May 2006 Archives: Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog

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May 31, 2006

How Important is Memorbility and Pronunciation in IPO Naming?

Name If you want you want your IPO to do well, I have a tip for you: give it an easy to remember and easy to pronounce name.

Psychologists at Princeton have found a direct link between an IPO's initial success and how easily its company name, and ticker symbol, rolls off the tongue. It doesn't seem to matter if the company is big or small, the only variable is how well people can remember you.

The psychologists tested their theory by having volunteers rank IPO names by how easy they are to remember and pronounce, and then cross referenced this ranking with how well the IPOs were doing in the American Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.

The effect of this brand name research was so pronounced that if a person had invested $1,000 in the ten easiest to remember names (ones that sound like GOOG, as in Google), she or he would have made $333 more than the ten hardest (names like VYYO, as in Vyyo Inc).

I think this is due to the fact that people are more likely to remember to buy stocks with easy to remember symbols.

Research has also shown that people are more likely to remember aphorisms that rhyme (woes unite foes) over ones that do not (woes unite enemies).

Markets also appreciate on sunny days, it seems. Prof. Danny Oppenheimer explains this by pointing out that "people are not rational," even when it comes to their money - maybe especially so.

After all these years in the product naming business, I have to agree.

For more on this story about IPO naming, I thought Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends blog had a very thoughtful analysis and commentary.

Technorati Tags: IPO, Ticker Symbols, Stock Name, Name Memorability, Name Pronunciation

Links Du Jour 05-31-06

The end of the jpeg? - Microsoft wants to get rid of the ubiquitous .jpeg and replace it with a new format called Windows Media Photo (WMP). WMP? I sometimes think Microsoft must botch their product naming on purpose.
"Customer Made" is lead user in speed - I think this article illustrates a fascinating new trend where we see customers doing product design, product naming, and advertising. We now have the means to have real-time access to customers while doing brand name research.
SoCo sponsors Celebrity Poker Showdown - SoCo is getting into the poker craze by sponsoring Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown. I think SoCo is playing its hand well by linking to the enormously popular game of poker, which, after all, links back to life in the old South - an integral part of the SoCo brand heritage.

Technorati Tags: JPEG, WMP, Window Media Photo, SoCo, Celebrity Poker Showdown, Customer-Made, Southern Comfort

May 30, 2006

Brand Naming: Is Motorola’s SCPL Cutting Too Much?

Motorola If you’ve got one phone named after a razor, it makes thematic sense to have a second phone named after a scalpel. Slim, sharp, cutting edge—they’re all good connotations.

The problem comes when you start removing too many letters from a word. Motorola has decided to call its new phone “SCPL.”

“SCLPL” would be much clearer, I think, but using 5 letters would break the 4-letter Motorola naming convention (RAZR, SLVR, PEBL, ROKR).

But did Motorola put too much of a scalpel to the new brand name by removing all vowels and a consonant?

RAZR, ROKR, and PEBL are unambiguous. Each already contains a vowel, and there’s only one way to pronounce them and still come up with an English word. I actually thought SLVR stood for “silver” rather than “sliver” when I first saw it, but the mistake still produces a good name.

“Scalpel” may be just too hard to abbreviate. I think Motorola may have gone too far with the SCPL brand name. I am guessing that consumers will have more difficulty figuring out what SCPL stands for versus Motorola’s other reduced-vowel brand names.

It will be interesting to see how the target market perceives the SCPL name.

Here is what other blogs are saying about the SCPL name:

Technorati Tags: SCPL, Motorola, Cellular Phone, Technology

Product Naming: To Apostrophe or Not to Apostrophe

Eats, Shoots and Leaves Elements of Style Ah, the apostrophe. Take the quiz over at the Eats, Shoots & Leaves website , and you’ll find that according to Lynne Truss and British usage (not to mention my elementary-school grammar teachers, who were neither), the proper way to form the possessive of a noun (singular or plural) ending in an “s” is to insert the apostrophe after the “s.” But according to Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and the National Punctuation Day website , all possessive singular nouns are created by adding “’s” to the end.

Both sources do agree, however, that you never create a plural in English by adding “’s,” and you can’t create a possessive without an apostrophe. Hence “Albertsons” should be “Albertson’s” and “Fosters Freeze” should be “Foster’s Freeze.” And your neighbors across the street are not the “Smith’s.”

Business style guides, on the other hand, are unanimous in stating that the correct way to write a company’s name is the way the company itself writes it—no matter what your grammar-school teacher would say about it.

Missing apostrophe? Too bad.
Starts with a lower-case letter (think eMachines or iTunes)? Deal with it.
Leaves out the vowels (RAZR)? Too bad.
Throws us back to Shakespeare with “Amp’d” instead of “Amped”?

So be it—even if it leaves us memorizing many times more individual idiosyncracies than there are rules of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in English.

I know from personal experience that a good brand names are hard to develop, and even harder to trademark.

But, as my high school English teacher used to say, "make sure that when you break the rules, you do it on purpose instead of by accident." That applies to name development, too.

Technorati Tags: Apostrophe, Grammar, Punctuation, Brand Grammar

Links Du Jour 05-30-06

Announcing IE7+ - Microsoft has named the version of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) in Windows Vista "Internet Explorer 7+" (IE7+) in tandem with the release of Windows Vista Beta 2. IE7+ is built on the same code base as IE7 but also includes Protected Mode, Parental Controls and Network Diagnostics. The IEBlog asks for feedback on the product naming, and so far people aren't happy: one respondent asks if the IE namers are "a little loopy"; another points out this name will sow confusion on the help lines. IE7.1 would indeed be wrong, but what's wrong with IE7 Vista, I'd like to know? Regardless, this blog provides the IE7 product managers with some valuable brand name research.
What brands can learn from bands - What can you learn about your brand naming from Mary J. Blige and Bono? Well, sometimes two brand names together create a synergy. Interesting brand name research here for music lovers.
America's Top Brands: The CEOs Perspective - Some of the top CEOs in the country have picked their top brands, and the number one brand name might surprise you. Here's a hint...think brown.

Technorati Tags: Top Brands, Internet Explorer 7+, IE7+

May 29, 2006

How Important is a Name, Product Name or Brand Name?

Yes, you guessed it. Being in the naming business, I place high value on a good name whatever the industry, business or application.

Being as objective as I can, let me try to convince you of the importance of a name. Do you remember that classic experiment in which a college professor hands out cookies to the students? They are enjoying every bite, until the professor announces to the class that they have been eating dog biscuits.

All the students suddenly gasp. But wait. The students were actually served a cookie, but only when it was named a “dog biscuit” did they have an adverse reaction. That’s the power of a name.

Well, the reverse situation may be happening in the EU. The European Union ministers, all 25 of them, have been trying to ratify an EU Constitution, but the French and Dutch have rejected the idea because they feel an EU Constitution could “undermine national sovereignty”.

Now what? German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has floated the idea of renaming the EU Constitution as EU Basic Law (or in some reports, “Basic Treaty”). Basic Law would legally be the same as Constitution.

EU Ministers Same document, different name. Have I convinced you of the importance of a good name? If not, 25 Foreign Ministers think the name change could work.

Religion Clause notes that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is promoting the idea of adding religious references to the document.
Swiss blogger Pigilito responds to an Op-Ed piece from the Telegraph arguing that the Constitution is more alive than dead.
The Stirrer doubts that rebranding the constitution will convince the French and Dutch to change their minds about it.

Technorati Tags: EU, Europe, European Union, Constitution, Law, Basic Law, France, Netherlands, Germany

Posted by William Lozito at 8:14 PM

Posted to Brand Naming | Naming | Product Naming | Travel and Tourism
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Product Naming: Home Depot Discovers the Hispanic Market es Enorme

I think Home Depot is on the right track by reaching out to its Hispanic customers with a new array of well-named and positioned products.

Home Depot, the second largest retailer (sales of $81.5 billion) in the U.S. after You Know Who, is one big hombre. And their product naming efforts are showing a distinct Spanish flair.

According to The Journal News they are co-funding a Spanish language home improvement show named “Mi Primer Hogar” (My First Home), using bilingual employees and in-store communications, and developing new Hispanic-themed products such as a paint line named Colores Origenes (Colors of My Origins).

Paint product names that appeal to Spanish-speaking customers include “Café Expreso” and “Horchata.”

world cup I believe Home Depot’s continued efforts to reach Hispanics as both employees and customers makes good business sense. There are more Hispanics in the U. S. than Canadians in Canada. By 2008 Hispanic purchasing power will break $1 trillion with Hispanics spending $28 billion on home improvements last year.

A number of big brands are taking the Hispanic target market into consideration. When the Soccer World Cup begins June 9 in Germany, Nike and Google will be all over it, with a 14-language campaign named “Joga Bonito” or “Play Beautiful” in Portuguese.

Home Depot will be there too, with the slogan “Your house is your playing field.” Muy elegante, Home Depot.

In related news:

Hispanic PR Wire is carrying a press release announcing that Home Depot will also be sponsoring World Cup broadcasts on the Spanish-language television network, Univision.
Hispanic Business has the announcement that Home Depot has signed on as a sponsor of Atlanta's annual Latin Fever Ball.
Hispanic Trending offers a very useful collection of articles on Hispanic branding, like this one on Latinos' marketing preferences.
Hi-Kerl, a blogger from Singapore, writes of his club's participation in the Joga Bonito Finals.
From artificis.hu, we get a Hungarian perspective on the promotion from a non-fan of football who still appreciates the spirit the Joja Bonito program is promoting.
John Hagel views the joga.com social networking site as the return of community.

Technorati Tags: Spanish, Hispanic, FIFA, World Cup, Joga

Links Du Jour 05-29-06

Planter's Mixed Up Nuts - I have to agree with the guys at Third Way: the new Planters mixes are probably not doing the core brand name much good. The problem you have from a brand name research perspective is that peanuts just can't get no respect, and by trying to sell the Planter's peanuts brand by extolling the virtues of the cashews and pistachios (one tagline is “50% pistachios, 100% love”) that Mr. Peanut is now fraternizing with, they're creating an Arthur Miller/Marilyn Monroe set up.
Ford's War Room Not a Substitute For Judgment - I agree with David Kiley that there's a fine line between “creative intensity” when it comes to building a brand name, and just plain “weirdness”. Ford is getting ready to protect its valuable F-series pick up truck line from Toyota and GM but letting things get a little crazy in the brand name research department, where employees have to live the brand a little too much.
Snapple Takes Over FM Radio - Snapple is taking over a Boston radio station from Memorial Day to July 4, offering the company a very cool means of getting its brand name out 24/7. I think radio is still a great place for people in the product naming business, and this kind of thing is just another way in which a brand name can gain blanket coverage.

Technorati Tags: Planter's, Ford, Snapple, Branding, Naming, Radio

May 28, 2006

Edmonton, Alberta: Another Silly City Slogan

Edmonton, Canada 052806.jpg I am becoming more and more convinced that cities and states should save their money used to develop a slogan or tagline.

Now it's Edmonton's turn. I am very fond of our neighbors to the north, but I think they suffer from the same slogan myopia we do in the states.

Edmonton is where "The Great One" played hockey in 1979-1988. Wayne Gretzky that is. Edmonton is home of one of the largest enclosed malls in the world - the West Edmonton Mall.

And Edmonton is first and foremost associated with "cold" among journalists based on a recent survey conducted by the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC).

Edmonton: It's Cooler Here So why would the EEDC select "Edmonton. It's Cooler Here?" I realize the intended meaning of "cooler" is "hip."

But is would be like Las Vegas going with "Las Vegas. It's Hotter Here."

Sorry EEDC, the new Edmonton slogan makes no sense. It's another example of slogan myopia not unique to Canada, the U. S. or other cities and countries for that matter.

Here are some other perspectives on Edmonton and its new slogan:

Kerry Diotte of The Edmonton Sun writes that the city's new slogan is not so cool.
The Battle of Alberta, a blog about the rivalry between the province's two NHL teams, questions whether “cool” is still a cool word.
One has to wonder if it's the city's “coolness” that leads its citizenry to set things on fire when the Oilers win an important game.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Tourism, Slogan

May 27, 2006

De Beers Franchises Its Brand Name

I think Franchising is certainly turning out to be one of the most powerful ways to quickly build brand name awareness.

Take the diamond giant De Beers, for example. How many people could tell you that De Beers until recently sold 90% of the world’s diamonds, or that the company was originally based in South Africa?

De Beers sought to change all that in 2001 by going into retail partnership with luxury giant LVMH (De Beers LV), opening a series of high-end retail stores around the world and hiring models like Iman to promote its ubiquitous A Diamond is Forever slogan.

Not satisfied with lacklustre sales in its De Beers-LV stores, De Beers is now promoting its name through what seems to be a kind of sub-franchising where they permit their name to be used by other (non LVMH) resellers who open what are not De Beers-LVMH stores but jewelry shops that simply bear the De Beers name but are not managed by De Beers LV.

This means there can be a few levels between the “real” De Beers and the actual store where you buy a De Beers diamond (one writer likens this to a Tupperware sales pyramid). In effect, now the company seems to be profiting by franchising the De Beers brand name, not just the diamonds the company digs up. De Beers seem to be willing to trade exclusivity for exposure…. and profit.

Of course, I know that franchising a name is nothing new, and this week even the real estate industry announced that it considers franchising the best, fastest, most efficient way to build brand name awareness.

I think it's fair to say, to paraphrase De Beers, "Franchising is Forever."

May 26, 2006

Links Du Jour 05-26-06

America's Brand Differentiation Crisis - Interesting post on how to differentiate your brand in a world full of competing loyalties. Mike Wagner talks about the economics of raw creativity, and asks for your thoughts...
Denny's cooks up more dinners, but don't sell your stove just yet - Denny's has a new tagline: "Denny's Always Works" but Tim Nudd thinks they are missing a great opportunity to put some clout behind their brand name.
Starbucks Nation - Get With the Program - The Starbucks brand name is officially a cultural touchstone, explains Gareth Kay. Meaning much more than coffee, Starbucks has transformed the way we think about "meeting" in general.

Technorati Tags: Brand Differentiation, Denny's, Tim Nudd, Starbucks, Gareth Kay

Brand Naming: The Age of Aquarius Has Hit Laughlin, Nevada

Flamingo logo This fall, American Casino & Entertainment Properties will be renaming its recently acquired Flamingo Laughlin the Aquarius Casino Resort. The new Aquarius will be totally revamped, and its new brand name distances it from the much bigger Flamingo in Las Vegas, the brainchild of Bugsy Siegel.

Bugsy named the joint after his girlfriend who in turn was nicknamed was "The Flamingo" for her red hair and long legs. Bugsy wound up dead for skimming from the Flamingo, certainly an unlucky piece of product naming history.

Richard P. Brown, president of American Casino, said that the new Aquarius name symbolizes "luck and winning, fun and close proximity to the Colorado River". Mr. Brown has indeed done his brand name research.

The name Aquarius has always represented water and luck: in Greek mythology Aquarius was Ganymede, the cup-bearer to the gods. The stars Alpha Aquarii and Beta Aquarii mean, respectively, "The lucky one of the king" and "the luckiest of the lucky".

Throughout Greek, Chinese and Japanese mythology you see water being equivalent to luck (think feng shui), and when the sun enters Aquarius the lush rainy season begins. Ironically, the Age of Aquarius probably will not officially begin for another 600 years, bad news for all of you ex-hippies.

The Flamingo is the largest hotel in Laughlin, Nevada, and its new reincarnation will see it stand on its own in what its developers see as a part of Nevada sure for more customers as Middle America gets priced off the Vegas strip.

Technorati Tags: Flamingo Laughlin, Aquarius Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Richard Brown, American Casino, The Flamingo

May 25, 2006

Brand Naming: To Google or Not to Google - That is Genericization

Google is worried about the genericization of its name, which means that it doesn't want its trademark to become generic in meaning and suffer the same fate as Kleenex, Rollerblade and Xerox.

I think that genericization is a bug bear of product naming. On the one hand you want your brand name to be a household word, but on the other you want it to still mean your product.

Kleenex The bone of contention is the infinitive "to google". Google claims that the overuse of the word Google as a verb will lead to "Googling" being the generic term for "searching the Internet with a search engine".

Rollerblade Google has gone so far as to remove the usage from the Wordspy online dictionary, but as Jason Lee Miller (who has done some pretty cool brand name research) points out, various forms of the word Google remain in the dictionary and in common discourse: Googlebombing," "Googleverse," and "Googlejuice." As well as Googtopia, Googler and Googlite.

And it is not entirely clear to me if Google allows you to do all the Googling you want...so long as you use Google? Do they really sit around at Google Corporate Headquarters (called the Googleplex) and not "google"?

Xerox Lee also points out that Google did not raise the alarm when Pontiac asked users to "Google Pontiac" in a recent TV campaign (which we linked to in an earlier post) and it does seem unlikely that people will start "googling about" with Yahoo! and MSN Search.

However, I believe Google should by all means protect its trademark - the Google brand name is one with massive equity behind it and they would be remiss in not being concerned about its misuse.

Technorati Tags: Google, Generic Brand Names, Genericize, Googling, Googlebombing, Xerox, Google Pontiac, Search Engine, Web Search

Baltimore: Get In On It Slogan Announced

Name Baltimore’s new slogan, “Get In On It”, and tourist campaign was formally released yesterday, Wednesday, May 24th.

To learn more about the process the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) went through to develop the new slogan and to view the TV commercial based on “Get In On It” go to areyouinonit.com.

The BACVA site includes the following sections regarding the new slogan:

The Brand
The Research
The Campaign
The Buzz

The TV spots did not do anything to motivate me to want to visit Baltimore, but than again, I'm not the target market. Sorry BACVA, I think the TV spot is lame.

By the way, I was surprised to find that the BACVA defines the target market as females 35 to 64.

Don’t men have any say about where to vacation?

Here are some more opinions on the new slogan:

Side of Gravy takes exception to the view that "Get in on it" doesn't really say anything about the city, noting that “Our city is full of questionable transactions and shady dealings of all shapes and sizes.”
Baltimore Crime says that another $1.2 million is to be spent on television spots with a musical jingle based on the slogan.
Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space lists a number of positive associations with the city, and states that the slogan fails to call forth any of them.

Technorati Tags: Baltimore Slogan, Get In On It, BACVA, Areyouinonit, Tourism Campaign, Target Market, Vacation

Links Du Jour 05-25-06

Attention copywriters: now Pennsylvania needs you - Now you can do your own brand name research. Pennsylvania is looking for a cool line for a bumper sticker campaign. I have already covered the difficulty people are having, maybe PA will be OK.
Men are men and beer is beer - Unless it's light beer, then it's not really beer at all! - I have to point out the lack of parallelism in this proposed slogan: "Men should act like men and light beer should taste like beer." I think it should actually read: "Light beer should taste like Light Beer." When is comes to branding, that's more within the bounds of clarity.
Widgets Are a Phenomenal Marketing Opportunity - Get With the Program - Widgets are a way cool way to add some oomph to your product naming efforts. Imagine a nifty little widget that lets clients see your brand name all day.

Technorati Tags: Pennsylvania Bumper Sticker, Beer Advertising, Widgets

May 24, 2006

Brand Naming: The Dot Mobi Domain

If there ever has been a huge, forbidding goal on the ocean called the World Wide Web, it is seamless, quick connectivity to cell phones. Ahab claimed his own Moby in the South Pacific, now web surfers have bagged theirs in the form of dot-mobi, the new leviathan of brand naming.

The interestingly named and Dublin-based Mobile Top Level Domain, formed by investors such as Microsoft, Google, Samsung Electronics, Nokia, and Vodafone, is using its new, mobile friendly, dot-mobi domain name to make it easier to browse the Internet using cell phones and BlackBerries. The dot-mobi name assures cell phone and Blackberry browsers that they are guaranteed fast access.

Not a small thing when you consider that more people worldwide own cell phones than computers. According to the Wall Street Journal, the captains of the Internet have taken notice: on Monday, in what one writer referred to as a "mad rush", thousands of new Internet domain names were introduced including myyahoo.mobi, google.mobi, fortune.mobi, xboxlive.mobi, msnlive.mobi, 20thcenturyfox.mobi, cbs.mobi, and fox.mobi.

Microsoft alone wants 200 domain names and P&G is expected to register 500 dot-mobi sites for its trademarked products. Even the wireless names have signed up: Cingular.mobi, Sprint.mobi and Verizon.mobi are all registered. This avalanche of new names has led Wirelessweek.com to declare that "the great Wireless Internet land rush is on again".

You have 70 days to register and the cost for trademark names is $140/year for a dot-mobi vs $10/year for a dot-com. The high price discourages cyber-squatters. Dot-mobi is well in sight, I assume most other companies traversing the Webby Seas will "lower away".

Technorati Tags: dot-mobi, .mobi, Mobi, Mobile Top Level Domain, Domain Name

Links Du Jour 05-24-06

Nike "Plus" Apple: Wow! - The new Nike+iPod Sport Kit is an excellent example of co-branding that I am frankly surprised didn't happen sooner. It would take about one second of brand name research to figure out that most people who own iPods own Nikes.
Dinosaur species named after Hogwarts - Product naming usually does not extend into the naming of extinct dinos but here we see a great example of a well known brand name (Harry Potter) influencing science. And you have to admit, this dino looks like it walked out of a Potter book.
Cadillac all by itself in Xbox Live - Cadillac just will not give up trying to appeal to younger consumers. In an interesting reversal of roles in the product naming field, Cadillac has paid a game company, the creators of Project Gotham, to use its brand name and vehicles in games. I think this is a new, creative way to reach a younger target market.

Technorati Tags: Nike+iPod, Nike, iPod, Hogwarts, Harry Potter, Xbox Live, Cadillac

Product Naming: Bingo, Boingo!

Boingo Wireless has agreed to acquire Concourse Communications Group, the leading operator of neutral-host wireless access systems.

This means that Boingo will take over the Wi-Fi in 12 leading US airports, including JFK, LaGuardia and Newark; as well as two Chicago airports: O'Hare and Midway; and 100 more including Toronto, Ottawa, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Nashville and Atlanta.

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