November 20, 2008
Most Memorable New Product Naming of 2008 Not That New
It seems that 2008 was a bad year for product launches. Americans, distracted by the economy and the election, were woefully unaware of new product names.
Even the Nintendo Wii Fit, which was the most memorable new product launch as determined by a recent survey, was only recalled by 22% of respondents.
Americans appear to be clinging to tried and trusted brand names, as evidenced by the fact that the launches that proved most memorable to consumers were all orchestrated by well-known, established brand names.
As evidence, following the Wii Fit was the iPod Touch, Bud Light Lime, and McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Biscuit & Sandwich.
Part of this is the obvious affect of logo recognition, which always plays its part. But even with a memorable logo, never forget that failure can lurk just around the corner. The Wii Fit was popular, but Wii Music isn't living up to expectations.
Even the big names are resorting to interesting means of differentiating themselves to win over consumers.
McDonald's, another winner this year, is quietly trying to leverage the Quarter Pounder brand name by introducing stand alone stores in Japan that surprisingly do not have the golden arches and simply sell, you guessed it, Quarter Pounders.
Of course we cannot forget the role that packaging also plays in the successful launch of new products.
One way to get customers to instantly like a new product, in coordination with a new product name, is to try and get around annoying packaging.
There is a virtual revolt going on over "clamshell packaging." The disgust on the blogoshere over this kind of packaging was sparked by a recent New York Times article that notes that many established brands like Sony, Amazon, and Best Buy are offering user friendly alternatives to avoid "Wrap Rage," which is defined as the frustration we all feel after spending hours opening up packaging designed to cut us or tear our fingernails.
So when releasing a new product into struggling economic conditions, keep in mind that everything from the product name to the user-friendly packaging all play its part in determining success.
Technorati Tags: Product Launches, Product Naming, Product Naming, Brand Names, Logo Recognition, Packaging, Wii Fit, iPod
Posted by William Lozito at 8:05 AM
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November 19, 2008
Answering the Brand Naming Question: "What's In a Name?"
One of the benefits of being a naming company is getting the opportunity to work in many diverse businesses and industries both domestically and globally.
It's surprising to us at Strategic Name Development that although the businesses and industries may vary, the naming challenges are more similar than dissimilar.
And yet, despite these similarities, every single day is different. It makes for interesting work and reminds me of what Confucius says about one's career: "Find something you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
We love what we do.
From time to time the media contacts us for a story on some of the work that we've done. The subject of brand name development seems to have inherent interest to the press.
A recent Finance and Commerce article, that targets senior executives, featured Strategic Name Development. Yes, it mentions 
some of the names we created, like Cenovus, an oil company spinoff from EnCana, and the Baconator, and Maxtra, a global motorcycle brand for the number one motorcycle manufacturer in China.
But what you may find even more interesting is our thoughts on the name development process discussed in the article.
Technorati Tags: Brand Naming, Brand Name Development, Finance and Commerce, Maxtra, Baconator, Cenovus, EnCana
Posted by William Lozito at 8:13 AM
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November 18, 2008
Rescue Plan Linguistics: A Bailout by Any Other Name
Attempts to euphemize the $700 billion bailout seem to have been largely unsuccessful so far.
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal , and NPR all continue to refer to a "bailout" in their headlines, even if they use more formal terminology later on in their stories, while a Google Blog Search produces nearly 1 million results for the same term.
Part of the difficulty with the implementation of the plan may be because of the alternatives we've given to "bailout."
Take "Troubled Asset Relief Program." While the American economy is definitely in need of relief, what exactly are troubled assets? Are they more like troubled waters, or troubled minds? Do we build bridges over them, or send them for counseling? "Toxic assets" seems much closer to the mark, though the word "worthless" does occur to a mind that insists on calling a spade a bloody shovel.
And then there's the acronym "TARP." One generally spreads a tarp over things to protect them. Fine, insofar as it goes, but a tarpaulin protects things by covering them up. Frankly, a bailout sounds more above-board than a cover-up.
More than a year ago, the banks tried to stave off debt problems by creating a "Super SIV." To the non-investor, that sounds like a weapon.
As for the "Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit," that sounds like something you might need that bloody shovel to dig through.
There are probably more reasons than bad brand naming that necessitated more drastic measures a year later, but we have to wonder if nominal polymorphism contributes to the continual redefinition of the 2008 bailout plan.
Technorati Tags: Bailout, Brand Naming, TARP, Troubled Asset Relief Program, Super SIV, Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit, Linguistics
Posted by Diane Prange at 8:48 AM
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November 17, 2008
The Difficulty of Brand Naming Punctuation
Buffalo, NY has a great new museum: The Burchfield-Penney Art Center. Or is it the Burchfield Penney Art Center?
A recent Buffalo News article spells it with hyphen as does the Burchfield-Penny Art Center website, while an article published one day earlier noted that the actual sign did away with the hyphen. The museum's head of marketing and PR says the hyphen "sort of went away through the process" as the museum rebranded itself.
Ironically, the museum has actually had an exhibition called "Art On the Hyphen: Cuban-American Artists of Western New York State."
Far be it for me to suggest that this is more of a mistake than a rebranding effort. The hyphen can be a very pesky piece of punctuation to handle in any naming process and is easily forgotten.
Too bad nobody warned the poor kid who changed his name to "Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk and The Flash Combined." Neat name, but "Spiderman" is technically spelled "Spider-Man," a fact that was not forgotten by the movies.
In reality, the hyphen is often misused by the press and it's no surprise that this slip-up also crosses over into brand naming.
Hyphens are especially difficult to incorporate into domain names since consumers frequently forget about it.
However, the real mix-up comes with apostrophe errors, which appear in the marketing efforts of top brand names and even is seen on some stamps.
Keeping track of little things like punctuation is what being in name development is all about. For those of you who think you have the apostrophe under control, take this test to see if you are really "apostrophe proof."
Technorati Tags: Punctuation, Hyphens, Apostrophe, Brand Naming, Naming, Branding, Burchfield-Penny Art Center, Spider-Man
Posted by William Lozito at 11:03 AM
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November 14, 2008
The Pleasure of Brand Naming the New Piacci Premium Italian Cheese
Who doesn't like Italian food?
With a last name like Lozito, I may be a bit biased. However, I've had the opportunity to travel to many countries on many continents and in my opinion Italian food is hard to beat. Wiener schnitzel anyone? :)
I also have the privileged of bringing to your attention a line of high-quality Italian cheeses that allow us to savor the rich tradition of authentic Italian foods with the new Piacci™ brand.
Piacci™, as you may know, comes from the Italian word "piacere" which means pleasure. What could be more pleasurable than a traditional Italian meal with authentic Italian cheese?
"Now everyone can savor the premium Italian cheese experience with family and friends," said Kirk Scott, Director of Retail Marketing.
The Strategic Name Development team found partnering with the Piacci™ marketing team at Grande was the extra ingredient that allowed us to create a beautiful Italian name - Piacci™.
Please see the video link below to watch Judy Sipe, Chief Culinary Officer of The Food Channel™, discuss how to make a white pizza with Piacci™ cheese.
Technorati Tags: Piacci, Brand Naming, Product Naming, Name Development, Naming, Grande, Italian Food, Cheese
Posted by William Lozito at 10:03 AM
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November 13, 2008
Retro Brand Names and New Slogans Hit the Slopes Despite Economic Woes
Now is the time of year when skiers start heading to the stores to buy their equipment and season tickets, and this year the ski world has adopted a "why worry?" attitude towards the recession.
The thinking behind this viewpoint is that skiers are passionate about their sport and are willing to spend for it even in tough times. Over the next few weeks we'll see if that optimism is truly well-placed.
One thing is for sure, there's plenty to buy. New mid-fat skis retail between $700-$900 before you buy the bindings and the new "Grizzly" ski from marker with Marker bindings will set you back $1600. And if you're going to buy that, you may as well spring for the Swamy g.cell ski gloves with a built in cell phone for $500. I know that at least one member of our team is tempted to get both.
In addition to all the expensive new gear, Ski resorts are working hard to pull skiers back to the slopes by appealing to the "soulful" element of the sport.
In fact, Ski Idaho's new slogan is "Idaho &mdash The Soul of Skiing."
DC (an extreme sports equipment manufacturer) is also making an effort at marketing wordplay by selling snowboard's with its "Enjoy the Ride More" campaign (note that word more - in tough times, consumers are certainly searching for more).
Utah ski stores are cautiously expecting the best, but Vail, Colorado is taking no chances. They have put an extra half million into promoting the resort, referring to the national economic situation as an "emergency."
The slogan "Ever Vail" has been one output from this effort, which wonderfully appeals to the timelessness of the sport, but I would also think that bringing back retro brand names like Dynastar Twister is a smart marketing decision as well.
Skiers are loyal to their sport, which also suggests that they are loyal to their sports' brands. Offering retro brand names and promoting areas by emphasizing their emotional appeal is definitely a good way to start enticing skiers back to the powdery peaks.
The real appeal of skiing is that it is a passion handed down from parents to children and sometimes all people need is just a little reminder of why they love it so much in the first place.
Technorati Tags: Skiing, Skiing Brands, Slogans, Brand Naming, Branding, Marketing, Economic Marketing
Posted by William Lozito at 10:12 AM
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November 10, 2008
A Domain Name Brand Naming Controversial Sale
Naming and branding is becoming a whole lot trickier thanks to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' decision to sell an unnumbered amount of new domain name suffixes. This flood of new domain name sales is expected to lead to major companies having to spend extravagantly just to protect the integrity of their brand names online.
Marriott and New York Life are already expressing their displeasure over the rules that could force banks to buy up all domain suffixes like ".hotels" or ".bank."
It's a controversal subject that I have written about before and will not go away.
There is no doubt that finding available domain names is difficult with 70 million domain names already taken, including all 3 to 4 letter combinations as well as most, if not all, of the words found in the dictionary. In fact, some groups now focus on purchasing expired names for reuse.
Since some people see domain names as an investment, over 80% of the registered domain names out there do not even have a site attached to them and are just waiting for a large corporate buyout.
It is debatable what the cost will be to companies or even what the effect of this rush of new suffixes will ultimately be, but it is frightening to think of some of the possible outcomes.
For instance, malicious programmers could easily create a bogus New York Life site with a new suffix like ".insurance" and start collecting private info from unsuspecting consumers.
It looks like the Internet is "going to get alot crazier." Anyone with a couple hundred dollars to spend will suddenly be empowered to grab a branded domain with a new suffix.
These new domain name regulations will certainly have a direct effect on the management of a company's brand naming which will likely create an entirely new set of challenges for people in the naming business.
We at Strategic Name Development will be watching these events with great interest and preparing ourselves accordingly.
Technorati Tags: Domain Names, Brand Naming, Naming, Domain Suffixes, Internet Corporation, Branding
Posted by William Lozito at 8:08 AM
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