mentions, this is a fabulous word but "this browser name is loaded with metaphors, both good and bad."

I think this is an example of "inside baseball" naming.

Technorati Tags: Chrome, Google, Firefox, Mozilla, InPrivate, Incognito Mode, IE8

A Cloud of Vague Naming Besets Trademark Law

September 2, 2008

"Trademark [law]," according to the Paul Goldstein, a Stanford law school professor quoted in the New York Times, is the "sleeping giant of intellectual property." This conclusion was made for many reasons, but the one that catches my eye is the quest by companies to seek names for products that simply are not that well defined.

The two examples cited in the article are "Cloud Computing," which Dell unsuccessfully tried to trademark, and "Live Mesh," which Microsoft is currently trying to trademark.

cloud computing copy.png Cloud Computing, an innovative offsite Internet service, is a great name because it speaks to the so-called "computer cloud" (all the devices out there that access the Internet). It's also a term that has been floating around the geek world for some time.

Live Mesh, on the other hand, is a super application that is meant to keep all of your web devices in sync, although it looks like the term Open Mesh is already in use.

It looks to me like tech companies, are discovering that names are being registered faster than ever before, especially after running into trademark issues on products that customers might have a hard time understanding, much less buying. Never mind the difficulty of "dot-whatevers," we're seeing a virtual race to get names into the books before the product development is even finished.

This is nothing new, of course. Companies in more traditional fields are already borrowing from different markets of brand naming to get their own trademarks. For example, "Mango" is a fashion line and there is a "Virgin" cola out there alongside the airline.

Business Line in India asks "Will we soon have motorcars called Sweat and deodorants named Cylinder & Piston?"

Of course we will. Names from different categories is one of the factors that helps keep product and brand naming interesting.

Technorati Tags: Trademark, Cloud Computing, Live Mesh, Open Mesh, Virgin Cola, Mango Fashion Line, Internet Naming, Fashion Naming

Popeyes Branding and Naming Moves Upscale

August 29, 2008

The news that Popeyes is revamping its brand name has got me thinking, Popeyes Chicken, that is.

Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits is changing its name to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and will also unveil a new logo, tagline and ad campaign, but will continue on without a possessive apostrophe, which the founder once claimed he was "too poor" to afford.

The new name allows Popeyes to offer a broader menu than just chicken, to a slightly higher paying clientele. It also "reminds customers of the labor that goes into creating the brand's authentic taste."

Apparently, Popeyes was not originally named after the lovable cartoon sailor, but actually after Popeye Doyle, the drunken, brawling character Gene Hackman plays in the French Connection. It was only later that the company moved to successfully acquire rights to Popeye the Sailor. The problem is that both characters are becoming distant memories to the under thirty crowd and might in fact lead to the "P" in the middle of the new logo becoming all that remains of Popeyes original brand name.

That said, Popeye may actually be a name that has dubious value. Aside from the fact that it was the name of an ill fated missile, it also has some interesting literary allusions.

For one, John Ashberry's famous poem speaks of a Popeye who was "forced to leave the country."

But most notable, Popeye is the name of one of Faulkner's most notorious villains, a character inspired by Popeye Pumphrey, a real-life criminal during the 1920s in Memphis.

Technorati Tags: Popeyes, Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, New Logo, Popeye Doyle, Popeye the Sailor, Brand Naming, Company Naming

Guerilla Brand Naming Promotion The Real Winner at 2008 Olympics?

August 26, 2008

This year's Olympics was a competition between the Chinese and a few non-invited competitors who managed to steal the show a few times. I'm of course talking about the brutal brand naming competition that went on while the athletes did their thing.

This year we saw multi-national brand names face stiff competition from Chinese brand names nobody had heard of. The overall winner, according to the Huffington Post, was Coke and its "shuang qi lai - "refreshment rising" tagline. However, Adidas and its "Impossible Is Nothing" campaign was a also a success, while GE managed to communicate its new "green" image with some flair.

The point is that China wanted to use the Olympics to showcase the country along with the country's brand names. China has what is called "high product acceptance with low global brand recognition." However, the Huffington Post notes that some Chinese companies really did stand out during this year's Olympics: Lenovo moved into the premier brand space, as did "non-official" brand names, such as China' s Merchant bank which just happens to have the same tagline (he, or "harmony" ) as the theme of the opening ceremony.

Various athletric gear brand names also had their day in the sun: like Nike (whom we all know) and Li Ning and Anta (whom we do not). Li Ning is the name of the fellow who lit the torch during the opening ceremony, but is also conveniently the brand name of an athletic apparel company.

Guerilla brand name promotion was at an all time high this year. Case in point was Nike's capitalization on hurdler Liu Xiang's heartbreaking defeat. Nike quickly ran an ad that said "Love sport even when it breaks your heart."

Kinesio got some attention (they make the athletic tape that beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh uses), as did Facebook (who owes Phelps a thank you for mentioning how many friends he has).

Tim Delaney reckons that the average sponsorship costs around $100 million all included and that regular sponsorship still cannot be beat in developing markets, but in mature markets, where wise guys like Wasatch Beer can dub themselves "Unofficial Beer of the 2002 Winter Games" you may want to think twice before paying to be the official sponsor.

This might explain why 60% of Chinese people polled thought that Pepsi, not Coke (who paid $78 million for the privilege), was the official Olympic drink.

Technorat Tags: Olympics, Coke, Chinese Brands, Guerilla Brand Name Promotion, Li Ning, Liu Xiang, Michael Phelps, Nike, Wasatch Beer, Pepsi, Sponsorship, Kinesio, Adidas, GE, Love Sport

Posted by William Lozito at 8:55 AM
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Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Marketing | Sports and Recreation

Ghost Brand Naming Haunts Hard Times

August 21, 2008

I'm haunted by ghost brand names that often tend to reappear during economic downturns, or so says the New York Times.

The cost of introducing new brand names into the market can be even more frightening than resurrecting the dead, and this has meant that some brands are walking among us that we once believed to be buried.

Eagle Snacks is one example. Surprisingly, 6 out of 10 adults remember the brand. It would cost between $300 and $500 million to get those types of numbers with a new snacks brand, so welcome back, Eagle Snacks.

But there also tends to be a new twist on the beloved brand names that keep resurfacing. Eagle Snacks has added brand extensions named Bursts and Poppers, while the Alka-Seltzer brand has been revived with its own extension called Wake-Up Call.

Even credit card branding has ghost brands that seem to come back as sub-brands or are kept alive, marketed to select groups.

Old car brands might be floating over to Europe and Asia, specifically Oldsmobile, Le Sabre, Park Avenue and Century.

In addition, Miller is reviving its "Great Taste, Less Filling" ads.

But the real brand naming comeback of the year is Hydrox cookies, which is a brand that simply will not die thanks to avid consumer activism.

This means thousands of phone calls, petitions and, of course, an online campaign that was started by one loyal cookie fan. Other bloggers have even asked Kellogg's to start a Hydrox-Oreo taste test.

More and more brand naming is getting into the hands of people who just will not let a good brand RIP.

Technorati Tags: Eagle Snacks, Miller, Hydrox Cookies, Car Brands, Ghost Brands

DEWmocracy Electrifies Mountain Dew's Brand Naming with Voltage

August 20, 2008

Mountain Dew Voltage has won its DEWmocracy election, handily beating proposed brand names Mountain Dew Revolution and Mountain Dew Supernova.

The DEWmocracy initiative has been a major consumer-driven campaign that collected 350,000 votes (Voltage received 42% of them). Around 1.6 million people visited the site to help design the product, watch indy movies and play games, all of which ultimately made Voltage the "people's Dew" according to one Pepsi executive.

This stuff looks pretty good although there are some bloggers who don't share my enthusiasm.

Voltage and other Mountain Dew brand extensions including Dew's Code Red, Live Wire and Baja Blast, as well as this extensive naming competition, are going to elevate the Mountain Dew brand, which is already known as the best drink to buy when studying late at night.

But this initiative is yet another indicator that some branding is going to depend more and more on social media than it has in the past.

Technorati Tags: DEWmocracy, Mountain Dew Voltage, Code Red, Live Wire, Baja Blast, Brand Name Extension, Voltage, People's DEW

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More Than Your Brand Is at Stake With Similar Drug Names

Google Chrome Offers Shiny New Browser Naming

A Cloud of Vague Naming Besets Trademark Law

Popeyes Branding and Naming Moves Upscale

Guerilla Brand Naming Promotion The Real Winner at 2008 Olympics?

Ghost Brand Naming Haunts Hard Times

DEWmocracy Electrifies Mountain Dew's Brand Naming with Voltage

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