October 21, 2008
Buckypaper: A Naming and Branding Strength or Weakness?
I have no idea why the inventors of so many new, interesting products seem to actually go out of their way to get silly names appended to their inventions. Today's case in point is Buckypaper.
Yes, you read that right. Buckypaper.
No, this is not really nubbly sandpaper, nor is it dental paper for buck teeth. In fact, this isn't paper at all. Buckypaper is actually "The tube-shaped variation of the buckminsterfullerene molecule" which can be dispersed in liquid and turned into a very, very strong film that's 10 times lighter, but 500 times stronger than steel. Say hello to new planes, cars and homes made of this interesting material.
Did I mention that buckminsterfullerene is referred to as "buckyballs," so nicknamed by its Nobel Prize Winning discoverer?
That's right, the miracle substance of the next generation starts out life as buckyballs and then evolves into Buckypaper. 
Although surprisingly, this might not even be the silliest prototype name I have seen this month - the (probably fictional) High Five-o-Meter gets that label - but it is close. A second runner-up is The Insecta, the product name for a new concept car that looks sort of like a . . . well, you know.
Hey, at least the Insecta has a name, the new, incredible eBook reader by Plastic Logic is still in the midst of its own product naming process.
However, in the case of Buckypaper, a bad name might actually be far worse than no name at all. You definitely won't see me stepping into an airplane made out of Buckypaper any time soon.
Technorati Tags: Buckypaper, Buckminsterfullerene, Buckyballs, The Insecta, Concept Car, Naming and Branding, High Five-o-Meter, Product Naming, Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 11:11 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
October 2, 2008
Does Brand Name Product Placement Work?
It is no surprise that the new James Bond movie will have some serious brand name placement, but the real big winners will be Aston Martin, Omega watches, Smirnoff, Virgin, Heineken and Ocean Sky, a British private jet company.
Now one may wonder how much product placement factors into the minds of consumers, but it is tough to argue against the fact that Bond's cruising around in an Aston Martin has helped Aston become the coolest overall brand name in the UK.
Placing brand names in movies is something moviegoers have come to expect, but music lovers are also getting their share of them as well.
Busta Rhymes and Diddy's (previously know as Puff Daddy) "Pass the Courvoisier Part Two" pushed up the sales of the refined Courvoisier cognac by a whopping 20%. It's my guess that the new buyers were not habitual drinkers, but were major rap fans.
According to one site that tracks product placement worldwide, Variety magazine and Apple have seen plenty of airtime on the HBO hit series Entourage. Of course this is nothing out of the ordinary, Apple seems to be everywhere these days. I just had to laugh when I saw Al Pacino in 88 Minutes playing a college professor who was literally surrounded by Apple logos as he taught.
This leads me to wonder if there are not some uniquely placable product names. I take my hat off to Busta and Diddy for actually working an awkward word like Courvoisier into a song, although I should add that my favorite rap product placement of all-time was Jay-Z's use of the even more awkward Armand de Brignac in a pointed "dis" at the easier to rhyme Cristal.
Besides pronunciation, there are other difficulties, like getting macho James Bond to fly on something called "Ocean Sky," which is probably almost as hard as associating his name with "Virgin."
Although, the biggest jaw dropper is that Bond won't ask for that "shaken, not stirred martini," something that must have been a disappointment for Smirnoff.
It really seems to me that certain brand names have to start to ask themselves what they'd sound like in a rap song, or how they'll look on the big screen for a second and a half.
Technorati Tags: James Bond, Naming and Branding, Product Placement, Aston Martin, Courvoisier, 007, Brand Naming, Quantum of Solace, Movie Product Placement, Music Product Placement, Ocean Sky, Diddy, Jay-Z, Brand Names
Posted by William Lozito at 9:25 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
September 29, 2008
How Much Does Gender Affect Naming?
Genderizing brand naming is a tricky business.
Some brand names that are meant to appeal to women seem to fail despite the "can't miss" odds. One example is DC's Minx line of graphic novels (including Re-Gifters, pictured right), while some feminine sounding brand names aimed at men, like Claiborne, seem to do quite well.
L'eggs panty hose is a great brand name for women and Marlboro is a masculine brand name cigarette that appeals to men, but also had plenty of crossover appeal to females.
Things get even trickier with fragrances. Men seem content embracing both masculine and feminine brand names when it comes to colognes, such as Ralph Lauren's macho sounding "Safari" name, as well as more unisex names like "Chic."
And then there is Chanel's "Pour Monsieur," which received a great review in a recent article in The Independent. Most would assume that taking one of the most feminine names out there and tacking "Pour Monsieur" to it to attract men wouldn't work, but in this case, it most certainly did.
On the other hand, cigarette makers have discovered that women appear to prefer the taste of feminine sounding brand name cigarettes to those with more masculine names, even when the test groups taste the exact same product. If this were not the case, Camel would not likely offer us the sexy sounding "No. 9" brand cigarette.
Not surprisingly, consumers seem just as willing to apply genderized naming to cars. More feminine sounding names seem to attract women, while hard, masculine names appeal more to men. For example, take a look at the top ten cars for women, which all have polite, demure names like Miata (pictured above), Sentra, Fit and Civic.
That said, women also seem to be turned on by the sound of high performance cars that have wonderful, lyrical, and dare I say it, feminine sounding names like Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari. This was actually uncoverd by some research sponsored by a company called "Hiscox." No joke.
Technorati Tags: Gender, Brand Naming, Minx, Marlboro, L'eggs, Safari, Chic, Fragrance Naming, Pour Monsieur, Camel, Car Naming, Feminine Naming, Masculine Naming, Hiscox, Brand Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 11:02 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
September 8, 2008
Trademark and Naming: the Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Trademark law is a special interest of mine, not least because I am always interested in how good brand names are used (licensed) and misused (trading off someone's brand equity).
The Good: Lamborghini is now licensing its name for office equipment, which looks pretty interesting to a car loving desk jockey.
They also have licensed their name for a men's jewelry line. Here we see high end, finely crafted products that reflect well upon the mother brand: the watches offer "classic styling and superior performance under the most demanding conditions."
The Bad: AAA is defending its well known trademark against various pretenders, including one outfit called 
AAA Smogz and another company based in Tacoma called AAA Insurance, Inc.
The real question is whether or not there is a likelihood of confusion between the real AAA and a few imitators? The obvious answer, yes! The real AAA offers insurance and of course car related products and services. Many would consider this outright theft and we wish the real AAA well in its efforts to protect its very recognizable brand name.
The Ugly: The Tata Nano, India's answer to The Beetle, already had its clever naming poached by . . . bakers? Small time fruit cake makers in India are using the Nano name to sell their products and there is nothing that Tata can do about it. What's makes this even more interesting is that these fruitcakes just grab any name that is in the news and run with it. "People may not have any idea of the product or its quality but they will want to 
buy one just out of curiosity." This has led some people to think that auto giant Tata is now in the cake biz.
You have to wonder what Steve Jobs is thinking. Some people think Tata grabbed the Nano name after seeing the success of the iPod Nano.
Technorati Tags: Lamborghini, AAA, AAA Insurance, Inc, Tata Nano, iPod Nano, Nano, Trademark, Brand Naming
Posted by Diane Prange at 10:34 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
August 21, 2008
Ghost Brand Naming Haunts Hard Times
I'm haunted by ghost brand names that often tend to reappear during economic downturns, or so says the New York Times.
The cost of introducing new brand names into the market can be even more frightening than resurrecting the dead, and this has meant that some brands are walking among us that we once believed to be buried.
Eagle Snacks is one example. Surprisingly, 6 out of 10 adults remember the brand. It would cost between $300 and $500 million to get those types of numbers with a new snacks brand, so welcome back, Eagle Snacks.
But there also tends to be a new twist on the beloved brand names that keep resurfacing. Eagle Snacks has added brand extensions named Bursts and Poppers, while the Alka-Seltzer brand has been revived with its own extension called Wake-Up Call.
Even credit card branding has ghost brands that seem to come back as sub-brands or are kept alive, marketed to select groups.
Old car brands might be floating over to Europe and Asia, specifically Oldsmobile, Le Sabre, Park Avenue and Century.
In addition, Miller is reviving its "Great Taste, Less Filling" ads.
But the real brand naming comeback of the year is Hydrox cookies, which is a brand that simply will not die thanks to avid consumer activism.
This means thousands of phone calls, petitions and, of course, an online campaign that was started by one loyal cookie fan. Other bloggers have even asked Kellogg's to start a Hydrox-Oreo taste test.
More and more brand naming is getting into the hands of people who just will not let a good brand RIP.
Technorati Tags: Eagle Snacks, Miller, Hydrox Cookies, Car Brands, Ghost Brands
Posted by William Lozito at 9:15 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
August 19, 2008
Pontiac G8 ST Naming Trumps El Camino, Truck Norris
Pontiac has decided to name its new sport truck the G8 ST despite a concerted movement by fans to resurrect the El Camino name as part of Pontiac's Tame the Name contest.
There have been irritated grumblings in the blogosphere about the fact that Pontiac actually started with this name, and after 80,000 entries and 18,000 distinct names were submitted, decided to stick with it.
GM claims it "thought long and hard about El Camino," but also noticed a trend in the submissions towards simpler names.
The G8 ST is certainly not the worst names out there, but it does end a big naming contest with a whimper. (The prize was given at random to one of the entrants).
I think that there are a few things that we can take away here.
First of all, truck naming is very difficult. 18,000 names are actually not that many, considering that many of them (like Truck Norris, for example) would be unusable in addition to the thousands of others that would already be taken.
Secondly, taking a name like El Camino out of mothballs might work from a nostalgic point of view but not from a sales perspective. Times have simply changed since the days of the Diablo, the Caballero and other Spanish inspired names.
Fact is, alphanumeric vehicle naming is here to stay, even if people think that the Pontiac G8 ST GXP sounds like "alphabet soup."
Technorati Tags: Pontiac, Pontiac G8 ST, El Camino, Truck Norris, Tame the Name Contest
Posted by William Lozito at 7:56 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
August 8, 2008
Classic Car Naming and Branding for Sale
The legendary Packard name is coming up for sale along with a nifty new prototype. Total cost will be $1.5 million including the ten-year-old car, which looks like "an unholy cross between a Jaguar S and a Morgan Aero 8."
The company did not depart gracefully in 1958 and the car is not what one might describe as beautiful. So, it is possible that a better option would be purchasing the Duesenberg brand name, which comes with plans for some nifty looking cars as well as the Estate golf cart, all of which would give you some Jay Gatsby, "roaring twenties" street cred.
It is interesting to note that the expression "it's a doozy" is based upon the Duesenberg brand name, but it seems that the intervening decades since Duesneberg's collapse in 1929 has made this expression rather negative; one only hears "it's a doozy" when talking about some horrible mistake.
Technorati Tags: Packard, Duesenberg, Classic Car Brands, Doozy
Posted by William Lozito at 7:56 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
