« GM Struggles to Corral Popular Penske Naming With Saturn Brand | Main | Can Brink's Company Name Change Maintain Its Brand Name Equity with Broadview Security? »

June 30, 2009

Hardee's Name Our Holes: Tasteless Product Naming or Modern Mobile Marketing?

I am not going to pass judgment on Hardee's new brand naming effort with their "Biscuit Holes" promotion, but cannot help but submit my aversion to the idea.

Now referring to food as "holes" has a long pedigree - donut holes were a staple of my childhood - but Hardee's is using the name "Biscuit Holes" as sort of a placeholder while they try to convince customers to better it.

Hardee's has a mobile web site with the URL www.nameourholes.com which, to say the least, sounds a little strange. Fans have responded with names like "B-Holes" and "Heavenly Balls."

You can see where this is going.

The mobile element to this naming effort samples the "man on the street" ad philosophy. Stickers on the packaging drive consumers to the site, which really makes this naming for the Facebook generation: "'We view our 'young, hungry guy' customers as people who are going to do things instantaneously, so mobile seems a natural' medium for CKE" says one CKE Restaurants executive.

The slight problem here is that the Facebook generation seems to have taste issues, and the outgrowth of the Name Our Holes campaign has been disgust on the part of the blogosphere.

We're seeing names like "creamy sweet holes," "hole munchers," and "dingle balls" while Hardee's is chuckling right along with their tagline "They sound wrong. But taste so right."

Adage calls this a Carl Jr. inspired "smutfest" and offers us a disturbing look at future ads.

Burger King, however, is also taking the same kind of flack for its "Super Seven Incher" advertisement which looks like it was cooked up in a frat house.

In light of all this, the PopWatch blog has announced that "Subtlety Is Dead." I must agree.

Technorati Tags: Biscuit Holes, Biscuit Holes Naming Contest, Super Seven Incher Ad, CKE Restaurants Product Naming, Burger King Marketing

Posted by William Lozito at June 30, 2009 9:28 AM
Posted to Food | Industry | Marketing | Naming | Product Naming | Slogans | Taglines

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.namedevelopment.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4446