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Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog (10 unread)

Most Memorable New Product Naming of 2008 Not That New

Posted: November 20th, 2008, 8:05am CST

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
Answering the Brand Naming Question: "What's In a Name?"

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 8:13am CST

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
Rescue Plan Linguistics: A Bailout by Any Other Name

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 8:48am CST

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
The Difficulty of Brand Naming Punctuation

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 11:03am CST

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
The Pleasure of Brand Naming the New Piacci Premium Italian Cheese

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 10:03am CST

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
Retro Brand Names and New Slogans Hit the Slopes Despite Economic Woes

Posted: November 13th, 2008, 10:12am CST

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
New Manitoba Slogan: Start Living

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 8:42am CST

Where do I begin?

Many of you who read our blog regularly know that we go out of our way to accent the positive. In this case, it's just not possible or appropriate.

The new "Smart Living" Manitoba slogan is anything but smart. Oops, the new slogan is "Start Living," but I immediately confused it with the Smart Living magazine.

That's the least of the problems I have with Manitoba's new "Start Living" slogan.

As you may recall, I blogged several times a couple of years ago and spoke with Richard Cloutier of CJOB Radio in Winnipeg regarding Manitoba's "Spirited Energy" slogan.

It now appears as though someone is taking the Manitoba taxpayers for an additional $2 million ride on top of their $3.1 million dollar "Spirited Energy" spending spree.

Finances aside, these Manitoba slogans have simply gone from bad to worse. Our Canadian neighbors deserve better than this and they're smarter than this.

One of the tests for a new destination slogan is whether or not another geographic area can make the same claim?

In this instance a better question may be who can't?

Or maybe even what geographic destination would want to make the claim "Start Living?" Doesn't this slogan imply that the people of Manitoba haven't been living up until now?

In several years of blogging, I don't think I've ever used the word dumb. As a professional courtesy I will continue not to use it, but the "Start Living" slogan is very silly. Very, very silly.

As you can see, I agree with Tom Brodbeck, writer for the Winnipeg Sun, and his recent articles criticizing the "Start Living" slogan. This new Manitoba moniker is most certainly Dead on Arrival.

I think the efforts of the Premier's Economic Advisory Council reminds me of the adage, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat everything like a nail."

Might I suggest an entirely new toolbox? Or carpenter?

Technorati Tags: Manitoba, Manitoba Slogan, Tagline, Spirited Energy, Start Living, Tom Brodbeck, Premier's Economic Advisor Council
A Domain Name Brand Naming Controversial Sale

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 8:08am CST

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 l-domains/" target="_blank">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.html" target="_blank">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
Where Will Shinky Dinks Brand Naming Go Next?

Posted: November 7th, 2008, 8:45am CST

The news that the Shrinky Dinks brand is for sale gives me an opportunity to write about how a good brand name acts as an asset in and of itself.

Shrinky Dinks was first a kitchen table invention that grew quickly. After running into distribution problems, the inventors decided to license the Shrinky Dinks name to Colorfoms and then to Milton Bradley. The name was then distributed to toy companies on a non-exclusive basis while the founder of the company, Betty Morris, sold the plastic toys.

Just like that Shrinky Dinks was back in business with one web site pulling in sales of over $20,000 a month. Total sales since the product's invention have topped $150 million, and Shrinky Dinks have become such a ubiquitous part of American life that they have gone up in the Space Shuttle.

They are also used on drink tags, Barbie products, and recently were the inspiration for new microfluidic devices for a professor at the University of California who remembered playing with them as a kid. They are even the subject of serious art competitions.

In fact, the name Shrinky Dinks is used pretty liberally in general. We seem to refer to any shrinking plastic product (you just need #6 plastic) as a "Shrinky Dink," but because it is so easy to package, it can be appended to almost any brand, especially when you consider that Smurf Shrinky Dinks seem to have been the company's biggest sellers.

This is quite simply a case of good brand name management that has made the name instantly recognizable and kid friendly.

I predict that it will be quickly picked up and find new life in years to come.

Technorati Tags: Shrinky Dinks, Brand Naming, Brand Management, Naming, Toy Naming
Store Brand Naming Being Held Captive?

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 10:28am CST

The Wall Street Journal recently suggested that frugality is trumping brand loyalty at the checkout line as consumers become more and more attracted to less expensive store brands.

This issue of bottom-line over brand is one I have examined before.

Store brands have come a long way from the boring "no names" of the recent past, offering a level of sophistication behind their brand naming strategy that is just as well thought out and planned as that of the major CPG companies.

Recession-proof branding is calling for brands across the board to sharpen their vision and cut costs to become more competitive. Store brands are masters of this strategy and consumers know it.

Wal-Mart, CVS and Walgreens now refer to their store brands as "captive brands" in an attempt to make them sound more appealing, although it kind of sounds like their products that are being held hostage. This "captive" renaming makes it even more interesting to hear that some consumers buy the store brand product and then set if free by transfering it into a brand name container.

We've seen this trend towards buying store brands the last few years, especially with retailers like Supervalu (Cub Foods, Bristol Farms, Shop'n Save, etc.), Kroger, and Safeway who have shown significant gains on their store brand offerings.

The real gains, however, are made "where the fancy national brand hasn't noticeably differentiated its products."

The Wall Street Journal has reported that consumers find it hard to even tell the difference between a store brand and national brands when it comes to paper products, while private label personal care products have also seen a huge surge in sales.

Of course, this private label preference is partly due to the recession, but it is also due to the fact that CPG companies often face brand name dilution. Even in recessions, consumers tend to remain loyal to the brand names they feel very strongly about and scrimp on the ones that seem to matter less.

Technorati Tags: CPG Companies, Store Brands, Private Label, Brand Naming, Brand Strategy, Captive Brands, Brand Name Dilution