Name Awards

My oh my, I would love a mylo®

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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