http://nameawards.com Company and Product Naming, Brands and Trademarks: rants & raves, cheers & jeers, fun & foibles Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:39:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://nameawards.com/2008/07/15/the-fate-of-the-phaeton/ 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 ... http://nameawards.com/2008/07/03/tarred-by-the-wrong-color-of-branding-brush/ 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 ... http://nameawards.com/2008/06/29/carmen-electrifies-her-fans/ 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 ... http://nameawards.com/2008/06/20/paypal-no-longer-confined-by-its-name-only-its-outreach/ 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 ... http://nameawards.com/2008/06/14/is-the-tiguan-from-tijuana-or-tiguano-or-tiger-juan/ 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 ... http://nameawards.com/2008/06/13/award-for-protecting-you-brand-online-or-at-least-trying/ In this modern world of super brands, isn't it amazing how we take any name or logo for granted once it has been properly seared into our gray matter? My first award has to go to the relatively younger brand of Starbucks. I say the name, you smell the coffee. ... http://nameawards.com/2008/06/05/awards-for-logo-least-connected-to-company-name/ There is plenty of places for successful abstract names in branding. But to have an abstract name that you can barely pronounce and worse, is very, very difficult to read in most fonts and almost anyone's handwriting, that is really stupid. No wonder EBay is suing Craigslist! Their own classified offering ... http://nameawards.com/2008/05/14/is-kijiji-the-sound-of-ebays-jungle-cry/ All around a lot of countries, ladies know the brand name Bioré. The name just seems to sound like it cleans your pores in a classy fashion. Yet the name roots are so basic and simple, as some of the trademark fights show. Other have tried to have products called ... http://nameawards.com/2008/05/05/oh-how-an-accent-adds-class/ Reading blogs and sharing notes about names is fun for many, but it is also nice to get together and share stories and ideas over breakfast sometimes. I spoke up once too often at some of the Business Marketing Association's round table breakfasts, so now I am personally the speaker ... http://nameawards.com/2008/05/02/brand-success-and-the-power-of-a-name/