Name Awards

Bloom Energy for your body or your building!

Just when I thought what a good name Bloom Energy was for the fuel cell company officially (and finally) launching tomorrow (Wed 23rd) - after getting a mega scoop preview on 60 minutes - I discovered other trademarks on the name Bloom Energy.

Now what would you do if you were the marketing team down at Del Monte Corp. with this great new energy drink blend that you have been so carefully cultivating and here comes the home and office energy story of the year with your same name?

Do you ignore them, knowing fuel cell energy companies are only in the spotlight briefly? Or do you play along and start talking about fuel cells for your body?

Exact match trademarks can be registered, of course, since trademarks are filed according to definite International Classes and these are in very different classes. As the supply of names continues to tighten, we will see lots more of this happening. I even recall last year seeing three different TV ads in the same week for 3 different products, all called Fusion. And none of them was one of the very popular fusion restaurants.

Never lay your hands on the Neverland name.

Although it is a straight copy by Michael Jackson, and before that by Disney, of a mythical place name in the classic Peter Pan novels, today there are some big organizations and their friendly lawyers protecting the Neverland name. And, of course, Michael Jackson’s estate is probably worth a lot more now that he has passed on. So I was not surprised to read that a would-be tribute musical band had been sent one of those dreaded cease and desist letters for trying to use the name. In a smart move, they are now Foreverland. Much cheaper than fighting a lawsuit… but a positive implied connection nevertheless.

During Jackson’s passing, his Neverland Ranch gained even more immense worldwide coverage. Ironically, when he bought it originally from Sycamore Valley Ranch, he renamed it, but he had subsequently become a part owner of Sycamore Valley Ranch and taken over the ownership. So much of the public immediately recognized the brand as being associated with Michael Jackson - and would attest to that if asked for a common opinion - even though there are many trademark applications and fights over the name. Pity Jackson didn’t properly protect it earlier, instead of the slew of filings on his death (assuming he could get the rights properly from Disney or J.M.Barrie Estate author of Peter Pan).

Enough legal, more interestingly, why does the name have such power, such interest, such fascination? It is a negative right? Wow. Great example of where a negative has become a positive. How much more over the top brandable than Sycamore Valley Ranch? Immeasurable…  with maybe even a touch of genius behind it. Most corporations I know would get all analytical and say it is too negative a name for us - but most of them outside Hollywood are not paid to dream!

Eloquent and beautiful.. but in this day and age Neverland is taken as a name. RIP Michael Jackson… we will leave your place name to your lawyers and family.

Invictus breaks through noise of film names

I had the pleasure of spending Xmas dinner with a Hollywood insider who was pointing out to me how bland and descriptive the titles of movies had become. Even Avatar borrowed a popular online gaming term.

And then there is the exception: Invictus.  Fancy naming a movie after an old poem. But also how clever and inspiring. Because while this movie is about Mandela and his first days in office in South Africa, it is also about many other things as people wrestle with massive sociological change. So much more than a specific story. I especially liked all the little vignettes that Clint Eastwood added to the movie so you never get bored (I only just managed to stay awake in Avatar as it is so predictable).

Like many books, the title is taken from one small key episode in the whole work. Now don’t you forget the great last paragrah of William Ernest Henley’s epic poem:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Oh dear…TabletMac is such a heavy name!

A year from now people will be so used to playing with their TabletMacs they will have forgotten what a heavy a name it has. Shouldn’t that word be reserved for companies taking their medicine? Who the heck came up with it anyway? (Probably Moses and his stone age friends).

Yes Apple, we know you have lots of brand power and marketing reach, but we are not accustomed to seeing such boring heavy names from you. It is time for a new category name, even if you have to cross over something like you did in moving iPod from internet kiosk usage.

This time you have Kindle and Nook giving you a run for your money on the book front too. Of course, we know you plan to become the standard for video reviewing too. So why not Vpad, or Vpod or VMac or PadMac… almost anything is better than the langourous Tablet name.

Zynga sings a different tune

The big branding agencies usually say that unless a brand is really broken, don’t change it. In fact, many brands have become better known after a disaster, provided that the situation was properly handled by management. To which I might add, or the problem was real but long ago, and now we can sweep it under the carpet.

Zynga made a lot of its money originally by being the US king of spam. Today they are perhaps still not that well known, but their games are all the best sellers on Facebook. Games like FarmVille, FishVille, PetVille, Mafia Wars, etc.

But how did they get their own interesting name  - that is both short and musical, as well as strong and dynamic? As you may have guessed, it is from the name of the owner’s dog.. hence the logo.

And, according to their website, the dog’s real name was Zinga, which is Swahili for Princess. How come so many people use Swahili as the excuse for any strange African word? They should be more careful. The AfricanLanguages.com online dictionary gives these results for Zinga:

zinga verb

1 roam, wander, rove

2 turn the other way

3 to prostitute

Fancy having to market an airline with a backwards name like Etihad!

As if marketing and promoting a new airline isn’t hard enough, imagine having to do it when you are stuck with a name like Etihad! Yes, they might have recently been awarded some best airline of the year prizes, but obviously they weren’t measuring the name qualities. And across the runway from you stands Emirates making life even harder - another name that was foreign to us, but at least we had heard of it or could pronounce it.

I feel better riding with this airline now that I see their all very experienced British and Australian management team, but I guess the owners are never going to let them have a nicey friendly name. I wonder if they realize their name looks like someone cleverly spelled their name backwards to make a unique email or forum name - at least to western ears and eyes? I choke on enjoying my English premier league soccer everytime this awkward name shows up on the ad boards.

Mogi is confused… maybe Nogo is better.

Far be it for me to critize strange and unusual names like Mogi … but then again it takes a lot of branding dollars to promote such a Star Wars sounding name as being a trustworthy car maintenance service plan provider.

So why shoot yourself in the foot with a logo that makes your name appear to be Amogi?

Are they trying to add a little love?

Get it?  No, well go over to GetMogi.com just to add to the confusion.

From San Francisco and Pegasus come…..

Truncate the name San Francisco and you have Cisco… the big networking company founded in the San Francisco Bay Area. That is why their logo is half a golden gate bridge (cut lengthwise)!

Now I find out that the big and upcoming Chinese high tech company was going to be called Pegasus (good luck on getting that trademark worldwide), but truncated it rather to be Asus so they could be front of the alphabet. That is a very bad reason to pick a name nowadays. If you are relying on people finding you at the front of the yellow pages directory, then you have much bigger marketing problems. Google searches sure don’t care if your name starts with an A or a Z. In fact, even in alphabetical searches, 3Com, for example, will be ahead of this ass like name.

Around here, every time anyone says Asus, all the latino men named Jesus jump up, as that is what it also sounds like unless people emphasize the H sound of Jesus.. which they don’t do!

Are you antsy for some ittie bittie thing from Etsy?

In the latest Reader’s digest, the Founder of Etsy.com explains how he actually wanted a nonsense word since he planned on creating the brand from scratch. Even so, it is not all of us who watch Italian operas and listen for common phrases. Apparently in Italian etsi means Oh, yes. In Latin, it means although, even if (the article says and if).

From that he derived Etsy, probably because the domain Etsi.com was already tied up by an European Telecom standards body. So it really is not nonsense at all.

Sound a bit cutesy to you? Of course it does… but that is very appropriate for all the hand made arts and crafts vendors that use Etsy as their main online shop site. I might start my Xmas shopping here.. and help the little guys in this economy.

A segway to a great (but not green) company name

Out of the blue today I started thinking about the Segway company and their great marketing of a product and technology that no one needs. And their great marketing starts with a superb name, cool logo and practical tagline.

Only in America could there be so much hype to create demand for a product that was invented simply because they could. After hundreds of years of evolution, the bicycle and tricycle are the epitome of elegance in human powered green transportation. Then Segway arrives and tried to tell us they were going to revolutionize the world - Yes, at their pre launch hype those were the kinds of stories being leaked out. simply because they now had the smarts and technology to help you balance a two wheeled scooter with side by side wheels.

Heck every postman in the country was going to need one. Every sidewalk should be allowed to have them running over grandma’s and crashing on the downhills. After all, they were only $7,000 each. Definitely your rich spoiled kids toy.. popular with adult kids in Silicon Valley so they wouldn’t have to walk to lunch.

But great marketing and a superb name do not make for good business sense. Especially when for less than half the price you can have a similar looking electric tricycle…… practical and sturdy enough for the LAPD and others to use them for street patrol. And we know how to work a tricycle - we learned in kindergarten!

PS All you green eco fans should protest at them claiming to being the leader in personal green transportation… What about the electricity and all the components they use? And they have only made a few thousand at most. Compare that with the millions of bicycles that run on pedal power before you segway to a new paradigm.