May 13, 2008
The Clinton Brand Name Keeps Getting Stronger
There’s been some talk in the press about the Clinton brand name and how her recent struggles might negatively affect its equity.
I always find this type of discussion interesting, if not amusing.
One strategic marketing site has created a very interesting brand architecture outline that essentially has users comparing presidential candidates across a variety of consumer categories, including “Cereal, Beer, Coffee, Apparel, Technology,” a subject very similar to something we blogged about last year.
Whether your liking for Rice Krispies will negatively affect the Clinton brand name, I cannot say. What I will risk saying is that win or loose the nomination, election, or even today's West Virginia primary, the Clinton brand name is not going to be tarnished for two reasons.
The first reason comes right out of Brand Naming 101: you cannot tarnish a brand name for doing what it is supposed to do.
What tarnishes a politician’s brand name is when they betray their basic brand values by doing something scandalous, dishonest or otherwise misinformed. Something that tarnishes the basic integrity of the brand name and all it stands for.
Love her or hate her, Hillary has yet to do that. She has fought hard and bitterly against Obama, but this is how she operates, and her supporters admire her for it.
The second reason is something we have blogged about in the past: Hillary has separated her personal brand from the Clinton Masterbrand and she has done so quite successfully. The Hillary brand name has never been more visible, strong, or vivid in my mind. I think that it is spurious to lump her simply as a Clinton.
After this is all over, count on the name Hillary to become just as big as the name Clinton.
Technorati Tags: Clinton, Hillary, Bill Clinton, Obama, Brand Name, Politics, Primary, Election, Masterbrand, Politician
Posted by William Lozito at 9:38 AM
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April 29, 2008
Hannah Montana Learns About Entertainment Naming and Branding the Hard Way
The world of entertainment naming is a difficult one to navigate and protect, as is evidenced by the uproar today over Miley Cyrus’s seemingly provocative photo shoot for Vanity Fair.
There are several big names here that are under fire: Miley Cryus (who just changed her name from Destiny Hope), Hannah Montana, Disney, and famed celeb photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Confused?
Cyrus is the fifteen year old star behind Disney’s clean-cut Hannah Montana brand name. This photo shoot, which was carried out apparently under parental supervision, is really an example of Annie Leibovitz just doing what she does best: creating edgy photos of people in the public eye. In this case, however, the person was a minor and some feel Leibovitz pushed the envelope a bit to far.
Miley Cyrus is topless in these pictures (if you’re the type who believes that being wrapped in a sheet is topless), which is a problem since Miley is, after all, a minor and Disney’s Hannah Montana target audience is 6-14 years old. Even Annie Leibovitz is on the defensive, despite the fact that Miley picked out the photos for publication herself.
Disney has weighed in, accusing Vanity Fair of "manipulating” Cyrus to get the sordid shots, which come after the embarrassing (but still essentially g-rated) pictures appeared on the Internet of the clean cut star.
People magazine readers overwhelmingly think the pictures are inappropriate, although many think they are “artistic." They could be both, but for a minor, the former trumps the latter.
I just have to ask how many youngsters are really reading Vanity Fair? I also have to ask what kind of contracts is Disney giving out to these kids?
I would imagine that if Disney was really thoughtful about protecting its brand naming, it might make partially nude photo shoots for stars of its pre-teen entertainment lines off limits.
Technorati Tags: Disney, Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana, Vanity Fair, People, Photo Shoot, Leibovitz
Posted by William Lozito at 8:56 AM
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April 23, 2008
Is Barbie Contributing to her Own Brand Naming Dilution?
The news that Barbie has seen her sales decline by 12% this year is worrying for Mattel, but surely surprising to any parent who has had to keep track of his daughter’s ever expanding collection of ubiquitous toys.
Barbie is still the number one brand name when it comes to girls toys, but girls seem to be pulled in many directions nowadays thanks to video games, iPods and Bratz dolls, to name a few.
Despite the slump, Barbie has experienced a rebirth in the last few years thanks to a whole slew of new movies that see her as empowered, strong and independent. But what does occur to me, as well as to the dads I know who are in the marketing biz and feverishly buy these DVDs for their daughters, is how the Barbie name has become something of a sub-brand when it comes to their naming and branding.
There’s Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper; Barbie: The Twelve Dancing Princesses; Barbie: The Island Princess as well as Barbie: Mermaidia and Barbie: Fairytopia. Not to mention Barbie: Mariposa (think butterflies).
Here’s where it gets tricky. In very few of these movies does Barbie actually get called, Barbie. In Island Princess she’s Rosella, and in Princess and the Pauper the two twin princesses are Annaliese and Erika. In 12 Dancing Princesses she is Gennevieve, and so on.
The idea here is for the viewer to assume that Barbie is playing different parts in the movies, but it’s a stretch. Especially for a five year old, who might feel she has a few Barbies as well as a Mariposa doll.
It looks to me like these are movies given the Barbie seal of approval, rather than movies that feature a character named Barbie (who does in fact speak to the kids when the DVD menu comes up with a cheery “Hi, it’s me, Barbie” but, like some kind of higher power bestowing blessings upon the tale, does not show her face).
Phew. A guy needs a cheat sheet just to keep abreast of all the different brand naming going on here.
With all of these new products being poured on the market, could Barbie be facing brand naming dilution?
Add the thousands of Barbie clones that are out there, and it seems to be that Mattel is contributing to its own problems by creating what look to me like Barbie knock-offs rather than real Barbies.
How about a few movies that star a young woman named Barbie?
Technorati Tags: Barbie, Mattel, Toys, Dolls, Bratz, Brand Name Dilution, Sub-brand, Movies, DVDs
Posted by William Lozito at 7:34 AM
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April 14, 2008
Shared Names Breed Kinship—But Only If Your Name is NOT Your Brand
The New York Times reported last week on an interesting side effect of the now commonplace practice of ego surfing (looking yourself up in Google). People are making friends with their Googlegängers for the same reason women named Virginia move to Virginia: we have a natural affinity for people, places, and things that share our names.
Well, usually. If your namesake happens to be a porn star, you might not be so amused. And if your name is your brand, you might feel just as annoyed by the existence of Googlegängers as record company Apple Corps Ltd did when Apple Inc. (then Apple Computer Inc.) decided to go into the music-selling business.
A company can trademark its brand name and defend it against infringement and domain squatting, within reason, anyway. Apple Inc. challenges aspiring new brand name trademarks with impartial ruthlessness.
But you can’t trademark your own personal name, and you’re not likely to get very far if you accuse someone else who has as much right to the name as you do of domain squatting in order to cash in on your success, unless you are already far more famous than they are.
So if you’re not fortunate enough to be the only person with your personal name to show up in Google, or at the very least the first one to register that name as a domain, you might be better off giving your company a unique, memorable brand name. That gives you a chance to trademark it, grab the “.com” version, and establish your brand.
What’s more, creating a strong association between your name and your company’s helps distinguish you from your Googlegängers when friends and family are trying to find you online.
Technorati Tags: Googleganger, Apple Inc, Apple Corps Ltd, Google, Domain Names, Personal Name
Posted by Diane Prange at 8:05 AM
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April 8, 2008
Dodge Journey Won't Stop Believing In Digital Brand Naming Promotion
The Dodge Journey is going to get a major online push today, with the introduction of the tagline, "If you can dream it, do it.”
A whopping 29% of Dodge's promotional media mix will be interactive, their “biggest digital outlay ever in terms of total dollars and percentage of the media buy” according to Ad Age.
The word Journey will play a pivotal role in the “Dodge Journey of a Lifetime” promotion and a series of videos for the NHL Playoffs entitled “Journey to the Cup.”
It’s a strong, evocative name, but it’s also hard for some us not to think of the cheesy 80s rock band “Journey,” which just announced its presence on Second Life. Their hit single “”Dream After Dream” comes to mind when you hear “If you can dream it, do it.”
And anyone who watched the end of the Sopranos remembers their song “Don’t Stop Believing,” which put the old time rockers back in the public consciousness.
Don’t laugh, the car is aimed at young singles and couples with small children. Plenty of the latter were subjected to those songs at at least one school dance.
Technorati Tags: Dodge, Journey, Rock Band, Don't Stop Belieiving, If you can dream it, do it, Journey the Band, Journey to the Cup, NHL
Posted by William Lozito at 7:54 AM
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April 4, 2008
Steinway Lyngdorf Sweet Sounding Brand Naming
Here is an example of a completely new brand name that can immediately grab huge market share from established competitors. The Steinway Lyngdorf brand for high end audio products is just irresistible.
Many of us who do not even play the piano know and revere the Steinway name. Extending it to an audio system means that non-pianists can grab some of that Steinway allure.
The secret here is that both brand names are leaders in their fields and they both have tremendous recognition in the marketplace.
The combination has acted as a “catapult,” sending the brand name to the top 5 of luxury
audio brand names according to the Luxury Institute Survey.
I’d add that the name Lyngdorf sounds German, just like Steinway does, and a German brand name connotes precision and high fidelity to most consumers in the audio field.
Nordic European naming seems to attract the audiophile with really deep pockets. Just ask Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Harman Kardon, or Klipsch.
Technorati Tags: Steinway Lyngdorf, Audio, Stereo, Luxury, German, Bose, Bang & Olufson, Harmon Kardon, Klipsch, Piano
Posted by William Lozito at 8:05 AM
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April 1, 2008
Does Social Media Need A New Name?
Thought Leader in South Africa has a great post up suggesting that social
media, including blogs, email, and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, needs a new name that will encompass the true marketing nature of all of these social forums. Gino Cosme of Think Leader believes that its a given that public relation agencies should be the ones to bring social media to a new level. His suggestion, therefore, is "social-media relations."
Hmmm. Well, he does lead us to an interesting post about social media marketing strategies but at least one very convincing blogger says that social media leadership will not come from the world of Public Relations.
I think that the name will stay for the time being, but I do agree that advertisers are not likely to take over the medium any time soon.
Technorati Tags: Social Media, Public Relations, Advertisers, Advertisers, Advertisers, MySpace, Facebook
Posted by William Lozito at 9:30 AM
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March 25, 2008
The History Channel Brand Name is History
The History Channel has shortened its name to simply History and has literally thought outside the box with its logo by taking it out of its box altogether. This follows the industry’s tendency to refer to a channel in a shortened version of its original name. In this case History.
TV Jab finds this move “slightly disturbing,” not because they have a problem with the name, but because of the perception that History (formerly the History Channel) is trying to become more “hip.”
At the same time, TV Squad notes that the channel is known in some quarters as “The Hitler Channel” because of the number of World War II documentaries you can see there and worries that the name will alienate its core audience. I don't think so. The channel's programming and its audience is much broader than its original focus on World War II. 
At least one civil war historian feels the same way, bemoaning the channel’s move towards “immersive” adventure documentaries about truckers and loggers.
The fact is, dropping the word channel from the name allows History to get into other forms of media. It’s a logical move on the part of the channel that many did not believe could be profitable in the first place.
The same thing was said about the Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Weather Channel and the original Financial News Channel. Oh, people thought Ted Turner "was crazy" when he established CNN, who would want to watch news 24/7? Apparently many people around the world, including world leaders.
Technorati Tags: History, World War II, History Channel, History, Brand Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 8:14 AM
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March 10, 2008
Brand Names and Meatball Sundaes
Phillip Davis from the Tungsten Branding Blog recently interviewed Seth Godin on his Name Game podcast. The proposed topic of discussion was whether a brand name can be a “meatball sundae.”
For those who haven’t read Godin’s latest book, a “meatball sundae” occurs when a company tries to use Web 2.0 marketing without changing its whole approach to doing business. I was a bit curious as to how a name could be a meatball sundae.
The interview didn’t really answer that question, but did include some memorable comments about product naming from the marketing guru who describes his job as “making a ruckus.”
First, Seth Godin makes the point during the interview that naming your company after a minor character in Moby-Dick is a move no branding expert would advise, but nevertheless Starbucks has been wildly successful.
“The name had nothing to do with their success. And words like Google and eBay are terrible, terrible names, and yet the products succeed despite the name. […] The future of every naming agency [is] not going to be coming up with clever window-dressing. […] Those are the most creative, most confident people in business. The clients need to let them in the door. They need to let them sit with the engineers, sit with the product designers, sit with the customer service people, and design experiences that people remember.”
That scenario seems unlikely to me at the moment, yet it would certainly ensure that those charged with naming a product knew its features and benefits inside out, and also knew the company culture. That kind of collaboration would unquestionably make it easier to come up with an appropriate name, even if it wouldn’t eliminate constraints like the need to find a name that hasn’t been trademarked yet.
Although Seth's advice is helpful, I think it's overly simplistic:
“Pick a name where you’re the only one, where you don’t have to pay a million dollars for the domain name, where you have the ability to spread the word from person to person to person without worrying about getting it misspelled, without worrying about it getting confused.”
The interview concludes with the following statement about the part brand names play in a business:
“The great companies, the great organizations, non-profits, schools, everything—are the ones who challenge our perception of the way the world is, and your name should do the same thing.”
For more of Seth Godin’s thoughts about naming, read the following posts from his blog:
• The new rules of naming
• Sloppy naming
• Being brave with names
• Naming a business
We might not agree with every statement in every post, but Seth Godin is always good, thought-provoking reading.
Technorati Tags: Seth Godin, Meatball Sunday, Name Game, Starbucks, Google, Brand Names, Naming
Posted by Diane Prange at 10:59 AM
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Tom Ford Gets Bond Brand Naming Blessing
I think that its fair to say that there are some brand names that the average American consumer would never have heard of if it wasn’t for James Bond. Think about the Lotus Esprit S1, or possibly the Aston Martin, and almost certainly the Walther PPK or P99.
The recent news that Tom Ford will be getting the nod to make the tux in the new Bond film is likely to help bring the designer further out of the Gucci spotlight and onto his own stage. Getting your brand naming entwined with Bond’s just makes sense.
The actual name of the new movie, Quantum of Solace, is based upon a 1960 short story by Ian Fleming. 
The movie will bring back many old friends from Casino Royale and none other than Amy Winehouse will be singing the title track.
Paul McCartney, who sang the title for 1973’s Live and Let Die, says “I definitely wouldn’t do it again. I have been trying to think of something to rhyme with ‘Solace’ and all I can come up with is ‘Wallace’! I don’t envy whoever is going to write the song!”
Technorati Tags: James Bond, Tom Ford, Casino Royale, 007, Live and Let Die, Quantum of Solace, Ian Fleming, Tux, Brand Naming, Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney, Aston Martin
Posted by William Lozito at 9:35 AM
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February 20, 2008
Kirstie Alley: Diet Brand Naming For The Rest of Us
The news that Kirstie Alley is going to start her own weight loss brand makes sense because so many people identify with her very public struggles with her weight.
She seems to be ready to leave Jenny Craig, where she has been the spokesperson for three years, with few regrets and best wishes to all.
Now, she has announced that she is the accidental role model for people who are struggling with the fatty roller coaster ride. Alley has a bevy of detractors, but many people support the idea of her striking out on her own, including the Diets in Review Blog. Her only problem might be that so many people liked her show Fat Actress, that her overweight persona might hurt her support for branding a weight loss product.
The actual brand name has not been announced, but I would suggest that she use her own name or a derivative of it. Kirstie Alley is somebody whose imperfections mirror our own, and she might just snag a niche market of people who are turned off by the saccharine perfection of other diet brands.
Kirstie’s would sort of be the diet brand for the rest of us.
Technorati Tags: Diet, Kirstie Alley, Jenny Craig, Weight Loss, Brand Naming, Fat Actress
Posted by William Lozito at 7:33 AM
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February 4, 2008
Go Daddy Builds Danica Patrick’s Beaver into Its Brand Naming
John Moore’s Brand Autopsy blog has some wonderful Monday morning quarterbacking on the ads that ran on Superbowl Sunday, and I had to weigh in on Go Daddy’s efforts... just like many of Moore’s furious responders do.
Some backstory: Go Daddy had a very racy commercial rejected by Fox because it centered around a stripping Danica Patrick and the word “beaver,” which has a misogynistic sexual innuendo. They got free exposure by having nine others rejected as well.
So instead of unveiling their actual commercial on the air, the company’s Superbowl spot leads viewers to their website to watch the controversial ad.
They have also been airing a slightly less offensive advertisement that equated to registering domains on Go Daddy with a variety of sexual milestones.
The web version, which many believe was purposely made to get railroaded by Fox’s censors, has gotten fairly high rankings today: Alexander Wolfe at Information Week gives it a B+. And while Go Daddy swears the censor’s rejection was not planned, they have managed to drive lots of traffic to their web site — their objective, considering that’s where they do business.
What is bad is that they have forever associated the word “beaver” with their brand name and raised the ire of fifty percent of the online population, many of whom will spend this week convincing their employers to drop Go Daddy. Go Daddy’s CEO, Bob Parsons doesn’t really seem to care and is loving the attention, claiming that those who are offended are in the minority.
Maybe. Maybe not. But that's a pretty vocal group, as they should be.
Technorati Tags: Brand Naming, Super Bowl, Commercials, Advertisements, Ads, Danica Patrick, Go Daddy
Posted by William Lozito at 7:38 AM
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February 1, 2008
Sounding Out on Presidential Candidate Names
When it comes to product naming, we all know that what a product is called can influence the perception of the product.
I have a theory that the same thing applies to presidential candidates and it may help differentiate the candidates in this years election that William J. Kole suggests is a global issue.
For example, I think Americans like presidents with long surnames.
With the exception of Lincoln, all of the greatest U.S. Presidents have surnames that are three syllables in length. Kennedy, Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Roosevelt all share this pleasant polysyllabic cadence.
Historically, 64% of our presidential races have gone to the candidate with the longer name.
Now, while this is really good news for two of the current five remaining candidates –Huck-a-bee and O-bam-a, it has its downside too.
We, as a nation, have never elected a president whose surname ends in a voiced vowel –and it is precisely this final voiced phoneme that gives both candidates their lucky third syllable.
Also notable, is our electoral preference for candidates whose surnames end in ‘n.’
It’s no coincidence that 1/3 of all US presidents share this final fricative phoneme sound. So score one for Hillary Clinton and John McCain who are currently considered their respective party's frontrunners.
Finally, we should also give consideration to first names. After all, these are a greater reflection on the candidate’s immediate family than their surname counterparts.
Not surprisingly, tried and true names like James, William, George and John have met with repeat presidential success –more good news for John McCain.
But on the other hand, many a candidate has squeaked past the electoral college with an exotic given name (Rutherford, Ulysses, Grover and Millard) so for Mitt and Barack, the picture isn’t entirely bleak even after finishing behind Clinton and McCain in Florida's primary earlier this week.
From a phonetic perspective (and in my book, phonetics trumps semantics every time) John McCain has the edge. But so did Bill (William) Rich-ard-son - perhaps we should have sent him this blog before he dropped out.
Technorati Tags: Washington, Kennedy, Lincoln, Madison, Candidates, President, Linguistics, Obama, Clinton, McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Richardson
Posted by William Lozito at 9:27 AM
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January 31, 2008
Finnair Scores with “EarlyJack” Name
When Southwest announced “miniskirt fares” in the wake of an incident involving a scantily-clad passenger, the airline received some harsh criticism.
Finnair, on the other hand, chose to embarrass a fictional character rather than a real one with “Early Jack,” an advergame (video game used to advertise) to introduce new flights between Europe and Asia.
As Adverblog suggests, this is an advantageous name for the fare as well as the game. “Early Jack” tells you right away what Finnair has that its competitors don’t: fares that get you to your destination first.
Technorati Tags: Finnair, Southwest Airlines, Advergame, Early Jack, Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 1:24 PM
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Sony’s Buzz! Brand Naming Gets Buzztime Buzzing
The buzz in the blogosphere is that Sony is being sued by US based Buzztime Entertainment over the buzz naming in its Buzz! trivia game.
Buzztime does not (and probably cannot) trademark the word buzz but it is interesting to note that we are talking about two electronic games. Buzztime claims that Sony is capitalizing on its brand name and calls the trespass “"malicious, fraudulent, knowing, willful, and deliberate."
Joystiq.com wonders if the smart move would be for Sony to buy Buzztime outright to avoid a legal wrangle that it probably will lose: the two competing brand names are in a similar market and easily confused.
That said, the argument in Sony’s favor would be that buzzers and buzzing and indeed the word buzz is clearly associated with trivia games and its fair game for anyone, but I would imagine that Sony is in trouble here. They want to trademark Buzz! as well as two other versions of the word for use in the electronic trivia game field and that puts them head to head with Buzztime.
In addition, Buzztime has been around since 1985 and is pretty popular. I find it hard to believe that Sony isn’t aware that the word buzz has a certain automatic, built in association.
Technorati Tags: Sony, Buzztime, Buzz, Playstation, Trivia, Brand Naming, Trademarking
Posted by William Lozito at 7:29 AM
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January 28, 2008
Disaboom Creates Brand Naming Buzz
Given the list of pejorative terms including the morpheme "dis" you might be forgiven for trepidations about what a "Disaboom" might prove to be. In reality, it’s a new social network designed to “connect the millions affected by disability,” and it’s attracting attention in the blogosphere with its “disabled people are sexy” ads.
Like Colours in Motion, the makers of the "Spazz" wheelchair, Disaboom aims to overturn preconceptions about disability and disabled people. But “Disaboom” avoids the cringe factor of “Spazz.” While the site doesn’t provide an explanation of the name, I can think of several possible reasons for incorporating the word “boom” into the name:
- Exploding myths about what it means to be disabled: boom!
- The effect spinal cord injuries and diseases like MS have on your reality: boom!
- The fun you can have on the site with like-minded people: boom!
- The increase in visitors and site membership as a result of their ads and videos: boom!
Technorati Tags: Disaboom, Spazz, Brand Naming, Boom,
Posted by William Lozito at 10:14 AM
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January 22, 2008
Nike and Apple Take to the Air in Brand Naming
I have been mulling over Apple’s new MacBook Air brand name, which was announced last week at Macworld.
And here are a number of points that come to mind:
- Mac lovers knew the name was coming (and Apple may have helped them figure it out with their “There’s something in the air posters)
- David Pogue of the the New York Times writes that “the name ‘Air’ is particularly apt. It describes not only the laptop’s aerodynamic shape, but also its nearly complete inability to connect to cables.” I agree.
- Some people wonder if the folks over at Nike aren't going to think this is some kind of move on their turf, with one wag asking “So when the MacBook Jordans coming out?."
Or maybe that’s not a joke: in the very same week that Jobs announced the brand naming of his new computer, Nike let it slip that their 23rd Air Jordan was set for release.
Yes, “Air” is Nike territory, but I’d add that Apple and Nike are selling to an overlapping target market. By the way, I wonder if Apple minds the recently introduced Tata Nano auto, manufactured by Tata Motors in India.
Technorati Tags: Macbook Air, Nike Air, Brand Naming, Air Jordan, Apple
Posted by William Lozito at 7:33 AM
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January 14, 2008
Embracing English Naming Trend, Panasonic Drops Matsushita’s from Brand Name
The news that Panasonic is dropping “Matsushita” from its brand naming has been applauded across the blogosphere. As Thomas Ricker at Engadget points out, it might be hard to lose the founder’s name, but the “dual-naming scheme hurt both brands and created confusion in the global marketplace.” Lee Distad, however, notes that Panasonic’s well regarded Technics brand name is still going strong.
An article in The Daily Yomiuri Online takes a good look at the naming strategy that Panasonic is embracing, and the belief that a single, congruent brand name is the means through which Panasonic will re-energize its brand and initiate a “second phase in the company’s history.”
More than that, there is a definite trend towards English-sounding names and abbreviations happening in Japanese company naming. Two notable examples are:- until 2002 Pentax was officially Asahi Kogaku Kogyo
- until 1983 popular tape brand TDK was officially Tokyo Denki Kagaku Kogyo.
This move towards English sounding names will only accelerate since the Justice Minister, in 2002, ruled that Japanese companies can use Roman characters in their name.
Technorati Tags: Panasonic, Pentax, Matsushita, English Naming Trend
Posted by William Lozito at 10:29 AM
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December 11, 2007
Broadway Brand Naming
The Hollywood Reporter informs us that getting your brand name under the bright lights of Broadway may be a slower process than one would think.
However, Citi is happily plastering its brand name all over "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," and brands like Jet Blue, Red Bull, UPS, Sprint and so forth are placed onstage or mentioned in the dialogue of "Legally Blonde." Fidelity is getting behind "Young Frankenstein" and "The Fantasticks," and Sprint is supporting "Chicago" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
More and more small businesses are looking for ways to get their brand names on stage, although as Entrepreneur pointed out you don't try to get a dry cleaning brand name into a traditional Hamlet production.
Technorati Tags: Broadway, Citi, Red Bull, UPS, Sprint, Theater
Posted by William Lozito at 8:44 AM
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December 7, 2007
Dim Name for a Bright Idea
There are times when a name can fit all your criteria and still be the wrong name for the product or service. Dimdim, a free web meeting tool aiming to compete with the likes of LiveMeeting, WebEx and GoToMeeting, is a prime example. According to founder D. D. Ganguly:
- We sat down with 18,000 domain names and promised ourselves that we would not leave without naming our company. We set 5 simple rules:
- The dotcom domain name must be available
- The name must have high recall
- The name must be international
- The sound of the name must translate without ambiguity to its spelling
- The spelling must translate to unambiguously to its pronunciation
Five hours later we named the company Dimdim.
Eighteen thousand domain names and they picked Dimdim? Sure, it meets all their criteria: it's phonetic and the sounds are common to most languages. It may outdo the Wii in that department.
Like "Wii," "Dimdim" is a name that's just asking t