December 18, 2007
Good Brand Name Awareness
A new study by the CMO Council suggests that good brand name awareness in the tech sector is not a guarantee of higher sales because customers are looking for "competence, quality service and support."
Some of the biggest tech brand names like HP, Dell and IBM take a back seat in terms of brand recognizability by people in the industry to lesser known names like NetApp, Juniper, InterSystems, Polycom and Synnex.
Wired has a great post up today that asks "Whatever Happened to the Other iPhone," a perfectly respectable Linksys product with a very recognizable name that people basically do not know about.
Building a good name means embracing every aspect of brand naming, which means, of course, backing up your marketing claims and making sure you satisfy customer needs once your name has attracted them.
Technorati Tags: HP, IBM, iPhone, Linksys, Polycom, Dell
Posted by William Lozito at 12:00 PM
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September 25, 2007
Product Naming: Would You Buy a Himmer?
Strategic Name Development conducted proprietary consonant research that found certain consonants have meaningful association in consumers' minds.
For example, B and C were seen as less complex (think Bounty and Cheerios), while X was considered innovative and L and V were rated more feminine.
Similarly, researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio recently found that vowel sounds are linked to certain adjectives, and can influence the way people see a product based on its name.
For instance, front vowel sounds (like the "i" in mill) are associated with ideas like small, fast, sharp, light, hard and angular. Back vowel sounds (think "a" in mall) connote adjectives such as large, slow, dull, heavy, soft and round.
In this study, 70% of respondents chose a name with a back vowel for the SUV product name, while 66% selected a sharper sounding front vowel name for the knife product name.
I had the opportunity to weigh in on the ability of a product name's sound to make or break the product.
Technorati Tags: Vowels, Consonants, Bounty, Cheerios, Product Naming
Posted by Diane Prange at 2:36 PM
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September 21, 2007
Intel Struggles in Naming New Products, Nixes New Product Naming Strategy
I have followed Intel's increasingly confusing brand naming strategy for some time and was distressed to see that their new product naming strategy has been put on hold because it "did not achieve its goal to simplify brand names and even worsened the situation in the CPU realm."
There seem to have been market protests over their naming convention changes although a few name changes will occur, not least the Intel Viiv products will be called Core 2 Viiv and Intel vPro will become Core vPro.
This news comes on the heels of news that Intel's naming woes have helped cause confusion in the Mac market... the latest Macs have been called Santa Rosa by many misguided experts who use the name to differentiate these new, sleeker Macs from their immediate predecessors.
Application of the name Santa Rosa to these machines, which "are not part of the platform" according to TidBITS, is a symptom of how Intel's nomenclature has grown so complex that even computer followers are confused.
Simon Leeman also accuses Apple of being a little negligent in the naming field: after all, the new Mac really doesn't have a new name... Apple calls it, clunkily, Mid 2007.
Intel is one of the few chipmakers that enjoys brand name recognition among the average computer user and I sympathize with their struggles.
They have a daunting challenge... differentiating an increasingly complex and many branched product line while at the same time retaining brand equity and partnering with the iconic Apple brand.
I will be watching how things develop with interest.
Technorati Tags: Intel, Intel Viiv, Core 2 Viiv, Intel vPro, Core vPro, Mac, Santa Rosa.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:34 AM
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September 18, 2007
Reventon Brand Name a Blowout
Lamborghini has just introduced a $1.6 million car, and named it after a bull.
While bulls are symbols of power, speed, and virility, and the bull Reventón was particularly aggressive, the name Reventón doesn't have anywhere near enough sex appeal to match the car itself.
Reventón is Spanish for burst, which is fine if you think of a burst of power, but the word is also used to mean a blowout, as in a flat tire. It also means outburst, as in an emotional display.
Those connotations would have been lost on non-Spanish-speaking auto-fanciers before the Internet.
Now bloggers have the power to spread naming gaffes around the world in mere minutes, and the Reventón is likely to go down in history as second only to the Nova in awkward auto naming experiments. And, indeed, if you have a reventón, your car will no va.
Even without that problem, however, the name just sounds too clumsy. It doesn't have the smooth, rolling power of, say, Lamborghini. Even removing the n from the end of the word would give it a better sound, though for a car like this, a one-syllable name that whips past you at high speed might be more appropriate.
Too often, we buy products that don't live up to their names. In Lamborghini's case, the name doesn't live up to the product.
Technorati Tags: Lamborghini, Reventon, Product Naming, Brand Naming.
Posted by Diane Prange at 9:40 AM
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September 14, 2007
The Influence of China on Brand Perceptions
It's no surprise to anyone reading this post that China has been in the news the last few months regarding numerous product recalls for pet food, prescription drugs and toys.
This prompted us to conduct primary research among 503 consumers in the US. The sample was balanced by gender, age, household income and census region.
This week, some of the findings of our study were the subject of a cover story of Brandweek.
Next week, we plan to publish more of our proprietary research findings on the influence of China on brand perceptions.
Technorati Tags: Brandweek, Strategic Name Development.
Posted by William Lozito at 12:34 PM
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September 13, 2007
Netscape Has a Propelling New Brand Name
A few days ago I wrote about the danger that the Netscape brand name seemed to be in, not least because its identity as a social news portal has been dropped and will be moved to a new site which has yet to be named.
Well, the name is out and its a good one: Propeller.
As one Netscape blogger points out, "to propel means to motivate, actuate, move, prompt, incite, impel, or to give incentive for action and cause to move forward with force."
OK, I'll accept that, not least because they will be "propelling" news to us.
Of course, we would expect Netscape to spin the Propeller (a blog title that has been used many times in relation to the new brand naming) but the future of the brand is still in doubt, according to Tim Faulkner.
This news comes right on the heels of Motorola's announcement to launch a content portal with the name Comprehensive Solutions Catalog which James Quintana Pearce hopes "is a working title and not the planned brand name."
Technorati Tags: Netscape, Propeller, Muhammad Saleem, James Quintana Pearce, Product Naming, Brand Naming.
Posted by William Lozito at 7:43 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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August 30, 2007
Company Naming: Hulu Quits Clowning Around
When NewsCorp and NBC decided on a joint venture, Google started calling it "Clown Co," and TechCrunch wisely urged them to get a real name, fast.
It hasn't been fast, but the venture does finally have a name: Hulu.
CEO Jason Kilar's explanation of the name is that "Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building."
Those are all true statements about the name, which is probably a coinage, but we thought we'd dig a little deeper.
One of the comments on yesterdays TechCrunch post bashes the name pretty hard: "Worst domain name for a company with more than $100 million dollars behind it. Closest mental association is the Hawaiian term hula. And anything Hawaiian has an 'out there' connotation."
I doubt that Jason Calacanis over at Mahalo would appreciate the opinion that Hawaiian = "out there," even if the statement is geographically true. Isn't hula fun? Certainly going to Hawaii is fun.
The closest real word to "Hulu," however, is actually Azeri (that's the language of Azerbaijan).
When written in Latin script (the alternative is Arabic), the Azeri word for "peach" is hülü. And while it might be a bit dated, peachy is definitely a positive term.
Technorati Tags: Newscorp, NBC, TechCrunch, Hulu, Mahalo.
Posted by William Lozito at 2:41 PM
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August 24, 2007
CBS Sportsline Brand Name Finally Benched; CBSsports.com a No Hitter
CBS Sportsline name has been replaced by CBSSports.com.
Bad move, guys.
The Sportsline company name goes back to 1994 and was finally acquired by CBS in 2004. The name hung on until now because, apparently, CBS was worried about "harming its fantasy football operations."
CBS' association with the Sportsline brand name came about when "CBS launched head first into the dot-com craze and ramped up its online efforts." Killing it, allows CBS to (finally) implement a unified brand name strategy by simplifying its branding across all platforms.
Well, sort of.
I would say that the CBSSports.com name should be shortened to CBS Sports. Adding the dot com is redundant.
We get it. I like sports. I like watching sports. I know there's an ESPN.com.
When I think of brand names, I just think ESPN. And www.cbssports.com is prone to errors in typing. I'd put even odds that half the fans don't type the extra "s" and decide to just switch over to www.espn.com after getting the error message.
I have been carefully (exhaustively) tracking company naming changes over the past few years and can say with some finality that company naming is all about congruence, as is brand naming for that matter.
A tremendous amount of name changes occur in the US. In fact, every hour of every business day in the U.S., a company changes its name. Companies that present a single, congruent, easy to remember company or brand name are the ones who are doing it right; ESPN, Apple, Google.
Seems like the NFL got the message, too: Joel Price points out that the NFL.com logo has been sent to the showers on the new NFL website. Seems that he, like the rest of us, likes the "NFL shield without the .com hanging off the side." Joel also argued to drop the .com off the Chargers logo as well because it "didn't seem necessary."
CBS Sports is a legendary brand name, but in this case I think they've fumbled the ball.
Technorati Tags: CBS, Sportsline, CBSsports.com, ESPN, ESPN.com, Company Naming, Brand Naming, NFL, Apple, Google.
Posted by William Lozito at 7:52 AM
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August 21, 2007
Company Naming Changes - Terms of Endearment
Our proprietary Company Naming Changes research has found that company naming... and by extension brand naming... is getting more user friendly and endearing.
The trend has continued into 2007, with bloggers decrying Sprint's Xohm Wi-Fi brand name as difficult to remember and not a serious brand name.
Today, brand names have to be promotion friendly and link easily to the business's domain name. This is nothing new: look at Famous Amos.
Pharmaceutical companies are getting the message by putting their brand names on major TV shows and naming them like sports cars to attract an aging and medical savvy consumer base in the USA.
User-friendly naming for 2006 included Inter-Bank's change to TomatoBank, which is a move geared towards appealing to tomato growers and a generation of consumers happy to use computers named after an apple. One blogger says of the bank, "I walked in expecting a great pita and left with a great rate."
Similarly, Washington Mutual changed its name to WaMu partly because customers had been using that nickname to refer to the bank for years anyway.
In our proprietary Company Naming Changes report we also look at "companies that missed the memo" and actually became less user friendly, as when Equitex went to Hydrogen Power International, Inc. and the Center for Business Research went to The Center for Competitiveness and Prosperity Research.
Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing, guys.
Technorati Tags: Sprint, Xohm WiFi, Famous Amos, InterBank, TomatoBank, Washington Mutual, WaMu, Company Naming Changes, Strategic Name Development.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:11 AM
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August 20, 2007
Product Line Extensions - The Awful and the Brilliant
When I saw an ad for Crisco Extra Virgin Olive Oil, I cringed.
I couldn't think of a more inappropriate or awful product line extension.
The Crisco brand connotes:
- Deep frying
- Fat
- Grease
- Clogged arteries
- Everything else that extra virgin olive oil is not
What were the people at P&G thinking? I'm convinced that someone at P&G let this out the door when deep down they knew better.
For more on inappropriate line extensions, check out Laura Ries' blog on Hellman's Mayonnaise versus Kraft's Miracle Whip.
Now for a brilliant line extension.
What could be more natural than a rum from Tommy Bahama?
- Tommy Bahama by virtue of its name says warm, relaxed and a casual environment
- The leading rum brand, Bacardi, is produced in the Bahamas
- Additionally, what could be more natural than wearing Tommy Bahama clothing while sipping rum in the Bahamas or the Caribbean, the birthplace of rum dating back to the 17th century?
Crisco Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Awful.
Tommy Bahama Rum. Brilliant.
Technorati Tags: Product Line Extensions, Crisco, Crisco Olive Oil, Tommy Bahama, Tommy Bahama Rum, P & G, Bacardi, Brand Names.
Posted by William Lozito at 9:44 AM
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August 14, 2007
Pony Brand Name Rides Again
I've said it before and I'll say it again: sometimes you just can't keep a good brand name down.
One well-loved brand that is coming back from oblivion is Pony Sneakers, which once were worn by Pele, Muhammad Ali and Dan Marino.
This is a brand name that will give anyone who was in high school in the 80s a serious flashback... and it seems that 80s brand names are experiencing a resurgence in general: just look at Camp Beverly Hills, Le Tigre and La Coste... not to mention Jaeger.
In an article posted on George Torok's marketing blog, Kevin Keller states that Pony's problem is that it is trapped in limbo between a fashion brand and a sports brand. On the one hand they want big time athletes to wear their sports shoes, on the other they (briefly) hired porn star Jenna Jameson to represent the name.
I think that there is a good chance that the Pony brand could make it, not least because it has a high degree of recognition among a pretty large target market.
But I think it's a bad idea to offend parents with your advertising, especially when they are the ones who will be buying shoes for school.
Call me crazy, but I really think the only industry that should be using porn stars as brand ambassadors is the adult entertainment industry.
Technorati Tags: Pony Brand Shoes, Camp Beverly Hills, Le Tigre, La Coste, Jenna Jameson, Jaeger, Brand Naming.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:13 AM
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August 10, 2007
i-Brand Naming Getting iNfuriating?
I have written before about the trend of using a lower case "e" in brand naming... as well as most other lowercase prefixes, including "mi" and "u".
The prevalence of the lowercase "i" in marketing and branding, another subject that has been on my mind for a while, has caught the exasperated eye of The New York Times, which published a great article today proclaiming that "For Many Campaigns, the Little i's Have It" and gives us a great list of "i" friendly brand names, including Friendly's iScream (I was waiting for the ice cream guys to catch on).
Ominously, one exec is quoted regarding all this i-copycat brand naming thus: "I original. I flattered. I did this a decade ago."
Certainly Marshall Lager at destinationCRM is getting a bit tired of it all.
Lager says that "We are witnessing a revolution in corporate naming, ladies and gentlemen: the de-interCapping of American business."
Even Microsoft is struggling with this new brand naming scheme, albeit clumsily: the new
Could it be that once Microsoft has gotten around to a product naming trend, you can pretty much declare it dead? Technorati Tags: The New York Times, Friendly's iScream, Marshall Lager, destinationCRM, Microsoft, IPTV, Brand Naming.
Posted by William Lozito at 11:54 AM
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If the phrase "I deserve a hot, juicy burger" doesn't make you think about a red wig-wearing man, you're probably not bringing home the bacon... or the Baconator&trade. The burger has two quarter-pound patties of fresh, never frozen beef, six strips of hickory-smoked bacon, American cheese, ketchup and mayonnaise. Blogger Mr. Baconpants called the Baconator the "mother of all bacon cheeseburgers," and another who tried the burger said that it "might have been perfect."
The burger's new brand name has also been receiving a warm reception: VH1's Best Week Ever blog commented on it, saying, "What a name! "The Baconator" It's perfect!" The Baconator sandwich owes its name to Strategic Name Development. We worked with Wendy's to develop a brand name that would highlight the impressive amount of bacon in a clever, playful way as well as encompass the substantial amount of beef and cheese. The name brings to mind the well-known Terminator character while the burger's name has taken on a character of its own in television advertising and a Baconator music contest. "We are thrilled with Strategic Name Development's exceptionally fresh approach to naming combined with their rigorous name research methodology," said Mario Smith, Director, Core Business Innovation New Product Development for Wendy's. For more information about Wendy's Baconator, visit Wendy's. Technorati Tags: Strategic Name Development, Wendy's International Inc., Baconator, BrandName, Brand Naming.
Posted by William Lozito at 7:40 AM
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This week's news that China's shares hit a new high underlines why company name changes often are made to appeal to this ever-expanding market. Our proprietary 2006 Company Naming Changes Report profiles companies across the business spectrum that are interested in appealing to Chinese customers and partners, ranging from financial houses to technology companies. This month, Nevada-based EASY Groups Limited changed its name to China Bionanometer Industries Corporation. All in all, at least 23 companies got the memo last year and changed their company name to include the word "China" or "Asia" In fact, the establishment of the dot-asia domain might be what SFGate calls "a new era of social, cultural and commercial cross-pollination on the world's fastest-growing and most populous continent." This news comes just as many United States businesses are discovering that it is harder and harder to find Asian partners to get into China, despite the fact that laws in this regard seem to be getting looser... and more expensive. Our report's "East Side Story" chapter outlines China-friendly company name changes that seem to be popping up with some regularity. Technorati Tags: Company Naming Changes Report, Strategic Name Development, Business Week, Evolve One, Inc., China Direct, Comet Technologies, China Sky One Medical, EASY Groups Limited, China Bionanometer Industries Corporation.
Posted by William Lozito at 1:18 PM
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The Beckham brand name is marching on even if David Beckham himself is benched with an ankle injury. The launch quietly went off last Thursday and the perfumes have been well received so far: Intimately Beckham Man is a "modern woodsy-spicy scent" while the Woman version smells of "lilies, tuberose, vanilla, sandalwood and orange blossoms." The ad the Beckhams have been using across the pond, however, might need to be revamped... I simply do not recognize either of them in the picture. For instance, Victoria and David on the Victoria Beckham blog shows a much rougher looking bloke covered in tattoos. This couple clearly has an empire going: the fragrance line, which includes David Beckham's Instinct is going to ring up $100 million, and Victoria is working on a line of sunglasses and clothing which already includes the VB Rocks denim jeans. Their photo shoot last month in a seedy hotel probably heralds a new, rougher image for the American market, illustrating that the brand name can easily change with the times, even when Becks isn't on the field. Will it succeed? Of course. One gets the feeling that Victoria Beckham is a savvy manager of this multimillion dollar brand name, and we will be bending it like Beckham long after David retires from football (soccer in the US) and Posh Spice is but a memory. Technorati Tags: David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Intimately Beckham, Rocka dn Republic Jeans, VB Rocks, Brand Naming, Brand Names.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:13 AM
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The Los Angeles Times has been running a series of stories on how savvy marketers are helping to build brand name drugs in patients' minds, often enabling the patient to suggest the drugs he or she wants at a medical consultation. The so-called sanctuary in which a doctor prescribes a drug to a sick patient has been breached thanks to marketers who are getting to the patients first... in 2006 they spent a cool $5 billion advertising drugs to us. Fact is, according to the follow-up piece, the marketing work and patients and doctors alike are affected by it, even when they think they are not (doctors often mistakenly feel they are above mundane things like brand name marketing, despite the fact that they tend to like the same expensive cars, soft drinks and gold clubs as the rest of us mortals). Last week John Russell of the Indianapolis Star noted that brand name drugs are the "new stars of TV," with characters routinely mentioning certain brand names: Tony Soprano takes Prozac, Doctors on ER shout for ReoPro and when a character is feeling amorous on 30 Rock, he takes Ciallis, an erectile dysfunction drug made by Lilly... as are the preceding drugs. The drug industry is not completely happy with all this: the jokes about Botox and Viagra and Xanax obviously do not help their brand name equity. We are an aging nation that fills more and more prescriptions yearly... and the more brand name drugs we have at our fingertips, the better. Technorati Tags: Brand Name Drugs, Botox, Viagra, Xanax, DXL 625, Prozac, ReoPro, Lilly.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:12 AM
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Gas stations notoriously have a hard time achieving brand name loyalty from customers. Why? Because we are simply not loyal to gas stations, despite the fact that we all recognize the various brand names. We may insist on the same brand name cola or perfume but when it comes to gas stations, we'll take just about anything. Gas is gas, right? (Imagine Coke&trade saying "cola is cola" or Google saying "all search engines are pretty much alike.") We are really loyal to car brand names, but not to the stuff we put in the cars. This has led many gas station brand names to take some desperate measures to lure customers, like offering all kinds of activities at the station itself as well as additives to the gas you pump into your car. Guys, guys... it's not about the gas. It's about brand naming! They are also getting the Citgo stores along the Pike to switch to the Gulf brand name... what a breakthrough. Ironically, Gulf is really a ghost brand that bears no real relation to the famous oil company of 1901. Gulf Oil was bought in 1984 by Chevron and Cumberland Farms Inc. bought rights to the brand in 1994 to set up Gulf Oil LP jointly with Catamount Petroleum Corp. Chevron still owns the name. Using the Gulf name along the Pike is all about trying to encourage New England customers to show some regional loyalty. Technorati Tags: Gulf Oil LP, Citgo, Chevron, Cumberland Farms Inc., Catamount Petroleum Corp.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:26 AM
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A Mexican restaurant chain based in Delaware changed its name from La Tolteca to La Tonalteca. Although the new name, La Tonalteca, has an interesting translation (the lady or queen from Tonala) it strikes me as a difference without a distinction versus the original La Tolteca name. Although this linguistic origin of the new restaurant name, is very interesting, I'm wondering, just wondering, if the average Joe or Jane will see a difference between the two restaurant brand names. I said as much in a recent article in the Delaware NewsJournal. Technorati Tags: La Tolteca, La Tonalteca, Delaware NewsJournal.
Posted by William Lozito at 8:59 AM
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Flash forward to 2007. Today, international packaged food products can cross borders at the click of a mouse... creating entirely new markets for what was once a niche specialty. As a result, savvy food marketers from all over the world are queuing up to list their packaged products with online specialty retailers, grocery delivery services and even on eBay. Here are some naming and branding product examples that could have benefited from a second linguistic opinion. Technorati Tags: Hungarian Peppers, Portuguese Sardines, Spanish Fig Cakes, Shito, Batata, Cock Soup.
Posted by Diane Prange at 10:59 AM
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An interesting post has been published by The Conceptualist that looks at the way established brand names are now referring to themselves in the press using their domain name. Our proprietary analysis of company name changes showed a definate obvious shift away from dot-com names. I'm wondering, just wondering, if we're going full circle with dot-com names beginning to become in vogue again? Could this be due to the Web 2.0 influence. Or is this just another example of the natural rhythm of nature. What's out is in, and what's in is out, back to what's out is in. But The Conceptualist has identified the fact that while the company's official name may not be a dot-com, they are happy to refer to themselves that way. That's a darn good observation, and illustrates the fluidity of company naming. Although it's obviously becoming easier for companies to simply refer to themselves as domain names if they want to drive traffic to their site, it also makes having a domain name that is pretty close to your company name or brand name much more important. Obviously, your domain name has become a crucial part of naming a business. In any event, the real game here, of course, is getting people to come to your web site without having to type in the domain directly. Technorati Tags: The Conceptualist, ABC.com, Advanced Internet Technologies, AIT.com, Twentieth Century Fox, The Simpsons Movie.
Posted by William Lozito at 10:33 AM
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Some names in the gaming world are legendary.
August 8, 2007
Wendy's Baconator Brand Name Created by Strategic Name Development
Bloggers and food critics everywhere have been writing about the Baconator, Wendy's latest burger release, with one writer calling it "frighteningly, fabulously delicious."
August 7, 2007
Company Naming Changes: Moving East
And if you want to appeal to China, you want to come across as green and Asian friendly... something that BusinessWeek wrote about as far back as 2005.
Evolve One Inc.'s switch to China Direct and Comet Technologies' switch to China Sky One Medical are perfect examples of companies throwing their focus totally on China. 
Seems that Chinese customers want to do business not only with environmentally friendly companies, but also with companies that reference them, their needs, and their culture.
The Beckham Brand Name Smells of Money
Next month US shoppers will be able to buy David and Victoria's Intimately Beckham fragrance line.
August 6, 2007
Patients Asking for Drugs By Their Brand Name: Naming Companies Rejoice
But at the end of the day, new drug names are designed to be memorable: InNexus' new drug is the DXL 625, which the Arizona Central says "sounds like the name of a luxury car."
August 3, 2007
Gas Stations Need Better Brand Naming
At least one company is getting the message: Gulf Oil LP is switching the 11 stations it owns along the Mass Pike from Exxon to its own brand this month on "one of its biggest moves yet to promote New England's only major locally based gas brand."
July 31, 2007
Are These Mexican Restaurant Brand Names Different or Similar?
The basic reason for the change is that they did not register its original restaurant brand name, La Tolteca. You guessed it, other Mexican restaurants opened up with the same La Tolteca name.
July 27, 2007
International Product Naming and Branding: New Improved Shito is Hard to Digest
Remember those Hungarian Peppers, Portuguese Sardines and Spanish Fig Cakes your Uncle Bob and Aunt Bertha brought back from their European tour in '72? The sheer uniqueness of the hard-to-find food products made them a valuable and treasured gift... in fact, they were almost too good to eat. 
But a word of caution is long overdue. Some of these products names do not translate well into the international language of commerce: English.
July 26, 2007
Are Domain Names Becoming Brand Names in the Press?
The Conceptualist points out that ABC refers to themselves as ABC.com and that Advanced Internet Technologies refers to themselves at AIT.com. 
This is all probably ringing a bell at Twentieth Century Fox, who just won its suit against a cybersquatter over The Simpsons Movie domain name.
July 18, 2007
Legendary Game Boy Brand Name To Be Retired