April 2007 Archives: Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog

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April 30, 2007

resQ - The New Product Name for Bayer HealthCare Pet Tracking System

Did you know...

There are 73 million dog owners in the U.S.
25% own two dogs
There are 90 million cat owners in the U.S.
On average, cat owners have 2 cats: 2.4 to be exact

Those of you that ever had or have a dog or cat as a pet know how devastated you'd feel if your pet were lost.

Bayer HealthCare to the rescue.

In the United States, competing companies hold separate registries and require different scanners to detect pet microchips, causing confusion and reducing the chips’ overall effectiveness.

The company has introduced the new resQ™ Pet Tracking System, whose scanners can read all brands of chips tested*, a true no-cost pet registration database and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) compliant microchips for companion animals.

Our company dogs, Chomsky and Pushkin, will be among the first to have the resQ™ microchips, the size of a grain of rice, injected under their skin.

We had fun creating the resQ™ product name, but also realize the importance of feeling secure about one's pet. Most importantly, both Chomsky, Canine Linguist, and Pushkin, Chomsky's Associate, fully endorsed the new resQ™ Pet Tracking System.

To learn more about the resQ™, visit resQ @ PetParents.com.

*Third-party test results confirmed that the resQ™ reader successfully read 200 out of 200 encrypted AVID® microchips, 50 out of 50 unencrypted AVID microchips and 100 out of 100 HomeAgain™ microchips.

Technorati Tags: Bayer HealthCare, Pet Tracking System, resQ, Pet Microchips, New Product Name, Naming

Posted by William Lozito at 12:24 PM

Posted to Brand Naming | Pharmaceutical | Product Naming | Technology
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Brand Naming: Redefining Web 2.0

If you’re among those who think Web 2.0 is overhyped, you’ll appreciate Jim Louderback’s snide take on the terms he heard tossed around and the things he saw people doing at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. Here are a few of my favorites.

Twitter - Transmit your every thought to, well, everyone at the touch of a button! This new micro-blogging platform allows you to annoy your friends with all the mundane things you do every day. So, instead of writing a blog post every few hours that details all of the deep thoughts you’ve had, you can spew them out to e-mail, IM, and cell phones as soon as you think them! And, with only 140 characters, the more shallow or vacuous, the better! […] It’s a great tool for finding your friends on a Saturday night. It’s a lousy way to build a business.

Well, ah…yes. Even though its fans are finding ways to use it that go beyond the vapid and obvious, Twitter deserves its name because it’s a constantly chirping source of distraction.

Headcasting - But Twitter is so, like, two weeks ago. Now there’s headcasting. Instead of twittering on and on every few minutes, you simply staple a camera to your head and stream your life to the world. Now that audience you’ve built can watch all the mundane, boring, and occasionally exciting things you do all day, every day. Want to headcast yourself? The new site ustream.tv makes it all possible.

Eeek! I can just imagine what our clients would say if we trained video cameras on the confidential work we do for them. But maybe you’d like to watch Chomsky and Pushkin at work, instead.

“Headcasting” as a term, has yet to make it into Wikipedia, but it’s already in use to describe 3D modeling techniques for creating moving facial meshes. Nevertheless, as the Mashable blog says, Ustream.tv feeds the world’s narcissism, starting by putting “you” in its name. Peter Cashmore encapsulates it nicely:

I am currently filming myself leaving this comment and streaming it to Ustream, while preparing to upload the clip to YouTube, posting a “writing comment on Mashable” message to Twitter and taking a photograph of myself leaving the comment to post to Flickr.
Whoever dies with the most metadata wins.

So what’s a Mashable when it’s at home? It’s a blog all about social networks and a collection of tools for mixing up your media, so you can connect LinkedIn to Plaxo and PhotoBucket to MySpace. A mash up (or mashup, or mash-up) is something put together out of bits of other things, whether it’s a combination of Google Maps with Twitter or a Virtual PR Murder Mystery made up of snippets of other people’s podcasts.

Jim Louderback thinks it sounds like 1999 all over again. Nonsense. We’ve got much better names this time around.

Technorati Tags: Web 2.0 Expo, Naming, Twitter, Headcasting, Mashable, Ustream.tv, Peter Cashmore, Jim Louderback, Web 2.0 Names

April 29, 2007

Update: Should We Continue Posting on Sundays?

Thank you to our readers for voting on this question and leaving your comments.

It appears to be a toss up, with 50% indicating that we should continue to post Sunday and 50% not to post Sunday.

With the warmer weather upon us (don’t get many of these in Minneapolis) and longer days, we are leaning away from posting Sundays, but may post on Sunday every now and then when there is something topical and timely to write about.

Before we make a final decision, please leave your comments to this post. Thank you.

Posted by William Lozito at 3:53 PM

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What Do You Think of the Product Names of New Drugs for Dogs?

Veterinarians have been prescribing Prozac and other anti-depressants to dogs for several years.

Now Prozac manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co. has launched a new anti-anxiety medication especially for dogs. The chewable, beef-flavored Reconcile tablets are designed to help dogs cope with being left alone all day while their owners are at work.

Reconcile is a perfect product name for a product aimed at helping an animal accept its situation. It’s certainly a more evocative name than Prozac, when you come down to it, though Prozac has to be one of the more famous drug names in history (if not quite in competition with Viagra.) The active ingredient of Reconcile is in fact fluoxetine, the same as that in Prozac.

Meanwhile, as NPR reported on April 24th, Eli Lilly’s competitor Pfizer is coming out with two new medications for dogs.

Slentrol, an obvious portmanteau of "slender" and "control," treats obesity and
Cerenia prevents vomiting. It’s certainly true that serenity and vomiting are mutually exclusive — whether you’re the dog, or the owner who has to clean up after his or her beloved pet, or should I say best friend.

Nothing about the product names of these drugs would tell you that they’re for canine rather than human patients. But then, it’s not the dogs who are doing the buying, though I’m sure they’ll like beef-flavored Reconcile better than plain capsules of Prozac.

Fortunately, our company dogs and staff members, Chomsky (the one with a blue eye) and Pushkin do not need any of these canine drugs. Helping with the naming and branding of new products is therapy enough:) To get to know Chomsky and Pushkin better, see their video click here.

PS: Tomorrow, Monday we’ll post on a new pet product we named with the help of Chomsky and Pushkin.

Technorati Tags: Veterinarians, Pharmaceuticals, Drugs, Anti-Depressants, Pets, Prozac, Viagra, Reconcile, Eli Lilly, Fluoxetine, Pfizer, Slentrol, Cerenia

Posted by William Lozito at 10:44 AM

Posted to Pharmaceutical | Product Naming
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April 28, 2007

How Is This for a Product Name – Can Sleep?

Denmark’s Smukkeste Festival organizers and Royal Unibrew introduced the Can Sleep, an interesting branded accommodation for festival attendees, sober or not.

In what I’d say is a great example of creating a brand space, the Can Sleep features a lockable door, a can-shaped refrigerator and an 11.5’ high roof that can be partially opened to let in light and air. A ladder leads to the lofted mattress, which cozily sleeps two.

All Can Sleep furnishings are provided by IKEA, although we won’t go into names, and include a table and chairs, shelves, pegs and a mirror.

Reservations for the 121 Can Sleeps at the Smukkeste Festival sold out online in just 40 seconds, so it seems the new product is getting some attention.

And although Royal Unibrew holds exclusive rights to the item for the next five years in Denmark, Can Sleeps can be purchased elsewhere in orders of 54, or 9 six-packs. Each accommodation costs about $4,000, excluding delivery charges.

Can Sleep I can’t help but think that this idea is so clever it is going to attract other beer marketers that are keen on the idea of their target market getting cozy with their brand name like this.

The Springwise blog reports that "Can Sleep is a great example of how meeting just the right customer need with a little creativity can pay big dividends in brand recognition." That is right on the money.

Technorati Tags: Beer, Lodging, Branding, Marketing

Posted by William Lozito at 11:50 AM

Posted to Brand Naming | Marketing | Product Naming | Spirits
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April 27, 2007

Durable Disney to Drop Buena Vista Brand Name

Walt Disney is set to change the Buena Vista brand name to Disney in an effort to “simplify the company's marketing and reduce costs.”

Disney wants to focus on their core brands: Disney, ESPN and ABC. Two months ago, Disney CEO Robert Iger changed Touchstone Television production company to ABC Television Studio and Buena Vista Games to Disney Interactive Studios.

The Buena Vista name has plenty of brand equity: it dates from 1953 and is taken from the street name in Burbank, CA where the Disney brothers created a studio and corporate headquarters for film distribution.

Interestingly, the Pixar, Touchstone and Mirimax studio names, which are also owned by Disney, will stay, possibly because there is strong brand equity and differentiation among these: the Pixar name is synonymous with animation, Touchstone with big budget, mainstream films, and Mirimax with art house.

Iger believes that the Disney brand is a “durable brand” and can easily be stretched over even more of its businesses to create a strong brand architecture.

I support this move by Disney: today’s consumers are aware that Disney is more than Mickey Mouse and Orlando. And as one analyst pointed out, most people are not even aware that Buena Vista is owned by Disney, I agree with that as well. It seems crazy for the average moviegoer to watch a Disney film under the impression that it has been distributed by another company.

Technorati Tags: Disney, Buena Vista, Brand Name, ABC Television Studio, Disney Interactive Studios, Brand Architecture

April 26, 2007

What Company Name or Product Name is the Name of the Year?

Among its other functions, like publishing the Journal of Onomastics (I know, that sounds like it might be Latin for something risqué, but it actually means the study of names), the American Name Society holds a contest for the Name of the Year.

Only one of the entrants for 2006 was the name of a company: Flickr. The rationale for nominating Flickr is the trend it started (quite unintentionally) of dropping a vowel out of words.

The Flickr name, by the way, has a filing date of May 10, 2005 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This was shortly followed by a filing for the RAZR name by Motorola on November 9, 2005.

Due to Motorola's sheer marketing muscle and massive spending, most people assume that Motorola was the first to create a brand name by dropping a vowel. I would bet that even Flickr wasn't the first, but I'm not sure who might legitimately make that claim.

The winning Name of the Year was “Pluto,” because of the newly developed slang term meaning “to demote or downgrade” and because “The great emotional reaction that many had to the demotion, often expressed as feeling angry or sorry for Pluto, also shows how naming an inanimate object or a place with a personal name, even of an ancient Roman god, helps human beings to become personally attached to them.”

Given our own coverage of Pluto’s fate, we think it’s a good choice.

As a naming company, we find the American Name Society a helpful resource and point of reference. It's a valuable site with links to related websites about names and naming.

We’re definitely looking forward to the American Name Society's upcoming special collection of papers on Ethnicity and Naming. Individuals have changed their names both to emphasize their ethnicity:

Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Johnson
Yakov Smirnoff was born Yakov Pokhis

And to minimize it:

Woody Allen was born Allan Konigsberg
Jerry Lewis was born Joseph Levitch
Pee-Wee Herman was born Paul Rubenfeld

In addition, where else could we find out about new books on the subject of naming? They rarely make it to the New York Times Best-Seller List.

Technorati Tags: Journal of Onomastics, American Name Society, Don Nilson, Name of the Year, Flickr, RAZR, Pluto, Naming, Linguistics

Posted by Diane Prange at 9:05 AM

Posted to Company Naming | Linguistics | Naming | Product Naming
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April 25, 2007

Brand Name Authenticity: When Bad is Good

It seems to me that the concept of authenticity is the branding idea du jour these days. Sometimes it makes sense to me and sometimes it sounds like marketing mumbo jumbo.

You decide.

Much has been written on brand authenticity, including a very thoughtful and resourceful article by Bill Breen in the May issues of Fast Company entitled Who Do You Love, about the appeal and risks of brand authenticity.

John Moore, author of What Starbucks Must Do, says the article a must-read for every marketer.

An authentic brand, with an authentic brand name, of course, is becoming a magic chalice for marketers. A recent article on NJ.Com frets that “Starbucks’ Growth May Threaten Brands’ Authenticity,” while another pundit posits that Anna Nicole was a brand name that we loved “because she lived her life with authenticity.”

Breen reminds us that the word authentic comes from the Greek authentikós, which means "original." And unfortunately, there's no recipe for originality.” He quotes Seth Godin, who quips in his Permission Marketing, "If you can fake authenticity, the rest will take care of itself."

When it comes to developing of an authentic-sounding product or company name, however, I think Breen’s assertion that “A brand doesn't feel real when it overtly tries to make itself real” is right on the money.

What does that mean to a naming company who wants their client to wind up with a truly authentic-sounding name? Does it really mean that you might contemplate creating a brand that looks so unlikely that consumers will believe in its authenticity?

I think Bathys watches is an illustration of this concept. I love these watches but using the word “Bathys” as a watch name, even if it is Greek for “deep,” is a risky: it sounds like “bath.” Yet it works, perhaps because consumers feel it’s so wrong that it must be right.

Another new company name seems authentic because it seems so unlikely: Pointer, a small shoe company that is highly influenced by skateboarder fashion, perhaps one of the fields that simply demands authenticity.

Another brand name that was just profiled in Adweek really piqued my interest: Dickel, as in, The Dickel Tennessee Whisky Distillery. Although it’s a bit difficult to pronounce, and sounds kind of weird, brand fanatics are loyal to it. A brand name like Dickel or Bathys or Pointer is easy to remember and sounds so off the beaten track that customers will seek it out.

And what could be a more authentic brand name than Orville Redenbacher?

Technorati Tags: Brand Authenticity, Brand Naming, Bill Breen, John Moore, Seth Godin

April 24, 2007

Company Name Change: Conrad Hotels and Resorts More Bling Than Paris Hilton?

Conrad Hotels is changing its company name to Conrad Hotels and Resorts to better reflect “the fast-evolving portfolio of Conrad’s hotels and resorts globally.”

Conrad is hoping to underline the importance of luxurious leisure travel in its brand name and will “tweak its brand and hotel logos” accordingly.

This comes a few months after the hotel chain was ranked the “World’s Leading Luxury Hotel Brand” for the second consecutive year. I would guess that this name change serves to bring all this luxury to travelers’ attention: the Conrad brand is the high end of the Hilton chain and it seems logical for Hilton to promote luxury and relaxation with the Conrad name, which, for many people, is steeped in tradition rather than bling.

The Trip Advisor just ranked the Hilton Maldives the best luxury hotel in the world for 2007, but by the end of the year it will be renamed the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Resort.

I think that adding the word “resorts” to their company name is a great idea. It brings new meaning to the word “Conrad,” which is, of course, the first name of the Hilton Hotel chain’s founder: Conrad Hilton, who is to hotels what Henry Ford is to automobiles. As of today, the name “Conrad” mean “resorts” as well as “hotels” and that means luxury and fun.

I simply cannot help but wonder, however, if the antics of a certain pampered Hilton heiress might be tempting the Hilton Hotel chain to pamper its own guests under the Conrad, rather than the Hilton, brand name.

Technorati Tags: Conrad Hotels, Hotel Naming, Name Change, Luxury Hotel Brand, Conrad Hilton

Posted by William Lozito at 12:26 PM

Posted to Brand Naming | Company Naming | Naming | Travel and Tourism
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April 23, 2007

Product Naming: Is BPA Free the New Buzzword for Babies?

An article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about Boca Raton-based Born Free LLC, which sells baby bottles that do not contain bisphenol A (BPA), caught my attention this morning.

Bisphenol A is found in most plastic baby bottles and has been found to cause abnormalities in lab animals. And while most brand name baby bottle manufacturers have assured customers that their bottles are safe, there has been a sudden spike in Born Free bottle sales, which are made in Israel of a form of nylon rather than plastic.

The company name of course, reminds me of the Born Free Foundation as well as the famous film, both of which are all about saving life.

According to this useful blog post about BPA by Omar Shahine, brands that contain polypropylene are getting a shot in the arm as well, including Snappies and Madela. It has also, interestingly, created a resurgence in glass baby bottles. Evenflo is a brand that is taking advantage of the shift in preferences.

About a month ago, my barber was lamenting the fact that his wife could not find any glass baby bottles for their newborn. I went home that Saturday morning, did an Internet search, and found that Evenflo glass bottles were available on Amazon.com. Needless to say, my barber's wife ordered two dozen.

In fact, glass baby bottle use has surged, with the San Francisco Chronicle citing Environment California's “Toxic Baby Bottles” report. Yesterday’s Times Argus in Vermont reports that this sudden fear of BPA might be partly a marketing ploy: over 95% of us have it in our urine, it seems. BPA is found in almost anything made of plastic, and most items children come into contact with - plates, utensils, feeding chairs and toys - are made of it.

It seems to me that now would be a great time for some new product names to appear on the horizon and for glass and polypropylene baby bottle makers to feature “BPA Free” stickers to their packaging.

I have a feeling that “BPA Free” will be the next phrase all parents are looking for when they buy most anything for their children.

Are you listening, wooden toymakers?

Technorati Tags: BPA Free, Bisphenol A, Born Free, Baby Products Branding, Polypropylene, Evenflo, Glass Baby Bottles, Toxic Baby Bottles

April 22, 2007

Should We Continue Posting on Sundays?

The NameWire® team has discussed, on and off, the question of posting on Sundays.

As you can imagine, Sunday readership is the lowest. On the other hand, we don’t want to disappoint our Sunday readers.

Therefore, we have decided to let our Sunday readers decide.

Posted by William Lozito at 12:10 PM

Posted to Media and Entertainment
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The Brand Name Tattoo Aesthetic, Or Is It?

tattoo ad There’s an interesting article today in the New York Times magazine describing the "Tattoo Aesthetic," or how tattoo art and imagery is slowly but surely being co-opted by everyone from well known NBA stars to big names in rock and fashion.

Today, it seems just as easy to find, for example, the Colonel on somebody's arm in the form of a brand name tattoo as on a billboard.

This is not tattoo branding, where you gauge the value of a brand name by how many people are willing to have it indelibly printed on their bodies (think bikers and Harley Davidson or William H Macy and his hilarious Apple tattoo in Wild Hogs).

No, this is the transformation of tattoo art into advertising.

Now, tattoos have become so ubiquitous in our culture that advertisers are literally hiring real tattoo artists to represent their company name or brand name — tattoo-fashion — in their ads and promotional material. There is still an authenticity and romance to the tattoo and its artistry that lends a mystique to brands, especially iconic brands.

It’s interesting to see how in the age of hi-tech art and computer graphics, marketers seem to want to promote their brand names using an art form that has been around for centuries.

Personally, I have never nor will I ever consider a tattoo. But many others will and do. How do you feel about tattooing in advertising and marketing?

Technorati Tags: Tattoos, Branding, Fashion

Posted by William Lozito at 10:11 AM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Marketing
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April 21, 2007

Howling Good Bloody Mary Brand Naming

Howling Helga logo I was interested to read about fellow Minnesota resident Pat Dibble’s efforts to name and create a seasoning business, an idea that was urged upon her by her husband, who loved her Bloody Mary mix.

Pat is marketing it under the brand name Howling Helga’s Mixes and Dressings. I note that some people refer to it as Howling Helga’s Robust Mixes and Dressings, and they sure do seem to be robust.

I love the name, Ms. Dibble!

I also think that the startup seasoning and mix companies do quite well with offbeat names. The Howling Helga’s brand naming reminds me of another company name I wrote about last year: Dippy Chick, which offers some pretty revolutionary-sounding product names for an assortment of dips, including Gettin' Piggy Widdit, Crabby ol' Beach Seafood Mix, Kamikaze Wasabi, and Parmesan Pesto Manifesto, to name a few.

Maybe Howling Helga and Dippy Chick should co-brand on a cocktail package? You do the Bloody Marys and she’ll bring chips n’ dip.

Might work!

Technorati Tags: Howling Helga, Dippy Chick

April 20, 2007

This Trademark Dispute's For You: Bud Vs. Budvar

Jack Trout, in a Forbes.com article yesterday, wrote that the fundamentals of branding boil down to hitting on the right brand name and establishing how your brand is different from others in the marketplace. Trout says, "There is a hard part about branding. It's called staying focused."

Although very true, that priority can prove difficult when your brand name is embroiled in trademark conflicts.

Yesterday’s news that a European trademarks authority rejected a request by Anheuser-Busch Cos to register the Budweiser brand name across Europe is a victory for Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar NP in its 100+ year battle with the U.S. beer giant.

The Prague Daily Monitor was very pleased with the ruling, which was a response to a 1999 application on the part of A-B. The Monitor notes that Budvar already has the trademark registered in Germany, Austria and Portugal, while A-B has had the trademark in Denmark since 1948.

There are now 17 trademark disputes to be sorted out between the two companies—in the past six years they have faced off 86 times over brand name trademarks, the score is now 69 Budvar vs. 12 A-B with 5 “ties.”

This dispute resumes the feud between the two legendary companies that seemed to have found a peaceful resolution with Bud’s permission earlier this year for Budvar to import (via A-B) its Budejovicky Budvar beer into the U.S. under the name “Czechvar,” signifying what some beer industry watchers felt was a “kinder, gentler A-B.”

The Brookston Beer Bulletin even published an article that read “Bud & Bud: Now They’re Buds? It describes the battle between the two brewers that really goes back deep into the nineteenth century and beyond. The history of the Budweiser name is very rich.

Surely this must be the oldest trademark dispute in the world that is still actively being fought in the courts—does anyone know of an older one?

Technorati Tags: Jack Trout, Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch, Trademark Dispute, Brand Name, Budejovicky Budvar, Czechvar

April 19, 2007

Rebranding - No More Pun For Google

Yesterday’s CNET report on the rebranding of shopping search engine “Froogle” has the whole blogosphere talking.

The article points out that Google has apparently decided it is “better to be clear than clever” and has changed the brand name as of last night to the much more descriptive “Google Product Search.”

Google disclosed that introducing a new brand name was more difficult than they thought. Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search product and user experience, said, “the pun (to ‘frugal’) isn’t obvious” [for online shoppers]. Aside from that issue, a myriad of copyright and trademark issues cropped up. Froogle also had issues with internationalization.

Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land wonders if another “cutesy” name, Gmail, is next to go, or possibly the meaningless Orkut, which is named after its creator Orkut Büyükkökten. Maybe brand names that are puns are just too childish for today’s more mature Internet: John Battelle at Searchblog sums up his sentiments in his post, Goodbye Froogle: It's Time to Grow Up.

Mayer also says, on the Google Blog, that the “name caused confusion because it doesn’t clearly describe what it does.” I agree. I've always thought Froogle sounded like a shopping search engine that found “frugal” people the best deals on the Internet; sort of a search engine for cheapskates.

Rex Hammock wisely notes on his blog today that Google never dropped the “Beta” designation from the Froogle name, until now, perhaps illustrating their discomfort from the outset with the brand name.

It seems Google is maturing as a company and embracing a clearer, less "punny", naming strategy, and I think the more descriptive approach will attract more online shoppers to Google.

Technorati Tags: Google Product Search, Froogle, Marissa Mayer, Google, New Brand Name, Rebranding, Froogle Beta

April 18, 2007

Broin’s Poetry in Naming

Broin Companies, the nation’s second largest ethanol producer, and a significant bio fuel researcher, has changed its name to Poet.

Chuck Offenburger worte an insightful blog post about it, and loves the company name change. He even asked a few poets what they thought of the name change. Robert Dana, a Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English at Cornell College, stated “It strikes me quickly as both preposterous on one hand, and possibly marvelous on the other hand.”

I had a similar reaction to Ballad Enterprises, Sonnet Technologies and Song Airlines.

You can watch a short video on the company's web site that explains the name change. The company’s CEO Jeff Broin was quoted on the Domestic Fuel Blog: “We wanted a name that would represent, rather than describe, who we are and what we do.”

I think Broin's comments are spot on.

It’s no secret that ethanol is the “green” fuel alternative and Broin has positioned its brand and its name perfectly to stand for more than just fuels. Bringing poetry to their brand is just the first step. It also brings resonance and meaning to products that some may find rather uninspiring.

There may be a few critics of the bold name change, but I think that by changing its name to “Poet,” Broin has transcended the category of selling fuel to creativity, ingenuity and a better world. Those are things that poets have hoped for through the ages.

And that argument is a lot like the one Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) made to creative types with its successful Think Different campaign.

Technorati Tags: Broin Companies, Poet Energy, Company Name, Name Change, Branding

April 16, 2007

Brand Naming: Is Silverlight Memorable?

Microsoft has just launched Silverlight, the new brand name for its cross-platform, cross-browser web client runtime. It was previously codenamed “WPF/E,” says Tim Sneath, and it seems to be designed to take on Adobe’s Flash, giving Microsoft an “easy web-video solution” for both Macs and PCs.

Adobe, for its part, is set to respond with the launch of the Adobe Media Player, which was code-named Philo.

Microsoft's partners in the Silverlight project are Akamai Technologies Inc., Brightcove Inc., Eyeblaster Inc., Limelight Networks, Major League Baseball and Netflix Inc.

I would have guessed that Brightcove and Limelight were the inspiration for the product naming, but Computer Business online reports that the name was simply “a lot easier to remember” than its cumbersome code name.

Michael Coates says the new name arrived just in time, because the old code name, which stood for Windows Presentation Foundation "everywhere" was the “second worst” in Microsoft’s history.

Anyone want to suggest which Microsoft product name is the worst?

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Media Player, Brand Names

Posted by William Lozito at 7:48 AM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Product Naming | Technology
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April 15, 2007

Does Being Made In China Matter for Brand Names?

China logo The recent news that China has surpassed the US as the world’s second largest exporter — now making more cars than Detroit — has got me thinking about what "Made in China" means to US consumers.

Nowadays, "Made in China" on a brand name product no longer means cheap and cheerful, according to the Washington Times. Even Nokia Phones are being made in China. When it comes to fashion brands, however, "Made in Spain" and "Made in Italy" have a certain cachet, but this may be waning.

An Asian Times Online article "China’s Global Luxury Brand Workshop" notes that high end luxury brand names like Prada, Armani and Burberry are outsourcing to China.

By 2009, 60% of the world’s luxury brand names will have their products made there.

China logo Don’t believe me? French fashion brand Louis Vuitton is putting up a factory in China this year. Prada, for its part, outsources its products to so many countries that they are considering putting "Made by Prada" on their labels.

China now makes high end trains, tennis rackets, and lenses.

GE is producing wind turbine blades there and Chinese made Chery are the top selling autos in China last month, for the first time ever.

Technorati Tags: China, Manufacturing, Fashion, Electronics, Industry, Nokia, Prada, Armani, Burberry, GE, General Electric, Chery

Posted by William Lozito at 1:36 PM

Posted to Brand Naming | Branding | Marketing | Product Naming
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