08.16.08
Posted in Branding, Name Winners, Name Origins, Great Names at 5:54 pm by Athol
If you were starting a company to make sunglasses, you would probably want to name it Ray-ban or something. But how would that fit when you tried to extend the product line into a complete portfolio of lifestyle offerings?
Why not just name it after your favorite English Setter pet and call it Oakley instead? Then execute well and you too could sell out for some $2 billion plus! For all the gold medals being won by athletes from many nations wearing their Oakley’s, we nominate this previous dog of a name (pun intended) for a giant big name award.
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08.12.08
Posted in Future Names, Name Winners, Language Fun at 10:16 am by Athol
By now you have probably all heard about, and tried, the new search engine called Cuil. We offer them up a big name award for picking such an interesting and cute little name. More importantly, for all those big company execs who say they don’t have branding money for a coined name, how quickly did this name spread. Some basic good PR and voila!
Do you notice how much easier it is to remember and to pass along by word of mouth or mouse because it is slightly unusual and different? Unlike common dictionary words that come with so much preconceived baggage and then people can’t remember them or don’t have that mental brain velcro hook.
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07.31.08
Posted in Branding, Name Winners, Great Names at 10:46 am by Athol
As personal mobile devices start to proliferate beyond the leading edge technorati, there is
also a need for names for them. Preferably short and personal sounding in keeping with their style and positioning. Maybe even warm and comforting like those mugs of Milo I had as a kid. Sure you can call it a NetBook or a CommNote or something boring and long and descriptive.. but while calling it a network device or appliance might work internally.. it will never fly with the consumer audience.
So our award today goes to Sony (and their naming agency) for calling their’s by such a short, sweet and cool sounding name. I don’t agree with the small “m” spelling, but that might be simply because I am over 29.
Please don’t write and tell me you can’t name your products in such unique styles, because you don’t have Sony’s branding dollars. Au Contraire, you will hardly get heard through the noise without such a name. Plus you can get stuck in legal. Plus you will not be giving the consumer a great shorthand handle to use for your brand. So such a unique name is usually a much better ROI, regardless of branding dollars. Just ask Blackberry for one.
PS And then the brand aura lasts for years. You own the name. Technology will change for sure.. don’t get caught next year trying for another common English word name just because your management do not realize the power of coined names - even though they drive down the freeway in their Lexus, eating an Oreo, looking for a Starbuck’s while listening to their iPod or Sony and waiting for a call from Motorola or a text on their Nokia.
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07.27.08
Posted in Branding, Name Winners, Great Names at 6:15 pm by Athol
Before the signs finally change, just like the original founder, let’s all shed a tear for the passing of a great name. When everyone else was Main Street Copy, or Quick Copy, or Data Copy, or University Copy, or Business Copies, there emerge Kinko’s. It will forever be a great name that cut through the noise despite the fact they did not have big 
branding dollars. At least not until they sold out to Fedex for $1.3billion or so.
Now Fedex is going to only use their own megabrand going forward. We understand. And I hope many have learned from how powerful an abstract name can be, especially when it has a good sound. We have previously honored the name with a big award - today we reiterate that fact.
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07.15.08
Posted in Branding, Rotten Names, Name Origins at 10:37 am by Athol
Some elegant and educated words just do not fit for product lines. Especially mass
market consumer product lines. Naming your car the Phaeton has surely doomed its fate to some extent or other, especially in the US.
Wikipedia explains the origins as “The name Phaeton derives from Phaëton, the son of Phoebes and Helios in Greek mythology — and also a type of horse drawn carriage. So intellectually speaking, very smart. But try spelling it or saying it. Ouch.
I therefore award this name two bombs. One for spelling and one for pronunciation. Not to mention how it definitely does not sound like it belongs in the friendly family name collection of VW.
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07.03.08
Posted in Branding, Language Fun, Rotten Names, International at 10:25 am by Athol
Quixtar is currently running a broad awareness campaign to associate themselves with their real Amway Brand. But many people (including me) thought that Amway somehow became Quixtar to get rid of some of the negative brand baggage of the old Amway name, especially when they went online. So then the question that begged to be answered was if you were going to tar yourself with a brush of a different color, why not keep it very separate and distinct?
Turns out that Quixtar actually was a separate e-initiative originally kept at arms length from Amway - presumably while they learned and saw how it affected their independent business operators and their traditional MLM marketing programs. Of course, it took off like a rocket and has now been fully embraced (if I read their official releases properly), so they want to fold it back in and next year call everything Amway Global. A strange, slow- change strategy that makes my head spin… why advertise who you are now if soon you won’t be?
Could it be that a big agency is calling the shots, and they make more money if it is dragged out to the max? Or does it take the IT guys that long to do the integration?
But in the meantime, those clever names where there is a play on the English language often backfire, especially for the foreigners, the young and the half educated. Especially when you let your graphics designer break the word so it does look like Quix Tar. Don’t blame me if some people miss the implied Star sound.
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06.29.08
Posted in Branding, Name Origins, Great Names at 7:38 am by Athol
Not evey mother names her future Hollywood siren with a hot name like Raquel Welch. But if you start life as Tara Leigh Patrick, and really want to make an impression on your fans, then you deserve a big award for changing your name to Carmen Electra.
Maybe you even deserve two awards, for creating both a hot first name and a smart last name. As a naming professional I loved you before I even saw how you light up a show.
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06.20.08
Posted in Branding, Name Origins, Great Names at 10:52 am by Athol
As it celebrates its 10th Anniversary, it is interesting to look back and see that the techies who founded Paypal first named the company Confinity. It is fun to read John Powers firsthand account of how this all came to be .. see www.Confinity.com. He is quick to point out that he never came up with that name. Regardless, Paypal is so much better than Fieldlink, the name he first used.
If you have ever shopped for or sold goods on eBay, you know the magic of Paypal. If you have ever paid or received money from contract services half way around the world, you know the magic of Paypal and the convenience of paying people almost instantly when they don’t take credit cards.. or want to use them if they do have them.
Now if only they provided the same level of support to English speakers in Spain that they provide Spanish speakers in California, that would be the icing on the cake. Especially for the rural community where no mail goes to a physical house address. How can they deny full service when you are a property owner simply because your mail goes to a box number? Not all countries and rural towns are spoiled with the US level of mail delivery! In more and more parts of the world, you go get your mail at a mail box center.
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06.14.08
Posted in Branding, Rotten Names, International at 8:57 am by Athol
After their disaster with the name Phaeton, you would think VW had learned more than to just go out to a German Auto magazine for a new name. Even though the name was supposedly submitted by a reader - and they now say it is from Tiger and Iguana. With Latin America as a key market (as well as a number of factory sites) for them, you would have thought they would pay more heed to the Latino connotations.
Oh well, I am sure the trademark lawyers like it, and with their branding dollars they can do what they like. After all, they have had Rabbits and Foxes and Beetles, why not an Iguana from Tijuana?
PS Since Tig is a friendly nickname for the diminutive of Tiger, this name may actually fit a little better than at first glance.
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06.13.08
Posted in Branding, Name Winners, Trademarks at 9:52 am by Athol
One of the advantages of having “first mover” advantage in any industry is the fact that you can sometimes legally tie up a good name which later would otherwise be judged to be generic - and therefore non-registrable. Such is the case with the name TopRank® for search engine optimization and marketing services. They have recently been blogging about how they have to be aggressive in protecting this name, especially in an online environment (the only field for which they have the trademark).
If the USPTO did their literature search today, they would see the words top and rank (or ranking) are surely widely used and therefore generic. But it is too late. Someone moved fast and was smart, although it really is a difficult name to protect and to own as a brand, since people have strong existing expectations of the words, before they are even educated to the fact that it is someone’s trademark. And there are many ways around it. And what is the industry generic way of saying getting a top ranking if top rank is a specific trademark?
So this award goes to them for trying to protect the name. Not for picking a name that is not unique enough. This is one of many cases I have recently run into, which is why I was reminded (writing as The Name Critic at Brighter Naming) to select Rollerblade® for recent analysis. They are a case study example of how to do it right. To protect the name Rollerblade, they told the industry and the press that the generic descriptor for the product category was In-Line Skates. For all I know (and strongly suspect) they made up In-Line Skates afterwards. Doesn’t matter.. the rest of the world has to describe their products as In-Line Skates, and can only use the term Rollerblade in its proper legal brand (now of the Nordica ski company) sense.
Similarly, in the biotech field, Genentech® is almost a generic if it was first used today, instead of the strong brand and category leader it has become. As an early mover (very early), they have polarized the rest of the word away from names using Gene and Technology…. which so many still dream of.. the basic descriptors for many of them.
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