October 2006 Archives: Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog

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October 31, 2006

Links du Jour 10-31-06

Plastic Flamingos' Swan Song - The ubiquitous plastic pink flamingo lawn ornament is on its way to extinction. The original plastic Pink Flamingo is the emblematic bird of kitsch and one of Florida’s most notable cultural icons. It's been used as part of the brand identity for companies in the hospitality, retail, and entertainment industry. Thanks to rising electric and resin costs though, the ornament is soon to be no more. There is a great story here and some background information about the Pink Flamingo at the Prairie Bluestem blog. Also check out this declaration by Rob at File It Under v2.0.

Celebs Wanna Be the Brand - Sheryl Crow has announced that she is looking to attach her name to “new business ventures that are complementary to her artistry, lifestyle and commitment to social responsibility.” Marketing Shift finds this pretty funny, and I see this as a logical strategy.

GoogleDashboard.com: The Truth Behind the Speculation - A Google domain name squatter has outed himself. This link offers a glimpse into the minds of domain name hijackers. His advice is: “don’t buy any trademarked domains, no really I mean it don’t!”

Technorati Tags: Pink Flamingo, Sheryl Crow, Celebrity Brands, Google Dashboard

Naming: When Should Creativity Be Scary?

Where art and commerce meet there is a tendency to quantify creative ideas. It seems imagination isn’t justifiable so it isn’t enough. Nearly any name choice can be tucked into a logical reasoning when presented to the public. But do they really care?

Cobra My favorite car name is the Cobra. Cobra snakes aren’t fast, they’re deadly. Deadly is the last thing I want in a car. But the name is cool. It just is.

Names that hit you in the heart – our unquantifiable place for emotions – these are the names that speak to us. Being reasonable in our naming efforts has its place. But giving in to the magic of names, the impossible-to-utter reasons why names work, is more powerful than we can imagine.

The proliferation of branding books (a cursory search on Amazon.com provided nearly 2,000 titles) perpetuate the concept that there’s a formula, a proven route to powerful brand identities.

What is missing is poetry.

Many poets are of the thought that a poem is really a distilled play. Perhaps a great brand name is a distilled poem - one word that evokes a thousand pictures. This is evident in great coined names.

Language rests only on the icy tip of emotion and creating new words to express the experience of a product, company or service can make us all feel alive. Shakespeare would have said it hits me in my “heart of heart.” It’s widely believed that Shakespeare is responsible for giving the English language over 1700 new words – words that we use everyday. Words that stick.

Some of my favorite coined words attributed to Shakespeare are: "lonely,” ”courtship,” “moonbeam,” “eyeball,” "madcap,” “tranquil,” and "arouse.” Where did these words come from? They have lasted so long because they’re felt by us all – we understand them with or without the logic behind them.

Certainly putting together Mad and Cap doesn’t logically mean “a person acting without caring or stopping to think about possible consequences.” Yet this is the definition of the word – derived from it’s meaning in a play. If these words didn’t exist as they do now, what products could we name with them? Madcap could be a vodka, clothing line or the newest toy. Moonbeam could be anything from a telecom company to a line of candles or make-up.

What a beautiful compound word. Moonbeam.

In the crowded landscape of the Internet, with 50 million .com domain names registered, all of the two and three letter possible sequences are gone. Poetry is back in big way for branding.

Studying branding, advertising and business theory is important to successful branding efforts. On top of all of that savvy, we are creating. We are imagining new uses for language, new meaning, and even new language. So a re-mystification of the creative process of developing brand identity can be our strongest play.

After all, since Shakespeare coined the word “advertising,” and “marketable,” it’s safe to say he saw the poetry in it.

Technorati Tags: Brand Identity, Creativity, Branding, Poetry, Coined Names

October 30, 2006

Halloween Marketing Gets Scary Again

Chris Thilk's recent blog post got me thinking about marketing around Halloween. Thilk points out an excellent New York Times article that claims Madison Avenue is “Putting the Horror back in Halloween” after years of post-9/11 squeamishness.

XM Halloween programming The ABC Cable Network has a special named “13 Nights of Halloween” and XM Satellite Radio has devoted an entire website to its Halloween programming, for example.

Corpse brides, slashers, vampires and witches are back in vogue, as is high goth fashion at Bergdorf Goodman. The key is that Halloween celebrates our “irrational fears” - fears of enclosed spaces, darkness, clowns, bugs and monsters.

Chipotle burrito Certain brands are also getting into the act. If blood and gore isn’t your thing this year, why not dress up like a giant burrito and drop into any Chipotle restaurant for a free burrito? Or how about dressing up like the Hamburger Helper Hand?

The buzz for this year, according to the New York Times, is “season treason” - when marketers move up the Christmas assault to the day after Halloween rather than the day after Thanksgiving.

Technorati Tags: Halloween Marketing

Posted by William Lozito at 1:27 PM

Posted to Branding | Marketing
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Links du Jour 10-30-06

Spangled Ferret - Earth Conscious Fashion from New Zealand - It's an ethical clothing and jewellery brand name that gets the prize on Treehugger.com for "most brilliantly random brand name". I think the name communicates the brand personality well. The Spangled Ferret name echoes nature, of course, but adds a funky twist to it: it says "we're ethical, and a little off beat." Follow the link to read more about this unique "ethical clothing and jewelry brand" and why I think it's on strategy.

What's in a (Domain) Name? - Hell.Com is for sale but there do not seem to be many takers, even though it's almost Halloween and infernal names ought to be getting a little attention. Greg Sterling leads us to the Wall Street Journal article profiling the struggles of Hell.com's owner to get somebody to pony up $2.3 million for the domain. As CNN reports, Hell "hath no takers" thus far, but Sterling's blog on building a brand around a domain name is worth the read.

Technorati Tags: Spangled Ferret, Hell.com, Domain Name

Trademarking: Wake Up And Smell the Coffee, Starbucks

There was a fabulous, heartfelt blog posted Friday by Ethan Zuckerman about trademark rights in developing nations.

Starbucks Yergacheffe Starbucks, of course, is taking it on the chin for trademarking names of Ethiopian coffee beans “Sidaro”, “Harar” and “Yergacheffe.” The Ethiopians are out in the cold as far as the US Trademark Office is concerned. Starbucks, for its part, makes a half-convincing argument that Ethiopia should be taking another tact in this matter and instead work with Starbucks to create a “coffee certification program.”

Starbucks would probably get a better response from customers if they worked with the Ethiopians and not against them. And it must also be said that the complexities of US Trademark Law is also partly at fault in this instance.

un-Starbucks Starbucks currently does not have a franchise in Ethiopia, so a local woman, who was first turned down by the company, has started a pretender called Kaldi’s, much to the irritation of the Seattle original.

Zuckerman also mentions the trademark case around the word “tumeric”, where Indian scientists had to produce ancient Sanskrit texts to overturn a U.S. patent on the word as it applied to medicine. Turns out Indians had been using it to treat wounds for centuries.

Technorati Tags: Ethan Zuckerman, Starbucks, Ethiopian, Kaldi’s

Brand Naming: Crayon Is Available, Just Not Its Smell

Crayon I was most surprised to learn that the word “crayon” has not been trademarked by Crayola, allowing Joseph Jaffe to use it for his very interesting-looking new venture which just launched in Second Life - the first company to do so. Crayola will always have rights to the smell, though!

Technorati Tags: crayon, Joseph Jaffe, Crayola

October 29, 2006

Nestlé Repeats a Branding Blunder of Another Iconic Brand

Cailler Nestlé has recently learned the risk involved with changing a marketing element of an iconic brand name after changing its Cailler chocolate line.

European sales of the candy fell dramatically from mid-August to mid-September this year after Nestlé hired French architect Jean Nouvel to redesign Cailler’s packaging, and a famous Spanish chef to offer some new pizzazz to the taste.

Unfortunately, Nouvel chose to use packaging containing a high content of non-recyclyable PET plastics and Nestlé raised prices, prompting some retailers to boycott the product outright.

Coca Cola Classic I’m reminded of Coke's famous blunder of changing its own iconic brand with the ill-starred introduction of New Coke, one of the biggest branding disasters in modern history. Coke also has learned recently that it can't control what people do with its top selling product — consumers have been causing mini-Mentos explosions with it and, more recently, deep frying it. But they can control what they offer the public — a public that knows that it does not like its iconic brands messed with.

Nestlé seems to be learning the hard way, the lesson that Coke taught us years ago: do not tinker with well-loved iconic brands.

KitKat Stawberries and Cream Additionally, the Wall Street Journal, this past summer, had a fascinating story on another Nestlé misstep of another of its iconic brands — the failed attempt at line extensions for its seventy-five year old KitKat candy bar brand — offering consumers everything from "strawberries and cream" to "passion fruit" flavored versions of the well-loved original.

KitKat sales in the UK came to a grinding halt: in April Nestlé came to its senses, scrapped the KitKat flavor extensions that cost the company a whopping 18% of sales ($252 mil), and got back to basics.

Lessons learned? Brands of iconic status that consumers love, and are emotionally attached to, are often brands that consumers do not want marketers to change.

Do so at your own peril and loss of market share.

Technorati Tags: Chocolate, Candy, Coke, KitKat, Packaging

October 28, 2006

Branding: Sabena to Be Reborn

Sabena It seems pretty clear that the Belgian Sabena airline name is about to be reborn following its 2001 collapse.

Its current reincarnation is SN Brussels (formerly and briefly Delta Air Transport) , which is now working hand in hand with Virgin Express to resurrect the famous airline company name. Both companies are being coy about this but we can expect an announcement next month.

Sabena’s collapse marked Belgium’s biggest bankruptcy ever, and when SN Brussels emerged from the dust it profitably merged with Virgin Express in October 2004.

"Sabena" is an acronym for "Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne" or "Belgian company for exploiting aerial navigation," and started operations in 1923 with a focus on providing flights to the then Belgian Congo colony.

The new name’s announcement by SN Brussels and Virgin Express is timed to "minimize customer confusion."

Technorati Tags: Airlines, Belgium, Bankruptcy

Posted by William Lozito at 5:23 PM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Company Naming | Travel and Tourism
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October 26, 2006

Cobain is the New King But Warhol Makes the Most Bling

Andy Warhol Professor Mark Sample on The Society of the Spectacle points out that the names of rich, dead celebrities do not seem to have lost their appeal. According to Forbes, the top 13 dead celebrities earned a total of $247 mil last year. Of special interest is the fact that this year Kurt Cobain out earned Elvis Presley, $50 mil to $42 mil.

Einstein’s name ($20 mil) has a great deal of brand equity, as evidenced by Disney’s Baby Einstein range of books and videos. And of course Marilyn Monroe’s name still has a cachet. These names are really cultural icons, names that became top brand names.

Prof Sample also leads us to a New York Times article that profiles the Andy Warhol brand name. Warhol was an artist who really wanted to be known as a brand, as a commodity, and he seems to have been very successful at being just that even after death.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has 40 licenses for products that earn it $2.5 mil per year; retail sales of Warhol products are somewhere between $40 mil and $50 mil. Now, you can make your own Warhol art and unabashed fakes of Warhol paintings featuring Kate Moss are being bought for staggering sums.

There is an exhibition of his late art on in NY right now, in fact. Not bad for an artist who has been dead for almost 20 years. The Art Law blog quotes the Times article thus: “…he would have been amazed to see what has developed.”

Technorati Tags: Celebrity, Cobain, Presley, Elvis, Einstein, Warhol

Posted by William Lozito at 1:15 PM

Posted to Branding
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Links du Jour 10-26-06

NEC and Panasonic create ESTEEMO for joint mobile phone development - It will be a new company that will produce basic handsets for both brand names. Panasonic and NEC will each take these handsets and add “original design, software and other values.” The ESTEEMO company name is a combination of the words “esteem” and “mobile” that expresses the mutual goodwill between the two companies. All About Mobile Life blog thinks this is a very good idea.

Norsk Vodka brand upsets Norway - George at The Webtender reports that Smirnoff has angered Norwegian liquor producer Arcus by attempting to present its new Norsk brand name as Norwegian (Norsk in Norwegian actually means “Norwegian”.) Smirnoff says that the brand name is actually “Nørsk”, which is meaningless.

I have to say that the word certainly makes me think it is Norwegian and Smirnoff concedes that it does want the product name and packaging to convey “Nordic” features (Note they are careful not to say "Norwegian features”.) Also note that when you Google the word “Nørsk” nothing comes up but the word “Norsk” certainly does bring up the brand name, and every page I look at sells the Vodka as “Norsk”.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: ESTEEMO, Panasonic, NEC, Norsk, Smirnoff

October 25, 2006

Brand Naming: Want a Honda? Google “Chocolate”

Honda Crave A recent article in Adweek caught my attention as it discussed the way in which Internet advertisers are buying up search terms that are not necessarily directly associated with their brand names to direct traffic to their site. So, you could do a search for “chocolate”, for the hot new LG mobile phone, and end up at the new Honda SUV site and its “crave” tagline.

The article points out that the challenge lies in reconfiguring the site to offer some kind of relevance to these users who have unexpectedly stumbled across it. I may indeed crave chocolate, or the LG Chocolate mobile phone, in this instance, and see a logical link to “craving” a very sweet SUV. And there is a logic to it: Nike would be crazy not to link to words like “athletics” or “tennis” or “basketball” or even “air,” just as it has failed to nail down the keywords to its own “I feel pretty” tagline.

For those who are interested, there is an excellent post entitled “The Long Tail of Natural Search” that goes into much more depth on the topic. It seems very clear that “branded” keywords are simply the thin edge of the wedge. If you only buy the keywords to your brand name or product name, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Non-branded keywords account for 5 times more searches than branded keywords - meaning that if you are Nike, you are five times more likely to get buyers who have clicked in “sneakers” or “running shoes” or “sweat” than the word “Nike.”

But there is much more to this game than simply buying up keywords and hoping they will randomly help build your brand name. You must have a dynamically changing web page that also attracts search engines.

And for those of you who are running e-commerce sites, things get yet trickier - just intercepting customers and gaining engagement is not enough; you need people who want to buy. In fact, randomly buying keywords could have the exact opposite effect, as the Farhad points out on Links Collector. He also suggests you buy “negative keywords” to actually discourage irrelevant searches.

Go figure.

Technorati Tags: Honda Crave, LG Chocolate, Search Terms, Keywords, The Long Tail, Buying Keywords, Negative Keywords

Links du Jour 10-25-06

Oh Yeah, Scandinavia - Vika Zafrin writes about several things in this post, but it was interesting to note that Denmark has put a great deal of effort into building its brand name worldwide, whereas Norway has not (and as a result is much less popular and admired.) I also did not know just how many Swedes commute to Denmark daily for work. Check out the link to the Danish article.

MG Rover went the Rong Wei - An interesting post on the origins of the Rong Wei automobile brand name, which was introduced yesterday and is Rover’s Chinese incarnation.

Be One of the First to Beta "Centro" - If you work for a business that uses less than 250 PCs, here is your chance to beta test the new Centro “infrastructure solution” from Microsoft. Centro is the code name for a product that corals Windows Server “Longhorn,” Exchange Server 2007 and a variety of security technologies. There is no word as of yet what “Centro” will be called when it reaches the market. Damir links to the Centro blog, which covers more if you're interested.

Technorati Tags: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE

Posted by William Lozito at 7:52 AM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Marketing | Naming
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October 24, 2006

How Do You Spell Branding?

Including numerals and symbols in your brand or product name makes it easier to trademark and helps differentiate your company, but it also contains some built-in pitfalls and some potential for confusion.

Some people even question whether the word “spelling” is appropriate to describe names like this. And is it misspelling if you write “Wal-Mart” instead of “Wal*Mart?”

One obvious point of confusion is that people who hear the name might assume a different spelling, requiring you to spell the name when using it in an audio-only medium. “That’s ‘Blubrry’ with no Es,” podcasters say when recommending the network on their shows (www.blubrry.com).

Prince symbol Another problem is that while the Trademark Office is happy to include any number of symbols as part of a “Word Mark,” computers aren’t at all fond of non-ASCII characters. How would you put the squiggle by which performing artist Prince was known between 1993 and 2000 into an e-mail message?

Many of the characters used in business names (including Yahoo!'s exclamation point) aren't permitted in domain names, even though they are valid ASCII characters. That means the new magazine “&.” has andpersand.com for a URL. And at least they used a symbol which has a name, which the ubiquitous “@” does not.

And let’s not forget what a hassle Slashdot’s name turned out to be for its would-be clever creator.

Don’t pursue trends or trademarks so far that your customers can’t find you or tell each other about you.

Links du Jour 10-24-06

Toyota Auris springs into action - The bloggers at Auto Park say the new name is an amalgamation of “Aygo” (the name of their smallest offering) and “Yaris” (slightly bigger model). The Japanese Cars Watch blog, on the other hand, claims the word is Latin for “good taste”. In fact, the name comes from the Latin word for gold which is “Aurum”.

Toyota has changed this to Auris to keep it consistent with the brand architecture led by the Avensis and Yaris brands. It is also the successor to the Corolla brand name, which seems to be on the way out after 40 years and 30 million sales.

Jenna Jameson for Adidas Mad Ave Goes Soft - The Mog Beta blog has an in-depth discussion about a recent Forbes article that outlines the ways in which pornography has infiltrated modern advertising and brand name building. Names and promotional efforts that were once considered sleazy have gone mainstream.

"Stars" like Jenna Jameson are now being associated with clean cut brand names like Adidas. Mainstream clothing brands are creating yet sleazier sites and names to attract an ever edgier customer base.

Tower Records store The record store that wouldn't die - On August 22nd, I wrote about the longevity of certain brands like London Fog and Tower Records and it looks as if reports regarding Tower’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

It seems like an unnamed consortium of investors is intent on keeping the legendary 80s brand name alive in a smaller version. Grant Robinson is sceptical, however, about the brand name’s chances for success. I’m hoping for the best. Are you?

Technorati Tags: Toyota, Aygo, Yaris, Auris, Tower Records

October 23, 2006

Branding the Tabbed Browser: IE7 Versus Firefox 2.0

IE7 The recent launch of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows, which Microsoft briefly considered naming Internet Explorer 7+ in its Vista version, has brought the word “tab”, as in “tabbed browsing”, into the lexicon of computer users worldwide.

Of course, Mozilla Firefox has offered its loyal users that for awhile now, and they are indeed familiar with the name and the utility it provides.

So, it seems clear that the release of IE7 an attempt to get the attention of these very loyal users who will be officially enjoying the new Firefox 2.0 upgrade tomorrow (you can have a first look here.)

FirefoxIE Obviously, “tabbed browsing” is the way of the future for computer users and I have found it amusing to see all the questions popping up from confused Internet Explorer users who seem to be struggling to understand it.

Mozilla has taken great care to differentiate its product from Microsoft’s, but I am sure that the new release must have them on the edge of their seats this week as they watch how IE 7 users react to “tabbed browsing”. One thing is for sure: if enough people who upgrade (or are upgraded) to IE 7 get angry with the product, the Firefox brand is likely to take a big leap forward.

GoogleFox I also have to wonder, just like the writers at Blogs for Firefox, what role the Google brand name plays in the new release. Google is “close to the Mozilla team” and their marketing muscle will indeed help Mozilla promote its new product. How close will the corporate names be linked?

Technorati Tags: IE7, Google, Mozilla, Firefox 2.0, Tabbed Browsing

Links du Jour 10-23-06

iLamp An iLamp to make Luxo Jr. proud - It’s here, the iLamp, which looks to me like a product worthy of the “i” the Apple puts in front of so many of its product names. Another example of cashing in on iPodmania, or the instant equity of the letter "i".

HP ad HP promo a little too personal - HP’s “Personality Profiles” promotion is probably awkwardly named. Catherine Taylor thinks it should be changed, given HP’s recent track record with personal information. A great example of what happens when current events are not in alignment with branding efforts.

W logos Springfield Wildcats v. Shelbyville Wildcats - Martin Schwimmer has an excellent post up about a trademark dispute over the letter “W” between the University of Wisconsin and Waukee High School and how the Internet and other factors have upset the “delicate balance” between high school and college sports naming.

Technorati Tags: iPodmania, iLamp, HP, University of Wisconsin, Waukee High School

Slogans: Branding Seattle as a Metronatural Takes the Cake

I was hoping, really hoping, that I would have something exciting and positive to say about a new tourism slogan or tagline.

I'm very disappointed in Seattle's new slogan, Metronatural (see image of the top of Seattle's Space Needle.)

Does the Seattle Convention and Visitor's Bureau and creators of this slogan really expect someone who hasn't visited Seattle to be motivated by this slogan to spend time in Seattle?

I would venture to say that 99.9% of prospective tourists do not get the intended meaning of Metronatural. By the way, it does remind one of metrosexual.

First of all, I don't think Metronatural conjures up anything but puzzlement. I thought the state's new slogan, SayWA, "took the cake," but metrosexual, I mean, Metronatural, has it beat.

Metronatural deserves the same fate as SayWA. A quick and sudden death.

For more insight and analysis of Seattle's new branding effort with the "Metronatural" tourism slogan, check out what these bloggers have to say:

Zee Grega at Metroblogging Seattle asks "Do you even know what a 'Metronatural' is?"
Dave Simmer at Blogography asks "What the heck does 'Metronatural' say about Seattle?" Simmer also reports that Seattle spent a hefty $200,000 and 16 months to come up with the slogan.
Elaine Shein at Blogriculture says "unfortunately, you’ll experience more metro than natural," "Metronatural rolls off the tongue like … molasses, doesn’t it?"

Technorati Tags: Seattle Branding, Tourism Slogan, Seattle, Metronatural, SayWA, Zee Grega, Dave Simmer, Elaine Shein

October 22, 2006

Branding: This Bud’s For Jay-Z

Jay-Z Following yesterday's post on Jay-Z, it seems that he is also helping lend some cool to the Budweiser Select brand name.

On October 18th he released two versions of his video "Show Me What You Got". One version helps promote the NFL as well as his upcoming CD "Kingdom Come," while the other promotes Bud Select and includes NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Indy driver Danica Patrick. It is an example of Jay-Z’s almost chameleon-like way of being all things to everyone.

Budweiser Select logo Now the co-brand director for the Budweiser Select beer name, Jay-Z should be able to bring an "urban" hipness to the brand that already is King in Middle America.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is simply unstoppable: overseeing Rocawear, his own record label (Def Jam), and promoting Bud Select all seems a tall order for a man who is supposed to be in "retirement."

His association with the beer brand name is sure to appeal to young urban adults. In the words of Marlene Coulis, Anheuser-Busch's VP of Brand Management, Jay-Z ought to be able to "reach people in groundbreaking ways."

This Bud’s for you, Jay-Z.

Technorati Tags: Beer, Advertising, Endorsements

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