« Links Du Jour | Main | Links Du Jour - Wii Brand Name Edition »
April 28, 2006
Brand Naming: Wii Wii Wii All the Way Home
I have to add my voice to the chorus of disapproval coming from the gaming world over a new Nintendo brand name called Wii.
Nintendo has come out with a funky page explaining the name, which is meant to be pronounced “we” (as in “we all play”). They claim the name reminds us that “this console is for everyone” and that "Wii" can "easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak".
But it could be mispronounced "why", or perhaps some would pronounce the two i's separately. If you do, you might get “Why I?”, a question many of us ask ourselves on Monday morning when some gamer is playing with one of these things in the next cubicle.
More likely, it could be mispronounced “wee”, which is just not an association you need with a hi-tech product name.
In some languages, like Welsh, where the “w” is a vowel pronounced “oo”, you might get oooh-eee, which for a game might be OK, but most of us are not Welsh and if you are not, that particular pronunciation sounds like a call for the pigs, another big no-no.
Nintendo says “together, Wii will change everything” but I’m thinking the first thing they should change is the name.
Technorati Tags: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo, Wii
Posted by William Lozito at April 28, 2006 3:12 PM
Posted to Brand Naming
| Branding
| Consumer Electronics
| Naming
| Product Naming
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.namedevelopment.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3221
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Brand Naming: Wii Wii Wii All the Way Home:
» Links Du Jour - Wii Brand Name Edition from Strategic Name Development Product Naming Blog
Nintendo's choice of "Wii" for the brand name of their next gaming console, which I wrote about yesterday, is being talked about all over the web. Here are some of the opinions I found to be of interest: Duality: Why you should all stop hatin... [Read More]
Tracked on November 15, 2006 8:12 PM
Agreed!
Funny that people have already registered anti-wii sites like: ihatewii.com and wiisucks.com
You forgot about what I thought was the obvious version of the name: Wheee!