Name Awards

Drobo is a great new name… abbreviations can be winners

Data Robotics was a practical name, if somewhat long in the tooth namewise. But this week we offer our name of the week award to them for picking their already used abbreviation of Drobo as the product line name as well as the new company name.  Not Dr Obo, not DatRob, not Datarob, not dRobotics…. just simply Drobo.

So now Drobo can go go… not that they appear to need much help from us.. they are already zooming along in the small business add-on storage marketplace.

Kudus to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office

As professional namers we are always searching the trademark directories of the world, especially as we do more and more international work. But some countries still have bureaucrats in the way to “help” with your searches. What that means is you have to pay them and trust your search to them..  and maybe they are no better than you. In fact, we are often quicker and more efficient because by the time we get to some of the smaller countries we already know a lot about the names surrounding our potential trademark of the day.

So I was pleasantly surprised recently to  find we can now get to the Norwegian trademarks ourselves – directly and free without registration. Not only that, they offer up their information in good English as well as Norwegian! Many thanks.

And as an interesting bonus, they actually list how many new patent and trademark filings they have handled this year. As of this writing, it is 7780 trademarks.  Wow.. that is a 1000 a month run rate and Norway is just a smaller country of the world.

PS Now when will India outsource their IT development and get a database online? (or even offline?)

Yosemite – beautiful name for a beautiful park

Recent moon rainbow over lower Yosemite Falls. Full image at Sensory Escapes.

Over 4 million people a year have the special privilege of visiting Yosemite National Park, one of the great natural wonders of the world. When people ask about the name, they are usually given a quick “it’s an Indian tribe” or “it’s an Indian word” answer. But isn’t it interesting how we accept native american words into our vocabulary, even though they are not built on classical European structures, syllables or phonemes?

Because of the way all the falls in the park are running this year.. with sudden high temperatures melting the almost record snow pack, I have seen many national and local stories about the park. But I hear no one making the mistakes we made as kids when we called it Yo se mite. Only when a college colleague returned from a trip there did we learn it was Yo Sem atee. (OK I went to college on the other side of the globe!).

But who owns the name and trademark? Can anyone name anything Yosemite? As it turns out, lots of people. As of today there are 119 entries in the US Fed TM register that include the name Yosemite in their trademark filing, not the least of which is the Yosemite Conservancy which suddenly has a bunch of filings. Other trademarks are held by some of the concessions. And some seem to be unrelated:  Bedding? Cigarettes? Lager? Telescopes?

Oh well.. almost a shame the National Parks Board did not establish early on who could or could not use the name. But then, a hundreds of years ago, they were pulling off miracles just to get the park lands preserved, for which we should all feel grateful today.

Mr Ballmer, Please don’t change Skype name

Dear Mr Steve Ballmer,

Congratulations on your purchase of Skype by Microsoft. It never made much sense for other companies, but I think you can easily monetize it without offending Skype’s very loyal and dedicated following. Heck, even I woudn’t mind seeing some small ads in the Skype control panel or next to the video. Anything to keep the basic service free.

Techies say it is old technology… and peer to peer is going away.  I say where else can I find such a handy tool that really works… and has 23million users online as I write this?

But one thing that is not in the Microsoft style is the name Skype. Suffice to say that many of us naming and branding professionals have written before about what a great name it really is. Please don’t change it to Microsoft Office Communications King (MOCK) or anything like that. In fact, please, please don’t change it at all.

Maybe Detroit should simply drop the D

As I pulled to a stop in the traffic I looked up and what did I see? Envoy.

And I know I had just passed an Escalade and thought about why the Equinox was selling so well.

But these are GM vehicles. And I have previously written about Ford’s E lineup – Escort, Escape, Explorer, Excursion, Edge. What is going on? There are 26 letters in the English alphabet and E is certainly not the most popular one. Anyone got any inside into this trend or is it purely accidental?

Maybe E just naturally follows D and these vehicles usually originate in and around Detroit. Hence my suggestion of dropping the D and calling it Etroit.

Bravo to Sony for choosing Bravia

It has been out for over six years now so I am really late at finally commenting on Sony’s name for their complete new line of flat screen TV’s. But better late than never – and also because over at Brighter Naming (writing as The Name Critic) I recently took another look at Sony itself.

When they have a new major consumer line of products Sony tends to run a long time with their product family names before changing them. But clearly Trinitron had run its course. Not only was it no longer a “3 gun” technology, the name was sounding old and of course represented the big old glass TV’s.

I don’t know where the name came from, but Bravia is a great new name. Why not simply Bravo? That part is easy – to have a more unique name to protect via trademarks worldwide. Basing your name on a word like Bravo which is so international – a stroke of sheer brilliance. And for the few people who stop to analyze the name, it probably means a brave new world or a brave new way or bravo – new way. Via itself is a very international word and root, and has been around since latin times. So really strong too. Of course, by now, people are not analyzing the name. Just telling their family they want to buy a new Bravia TV! So they shop for the best deal on a Bravia. Note, not the best deal on any brand TV. Once again, strong branding wins for those of you not experienced with how subtle that brand impression is on your mind.

But what if you want to call your Brazilian investment firm Bravia? Or your perfume Bravia? Well even Sony can’t stop you from doing this, as Bravia still has a long way to go before it is a super brand worldwide, so these other usages do legally exist. In fact, they may even predate the TV usage. Yes, these usages are in separate international trademark classes. On the other hand, do their clients snigger and make TV jokes when they hear the name?

From no one to Duchess of Cambridge

I am not sure where the Queen of England gets her list of potential titles to bestow, other than I am sure there is someone buried in the Royal household who tracks and thrives on these items, but I do know she tried to give her own son Prince Edward the title of Duke of Cambridge years ago.

Proving that there is some real behind the scenes negotiating going on, he became the Earl of Wessex instead, even though he actually is the only one who actually went to Cambridge. On the death of his father, he will, however, take over the title of Duke of Edinburgh.

So the Queen has name restrictions to deal with, just like the rest of us. She even went to Cambridge three days before the wedding and the name announcement. Maybe secretly breaking the news and preparing them for the subsequent publicity. Or, alternatively, asking them to accept the hullabaloo that comes with the name, especially for a future King – who appears to not previously have had any known attachment to the area. And Catherine’s family live the other side of London, much closer to Oxford in fact!

The British Royal Family are the ultimate zenith in personal people branding – and major ambassadors for the British Tourist Trade. If you are American, don’t criticize them. After all, we have a Disney parade on each coast with lots of pomp and ceremony and costumes every evening to help suck the tourists in too.

PayPal is a powerful name. Thanks eBay for not spoiling it.

Often when companies do takeovers, they get an urge to rebrand the newly acquired properties. This was no different when eBay acquired PayPal. But luckily they only played with (and many would say messed up) the logo. At least they preserved a great name. Not only did it already have significant brand equity, but it also stood ahead of the pack that was chasing it. Google Checkout, for example, obviously has lots of money behind it.. and strong arm marketing tactics at times… but they, like many others, haven’t figured out these ebucks systems are for a lot more than checking out.

While onsite recently at eBay HQ in San Jose, I was reminded by another attendee at the product marketing camp about the story behind the PayPal name. Apparently the consultant hired to help them with naming casually threw out the name to illustrate how he was thinking in order to get the contract. Many names later, no one had a better name (how could you) so PayPal it became.

Sure, their international security and support sometimes drives me nuts, but that is only because I am such a prolific user of  PayPal. In fact, I tend to push the bounds of what they planned for. Anyway, great name, and I am happy to be helping them to test by being one of the few individuals with three separate PayPal accounts.

Chevy Cruze lies to us directly in their one ad!

For a few weeks I have been planning on writing a positive note about the name Cruze and how well it works for Chevrolet. In fact, for them, a refreshing change. But then I keep thinking of the ad I saw over and over again online last week where the print says 6 speakers in big letters, but the strong voice over says 9 speakers.

Frankly, I barely care how many speakers are in any car.. but I hate being lied to. Especially when it is from a major consumer conglomerate and one of their own advertising campaigns. They know branding at Chevrolet. They know a name is merely shorthand for a brand, and that a brand is a promise.

But do they know what their ad agency is doing? Maybe they have picked up on this as I can no longer find the ad, but notice the headline on the one here.

On top of that, to make sure it was not just my own bias, I checked in with the Cruze Forum for the real owners and fanatics… and guess what – they are all sharing notes on how to mount a proper 6X9 speaker system. They have found a spot was made for these… but no one has the brackets or wires. Really sad for a new brand. Tarnishes a good name before we even cruise off.

Sometimes you can get a plain simple word trademarked.

I was keenly reading the story of Dr Raymond Damadian and his invention of the first MRI machine in the latest INC magazine, when I wondered why he called the company Fonar. I was expecting some simple basic answer like First Sonar… but it has been a slow day and I don’t have any other interesting names on my mind. So I dug around.. and found nothing.

But along the way, I found out that more recently he also invented the first MRI scanner in which the patient can sit upright. And what name did he use? What registered trademark did they get?  Yes, the word Upright itself. Wow. How cool and unusual. Now what are the competitors going to do when they too get around to vertical scanners. This is a great example of first mover advantage (as I call it) in naming. One day Upright® could easily have become a generic word – and therefore not trademarkable. Instead it is Fonar’s registered trademark unless the USPTO work is ever reversed. They surely deserve our name award of the day.