October 16, 2008
Wigwam's New Brand Architecture and Product Naming
Have you looked in your sock drawer recently?
Kind of a mess isn't it? Mine is anyway.
The Wigwam sock line, all 138 styles, certainly wasn't a mess, but definitely had expanded into a challenging portfolio for retailers to work with.
Strategic Name Development partnered with Wigwam, one of the few, if not the only, major sock manufacturer that can still claim "Made in the USA," to create a common naming nomenclature for its extensive line of 138 sock styles.
The styles were grouped into 5 competency areas:
- Sport
- Snowsport
- Outdoor
- Health
- At Work
The assignment included brand architecture, product naming and a packaging copy system to accompany the award winning packaging created by MSLK Graphic Design.
Some of the consumer-friendly language is reflected in the new product names like:
- The Big Easy
- Diamond Dancer
- Blue Ox
- Snow Whisper Pro
In fact, that consumer-friendly language included a new twist on "Made in USA" to "Proudly Made in Sheboygan USA." For those of you who may not know, Sheboygan is located on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin.
Technorati Tags: Wigwam, Socks, Sock Naming, Product Naming, Brand Architecture, MSLK Graphic Design, Sheboygan
Posted by William Lozito at 12:22 PM
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September 24, 2008
What do you think of the T-Mobile G1 brand naming?
The new Google phone is out and it has been named the "G1." Well, let me be more precise.
This is a Google-powered phone sold by T-Mobile USA that uses the vaunted Android operating system. It's official name is actually the "T-Mobile G1" leading one blogger to ask "G1, Gphone, Tphone - what will you call your Google phone?"
To confuse matters even further, HTC, the Taiwan based manufacturer of the phone, code-named it the Dream. I've rarely seen a technology device referred to by so many names.
When I first saw the term G1, I immediately thought that this must be for an old product. Why?
I was immediately reminded of:
- Apple's G-Series of Towers which ended in the discontinued G5
- Then there is the Pontiac G5 and G6
- Oh, did I mention that ASUS has a G1 and G2 laptop
- Finally, maybe this is a little bit of a stretch, but I was also reminded of the George Foreman G5 grill
While I agree with New Gadgets and Gizmos that the T-Mobile G1 Phone is not an iPhone killer, I strongly disagree with the assertion that iPhone will become a genericized brand, like Kleenex, Xerox and Band-Aids.
Just as Apple tightly controls third party developer software for the iPhone, it has a track record of vigorously defending its brand trademarks.
Technorati Tags: G1, T-Mobile G1, iPhone, Google, Pontiac, George Foreman, Computers, Cell Phones, Android
Posted by William Lozito at 8:06 AM
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September 3, 2008
Google Chrome Offers Shiny New Browser Naming
Google Chrome is out. As a browser designed to take on Firefox, Opera and IE8, it's become big, big news.
The world already knows the Chrome name and frankly, almost anything with the name Google behind it is going to pique our curiosity, it is a brand that appeals to anyone with a computer.
Still, Chrome?
It sounds like a fragrance for men. Google claims that it refers to the typical bells and whistles around browsers, with the idea being to "minimize chrome."
Regardless, it is a name that has seen a lot of use in the XUL, "an XML user interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project."
Most of the features on Chrome have pretty standard names, although it does feature an "incognito mode" that is similar to Microsoft's new InPrivate browsing feature. Mozilla is also working on a similar feature and Safari already has a setting simply called "Privacy" for Mac OS.
Computer browsers all have odd names but I think this one is possibly a little impractical because it has been used before and because it is so jarring. "Google" is a funky word we've never seen before, but "Chrome" is not.
Nonetheless, I'm curious, and that's half the battle won for Google. And as a great blog post at Nature and Cyberspace mentions, this is a fabulous word but "this browser name is loaded with metaphors, both good and bad."
I think this is an example of "inside baseball" naming.
Technorati Tags: Chrome, Google, Firefox, Mozilla, InPrivate, Incognito Mode, IE8
Posted by William Lozito at 9:11 AM
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August 20, 2008
DEWmocracy Electrifies Mountain Dew's Brand Naming with Voltage
Mountain Dew Voltage has won its DEWmocracy election, handily beating proposed brand names Mountain Dew Revolution and Mountain Dew Supernova.
The DEWmocracy initiative has been a major consumer-driven campaign that collected 350,000 votes (Voltage received 42% of them). Around 1.6 million people visited the site to help design the product, watch indy movies and play games, all of which ultimately made Voltage the "people's Dew" according to one Pepsi executive.
This stuff looks pretty good although there are some bloggers who don't share my enthusiasm.
Voltage and other Mountain Dew brand extensions including Dew's Code Red, Live Wire and Baja Blast, as well as this extensive naming competition, are going to elevate the Mountain Dew brand, which is already known as the best drink to buy when studying late at night.
But this initiative is yet another indicator that some branding is going to depend more and more on social media than it has in the past.
Technorati Tags: DEWmocracy, Mountain Dew Voltage, Code Red, Live Wire, Baja Blast, Brand Name Extension, Voltage, People's DEW
Posted by William Lozito at 8:04 AM
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August 14, 2008
Simplified Intel Core i7 Naming: What Does It Mean?
Pentium is now officially retired, as is "2 Duo," which is being replaced by "i7. And though it may be a new name, it still "does not have any deeper meaning."
However, one naming component will remain the same for Intel's new generation of chips. At least the newest versions will retain the "Core" brand name.
Now, lets get this straight. The new Intel Core i7 replaces the chip codenamed Nehalem, a chip actually named after a river in Oregon.
The adoption of the Core name is a good idea, but the appending of a meaningless i7 moniker is only going to lead Intel down a slippery slope of senseless naming.
The problem here is that Intel spins off new versions of its products so quickly (there are already two different colored logos to differentiate the "regular" from the "Extreme Edition" models). It is this speed that has shifted consumer focus from its company naming to its product naming.
Yes, it is wise naming strategy to use the recognizable "Core" brand across the board, but I'm one of those people who still recall when it was a good thing that Intel was "Inside."
Intel has now left ten million computer salespeople out in the cold after admitting that they do not want there to be any meaning behind their product naming, leaving it up to the computer sales force to explain to confused customers fifty times a day that i7 means "nothing," its actually just the upgraded Core 2 Duo.
Since Intel isn't defining the meaning between i7, I will.
- Is it like the magnificent 7, but in this case it's the Intel magnificent 7?
- Was the development of this chip completed in July, the 7th month of the year?
- Did 7 engineers work on it for 7 years?
- Or does Intel have long-term plans of competing with Apple's iPhone? (just kidding of course).
- Or perhaps the lower case "i" was a typo. You may be aware that the distance between the pitchers mound and the batter in baseball is 60' 6''. It was supposed to be 60' 0'', but someone misread the plans.
Technorati Tags: Intel, Core, Core 2 Duo, Core i7, Pentium, Intel Inside, Computer, Intel Core i7
Posted by William Lozito at 10:23 AM
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June 4, 2008
Apple Tech Brand Naming: Mobile Me, You Complete Me
I’m starting to believe the rumors that the Me.com domain name has been bought by Apple, who reportedly also bought Mobileme.com.
It seems as if the .Mac service is going to be rebranded as Mobile Me, leading Apple into a whole new world of connectivity and web dominance.
I dug into the trademark database and discovered that Apple has been working to gain a trademark for Mobile Me in the United States. Currently, they have an international mark, but the federal mark for the United States is still pending in various class codes.
Make no mistake about it, Apple is all about mobility and the Mobile Me name would fit well with the new iPhone 2.0 that is coming out soon, as well as the various iPods and the Mac Air. There is no doubt that Apple is positioning itself as the brand name of choice for the tech on the go.
To this end, Mac has been buying up .Me domain names with a focus on verbs such as fly.me or drive.me. Some users are not really happy with the Mobile Me name, but I think it fits.
.Mac puts the entire focus of it’s online presence on the Mac rather than on the mobile wizardry that has rescued the company from extinction, but Mobile Me's appearance coincides well with the upcoming iPhone 2.0 announcement.
Apple will be seamlessly covering four areas: computing, digital audio, portable consumer electronics and a huge amount of web based activity. It brings the balkanized and expensive .Mac concept into Apple’s center stage.
If—and it is a very big if—Apple succeeds here, it will be bringing Internet connectivity into a whole new stratosphere, allowing people to use their new iPhones like desktop computers and to easily hop on and off the Web to publish and update web pages with pictures, music, design, you name it.
What really makes me curious, however, is exactly what this will do to the signature nomeclature “i” g that Apple started a decade ago with iPod.
The “i” is so tied up with the Apple brand that it is difficult to imagine “me” fitting into Apple's product naming strategy. Although, I do think that the two names will stand up well in the marketplace.
I would be happy to use an iPhone to connect to Mobile Me or use Mobile Me to track back to my iMac via my iPhone.
Technorati Tags: Mac, Apple, Mobile Me, iPhone 2.0, iPod, Domain Names, Me.com
Posted by William Lozito at 10:00 AM
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August 31, 2007
Brand Naming v. Brand Extensions: Survival of the Funniest?
As a naming consultant, developing product names for brand extensions is a topic that I've written about before... and it's a strategy that is often necessary for a brand to continue growing.
The recent news that Guinness is diversifying into red beer with the launch of their new Guinness Red drink is a perfect example of this kind of brand extension.
For 250 years, Guinness has meant black and white. It's a black beer with a white froth. Now, parent company Diageo is pushing the brand in directions never been before... offering us Guinness bread and even your own froth maker called a "surger."
Some drinkers are not impressed... the World of Beer grumbles, "Guinness is stout, plain and simple. Not some Kilkenny knock off, not a weird looking creation which, judging by the photo published online at The Sun, boasts tomato juice as an ingredient, but stout. The black stuff. Period." Yet, other beer bloggers can hardly wait for the weekend to try it.
What's up? Extending a brand name, no matter how old and powerful and well loved it is, is something marketers feel compelled to do.
Even Guinness can't rest on its laurels... it has to offer extensions to customers or be swept away in a tide of microbrews and light beers into the ever smaller space of a niche brand name.
TD Clark's excellent article on the subject talks about how newer brands, like Crocs shoes, are already creating new brand names out of old ones. The Crocs brand is now offering apparel consumers "Crosslite rt" or "relaxed technology" shoes. This is aggressive brand naming at its finest, given the relative newness of the Crocs brand name.
Similarly, Mars is offering us a Starburst Drink... you remember Starburst fruit chews, right? By the way, this is an awful line extension, I think, and is doomed to fail. And current TV is using brand extension strategies to "expand its web presence and increase its marketing efforts."
Technorati Tags: Guinness, Diageo, World of Beer, TDClark, Crocs, Mars, StarburstDrink, Brand Naming, BrandExtensions.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:04 AM
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