06.30.07
Posted in Language Fun at 9:37 am by Athol
First there was the Newton, then the Palm (after they were legally forced to drop Pilot from the name), then the Blackberry, Razr, Chocolate, UpStage, and finally the iPhone. Compared to normal naming sequences this is all backwards. Usually an industry first jumps on the direct and common names, then evolves into using real brand names.
If you hadn’t heard of the biggest coming attraction since Windows 95, then you surely have today now that people actually can buy an iPhone. Of course, it is not just a phone, and it is a lot more than a PDA or wireless email. But then again, the iPod is not a pod (though Apple originally had the name for internet kiosks, which were pod-like).
This time, Apple managed to bully (OK, bribe, cajole, tease, entice) Cisco into letting them use the name iPhone, because its structure satisfied Apple’s naming architecture. But folks, please don’t try this bullying others in your home office, unless you have the power and charisma of Steve Jobs, and a big bank account to fund your takeover name actions.
Thank goodness we are not hearing those dreaded PDA initials anymore. Of course, it is a Personal Digital Assistant, (or Pretty Darn Awkward as I always called them), but Apple understands branding big time. So they use real names… just like the iPod beats the life out of all those other devices that have MP3 in their title. How do those names evolve to also be video players, web browsers, organizers and telephones?
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06.26.07
Posted in Name Origins at 9:17 pm by Athol
For Father’s Day my college boys took me around Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on their favorite Frisbee Golf course. It was a lot cheaper than me taking them on a round of real golf (in fact, free, except for the sandwiches).. and very interesting. Of course, despite the name we all use, the course was properly marked as the Disk Golf course. Believe it or not, Frisbee has been the registered trademark of the Wham-O Corporation since 1959, and they have recently extended the mark to many other clothing and toy categories, in addition to flying disks.
Then, right on cue, I read an article that reminded me Frisbees were named after the Frisbie Baking Bompany - which just happened to ship their cakes and cookies in round tins with nice lids that you could whiz across the room!
If you have any other interesting name origin tidbits, why not drop me a comment or an email? There are more in-depth name origin stories on our Brighter Naming website.
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06.25.07
Posted in Name Winners at 6:12 pm by Athol
In a recent management leadership class at college, a student (on learning I once worked for Sony) asked me whether I thought the Blu-ray or HD DVD format would win the new DVD standards war. At the time, I didn’t have a ready answer, because personally I am tired of tracking all these standards, and don’t care which one wins.
But after I considered it some more, I realized that the Blu-ray format would surely win. Just like Blue Tooth won the short range wireless standards battle. It is not so much about the technology as it is about the marketing. And the marketing team with the coolest product name usually wins.. if for no other reason than it gives the public a memorably hitching post handle to congregate around.. and to spread virally by word of mouth and word of mouse.
In the July 2nd issue of Business Week, Harry Maurer’s News you need to know points out how Blockbusters has already standardized on DVD, and others are surely following. Another major piece though says not to count out Toshiba yet.
Hmmm… now remind me again. When did Toshiba last win a marketing coup?
PS Blockbusters is such a simple and appropriate name. I wonder if all the children around the country call it Busters - or just those in my area?
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06.24.07
Posted in Domain Names at 7:03 am by Athol
Bob Parsons, the daddy of famous domain registrar GoDaddy.com writes in his June blog about his continual outrage
about all the people doing domain “kiting” and why that is making it so much harder for many people to get the domains they want. Since my business often depends on getting domains for clients (as a final step in naming a company), my first reaction was to fire up the friends and family and start a concerted attack on ICANN. But then I realized I might not want to disturb the hornets nest anymore.
Sure they claim 5 million plus names a month, but they return 4 million or so a few days later when they discover Google won’t feed them enough money making ads. But some of these guys are now super well-funded. If they couldn’t return the names, they might just hold them all… or at least a high percentage of them. That would be the real tragedy: Names held for a year by people who can’t make money off them, yet the common man (and agency) can’t easily acquire them either! It would probably cause a sickness much worse than a bad case of Googlitis.
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06.20.07
Posted in Language Fun at 9:27 pm by Athol
I am using this article to claim my status with Technorati, as well as to introduce any new bloggers to this service.
Technorati Profile.
Claim your technorati profile and your blogs are immediately registered with the most important search engine for anyone in the know about blogging.
And isn’t Technorati a cool name? A great example of language evolving, from digerati to technorati to .. namerati??
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Posted in Great Names at 7:39 am by Athol
Before there was Powerpoint, there was GEM WordChart. But who would know that. PowerPoint, a registered trademark of Microsoft, has become so ubiquitous that many are using it already as a generic name for business presentations.
Now Google has acquired this quick moving company called Zenter (See Google Blog today) that provides similar functionality via a web-based program to join the rest of the Google Docs and Spreadsheet family. But what will they call it? What is the generic descriptor they can use with their megabrand Google name?
Maybe they will preserve zee center name Zenter like they did with Picasa. Regardless, a great illustration of some cool names that are moving on to a cool parent company. So refreshingly different to all those boring generic descriptive names. How come it is mostly hip young geeks that get the fact that names are simply short handles for the brand promise? And not descriptions of the product line?
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06.19.07
Posted in Great Names at 9:38 am by Athol
If you look at how people have traditionally named their copy shops, you see names like:
- Quick Copy
- Express Copy
- Kwik Copy (yuk)
- University Copy
- Copy Express
- Main Street Copy
- My Copy Shop
- Copy and Print
- Print & Copies
- Day and Night Copies
- etc.
And then there is Kinko’s® . What the heck is a Kinko anyway?
Well Kinko’s also started as a copy shop, and all initial locations were close to a major University campus and they specialized in express service. But instead of trying to describe the initial business, the founder named it, and used the rest of the marketing taglines and messaging to position the business.
And the business grew and grew, and everyone knew the name Kinko’s (and
remembered it because of the great stickiness and phonetics), until today they barely do copying. But so what. They sold out to Fedex for $1.3+ billion and their name was strong enough for a major brander to retain it. Today they are Fedex Kinko’s and no one asks what the name means. It is simply shorthand for quick, quality, office services.
PS See an analysis and rating by the name critic prior to the Fedex take over. How a college nickname became a memorable nationwide brand.
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06.16.07
Posted in International at 9:14 pm by Athol
When you hear the name Osama on English or American broadcasts, it is usually in a bad war context. So imagine being the marketing director if Osama is your brand and product line! Yes. A major Italian manufacturer of sunglasses and many other knick knacks, especially for Disney. Wow. Now I know why those magic sign boards around European football stadiums flash Osama.com at me.
Would you handle such a name any differently?
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Posted in Name Origins at 8:06 pm by Athol
Since this is my first entry on this blog, I have to ask all you out there a naming question related to the beginning of time: How did Adam and Eve get their names?
And since this is a professional naming blog, some proof, evidence or least background details would be much appreciated.
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