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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October 14, 2008
The Dodgers' New Naming Process for Stadium Naming
The Dodgers' new approach to the naming rights of their stadium may be the way of the future when it comes to stadium naming.
Dodger Stadium does not have its name up for sale, but lots of the naming possibilities inside certainly are. The top deck, bull pen, the garage, and other sections of the stadium will be up for grabs. This naming auction follows the recent announcement that the area around the stadium will be called "Dodgertown," a name that seems to have been lifted from their spring training complex in Vero Beach.
I have written before about how stadium naming is in trouble thanks to the collapse of many banks and financial institutions that have lent their names to sporting arenas.
This new naming process of selling off sections of a stadium may be in response to names like Wachovia, which is likely to be removed from many stadiums, just like the Enron name was kicked out in favor of Minute Maid Park. WaMu is yet another name that seems destined for history, leaving a trail of stadium naming and branding wreckage.
Given that the economic crisis will almost certainly continue to trickle down to sports and stadium naming, it only seems logical that bidders should be offered small parts of a stadium rather than the whole thing.
Technorati Tags: Naming, Stadium Naming, Naming Process, Dodgers, Sports Naming, Stadium Sponsors, Dodgertown, Minute Maid Park
Posted by William Lozito at 9:54 AM
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September 30, 2008
Is Financial Naming and Branding Set to Change?
Recent events in the financial world effect all of us personally as well as the business world of company naming and branding.
To begin with, there are a few words that have become, at the least very least, tainted.
Take the business of iBanking, for instance. The words "investment banks" and "investment bankers" are quickly becoming less and less popular. I am pretty sure that the very term, "iBanker" is going the way of the dinosaur.
One blogger even believes that the failure of the recent bailout package was due to "bad branding." That's a stretch.
The various takeovers have also left all kinds of voids in the brand naming space. Citi's takeover of Wachovia put the brakes on a large advertising push, while the fall of WaMu has postponed the rise of a national bank brand name. Amazingly, Chase is now the biggest ad spender in the country.
These financial changes might also have a drastic impact on the world of sports stadium naming and branding as well. The rise of Citi has meant that some stadiums that carry the Wachovia name may be renamed, while other fields that carry the insurance or banking names like "TD BankNorth Garden, Wachovia Center, Progressive Field, Lincoln Financial Field, Quicken Loans Arena, PNC Park, INVESCO Field at Mile High, Scotiabank Place, Chase Field (pictured below), Bank of America Stadium, Prudential Center, Citizens Bank Park, RBC Center, M&T Bank Stadium, HSBC Arena, BankAtlantic Center, Scottrade Center, Comerica Park [and] SAFECO Field," are all in jeopardy. 
In fact, buying naming rights for stadiums may be a thing of the past.
I'm starting to believe that by the end of the year there will be an assortment of financial institutions out there, as well as a few stadiums and ballparks, that will simply not know what to call themselves.
Technorati Tags: iBanking, Wachovia, iBanker, Naming and Branding, Bailout Package, Citi, WaMu, Stadium Naming, Ballparks, Financial Branding, Naming and Branding
Posted by William Lozito at 8:54 AM
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August 26, 2008
Guerilla Brand Naming Promotion The Real Winner at 2008 Olympics?
This year's Olympics was a competition between the Chinese and a few non-invited competitors who managed to steal the show a few times. I'm of course talking about the brutal brand naming competition that went on while the athletes did their thing.
This year we saw multi-national brand names face stiff competition from Chinese brand names nobody had heard of. The overall winner, according to the Huffington Post, was Coke and its "shuang qi lai - "refreshment rising" tagline. However, Adidas and its "Impossible Is Nothing" campaign was a also a success, while GE managed to communicate its new "green" image with some flair.
The point is that China wanted to use the Olympics to showcase the country along with the country's brand names. China has what is called "high product acceptance with low global brand recognition." However, the Huffington Post notes that some Chinese companies really did stand out during this year's Olympics: Lenovo moved into the premier brand space, as did "non-official" brand names, such as China' s Merchant bank which just happens to have the same tagline (he, or "harmony" ) as the theme of the opening ceremony.
Various athletric gear brand names also had their day in the sun: like Nike (whom we all know) and Li Ning and Anta (whom we do not). Li Ning is the name of the fellow who lit the torch during the opening ceremony, but is also conveniently the brand name of an athletic apparel company.
Guerilla brand name promotion was at an all time high this year. Case in point was Nike's capitalization on hurdler Liu Xiang's heartbreaking defeat. Nike quickly ran an ad that said "Love sport even when it breaks your heart."
Kinesio got some attention (they make the athletic tape that beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh uses), as did Facebook (who owes Phelps a thank you for mentioning how many friends he has).
Tim Delaney reckons that the average sponsorship costs around $100 million all included and that regular sponsorship still cannot be beat in developing markets, but in mature markets, where wise guys like Wasatch Beer can dub themselves "Unofficial Beer of the 2002 Winter Games" you may want to think twice before paying to be the official sponsor.
This might explain why 60% of Chinese people polled thought that Pepsi, not Coke (who paid $78 million for the privilege), was the official Olympic drink.
Technorat Tags: Olympics, Coke, Chinese Brands, Guerilla Brand Name Promotion, Li Ning, Liu Xiang, Michael Phelps, Nike, Wasatch Beer, Pepsi, Sponsorship, Kinesio, Adidas, GE, Love Sport
Posted by William Lozito at 8:55 AM
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July 21, 2008
What Qualifies as a Naming Emergency?
It's hard to explain to people in other countries what's wrong with the US economy.
More precisely, it's hard to admit that two of the major mortgage lending institutions are called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As one Canadian blogger put it, "Who in their right mind would name a bank something so ridiculous - or anything for that matter... even a hamster would cease running on its little wheel if named Fannie Mae."
This is really nicknaming that got out of hand, but points to the major problems financial institutions have had in naming and branding.
The names are actually nicknames that grew out of the acronyms. Freddie Mac comes from Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FHMC); Fannie Mae comes from Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA).
Even worse, the CEO of Fannie Mae is named Naiel H. Mudd. As in, "Your name is Mudd."
While the brains behind Freddie Mac is named Richard F. Syron, which rhymes with "siren." As in "emergency."
Speaking of which, there may be a naming emergency going on in New York as Citi commits $400 million to secure the naming rights for the new Mets Stadium.
Recently, I wrote about Citi's decision to revitalize their 1977 tagline: "Citi never sleeps." Although, it appears that Citi may be set for a nightmare with their decision to get into stadium naming. Blogging Stocks says that there is actually a curse hanging over companies that name stadiums after themselves:
- The Pats' stadium was named after Gillette, which is now owned by P&G, though the brand name is still in use
- Fleet Center is named after a bank bought out by Bank of America
- Tweeter Center is named after a company that has since filed for bankruptcy
Given Citi's recent problems, it seems to many people - especially to those employees who have been fired - that this might be a sad waste of money.
Technorati Tags: Financial Naming, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Citigroup, Mets Stadium, Stadium Names, Naming Curse
Posted by William Lozito at 10:41 AM
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May 19, 2008
Big Brown A Big Boon to UPS Brand Naming
UPS is celebrating because a horse named Big Brown looks set to take the Triple Crown after a fabulous win at the Preakness.
The sponsorship deal was signed after the horse won the Kentucky Derby.
Big Brown was named as a colt by Paul Pompa Jr. after he renewed a freight contact with UPS last year. Pompa, at that point, did not realize that his horse would attract the attention of UPS’s marketing department, whose linkage to the prize winning horse has gotten its brand name “mentioned on television and in hundreds of news articles, netting an estimated $1.4 million worth of total media exposure.”
More than that, the press is starting to pick up on the UPS tagline “Big Brown Delivers."
There certainly is a risk here, not least because a horse, unlike a race car or a yacht, is a living, breathing animal that can get hurt on the track.
For Instance, YUM Brands has already suffered from associating their name with the Kentucky Derby thanks to a TV mishap that saw its executives touting their brands right after the collapse of Eight Belles.
Nonetheless, UPS is on to a great thing here. Big Brown’s win at the Kentucky Derby and at the Preakness has us all betting he’ll take the coveted Triple Crown, making him only the twelfth horse to do so.
All that remains is the Belmont Stakes and the Times Union already says its “Big Brown’s Crown to lose.”
I’m thinking this will be horse racing and brand naming history.
Technorati Tags: Big Brown, UPS, Eight Belles, Yum Brands, Horse Racing, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes
Posted by William Lozito at 7:56 AM
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March 21, 2008
Soccer Naming Gets Tough in Seattle
There seems to be some unhappiness in Seattle about the possible name of that city's major league soccer team.
The names that the soccer fans of Seattle have to choose from are: Seattle Alliance, Seattle Republic and Seattle FC, leading Seattle PI to report that sports fans were asking "Is it a phrase from a "Star Trek" convention? The name of an Eastern bloc country? Did focus groups consisting of a bunch of youth soccer coaches come up with some new moniker?"
Apparently, there had been a chance the name would be Emerald City says the WV Hooligan, who favors Seattle FC.
It seems like the folks in the Pacific Northwest have a pension for unusual names.
- Seattle's tourist slogan is "metronatural." Need I say more. Of course it reminds one of metrosexual, perhaps not the most positive association.
- Wisely, the state of Washington had the wisdom to drop its most recent state slogan "SayWA!"
Don't worry, Seattle, you may not be crazy about your soccer team's new name, but at least your team will not be called the PA Stoners, the name that came about in Pennsylvania for its NPSL (National Premier Soccer League) team from "Pennsylvania’s nickname: the Keystone State." Ouch!
Technorati Tags: Soccer, Seattle, Naming, NPSL, PA Stoners, Metronatural, Pennsylvania, Keystone State
Posted by William Lozito at 7:48 AM
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