Saving Your Bacn Over the last week, a new Web 2.0 buzzword was born: “bacn.” Bacn is not spam; rather, it refers to messages — e-mail newsletters, Facebook friend requests, Twitter updates and the like — that are wanted but not needed. “Notifications you want. But not right now,” is the blogger Andy Quayle’s succinct definition (techburgh.com).
By most accounts, the term was coined — or at least gained traction — during last weekend’s PodCamp Pittsburgh event (podcamppittsburgh.com).
On his blog, Eric Skiff offers possible solutions, which amount to smart e-mail filtering and personal discipline. “Once or twice a day while I’m taking a ‘brain break’ I’ll flip through my labels and take care of any pending friend requests, comments, and any other bacn that’s come in during the day,” he writes (glitchnyc.com).
Already, a Web site, bacn2.com, has appeared to help “spread awareness” of bacn and to help people cope.
As bacn proliferates, it will likely become the new spam, making the whole idea of “bringing home the bacn” much less appealing.
Only twice have we predicted the demise of a product based on its name and brand positioning; Song Airlines and Gap’s Forth and Towne. We are confidant that the inevitable failure of Crayons juice drinks will put our record at 3-0. On the surface the name seems plausible - crayons are fun and multi-colored, much like these fruit drinks. But we all have the visceral memory of chewing on a crayon as kids, and well, not good. The final nail is the fact that the juice is even using Crayola design cues. Ugh.
Are your company or product name brainstorming attempts long on storm and short on brains? Igor has over 8,300 brains in stock, ready to help you name whatever needs naming — most have very low milage, are hardly ever driven during the week, and are used only sparingly on weekends to scan refrigerator contents and such. Our collection of brains can be picked through at the Wordlab Wordboard, our free naming and branding brainstorming forum. Jump in and pick the brains!
Tips for picking a brain:
1. Do not pick if the skin is too green–it’s not ripe yet.
2. The brain should be viscous and phlegmatic, yet hold up to a good thumping. Not too firm, not too soft.
3. The end that was twisted from the brain stem should be pliable when you poke your thumb through the outer membrane. If you can’t break the membrane with your fingernail, the brain was picked prematurely.
4. Smell is the most reliable indicator of freshness.
Jay here. I have been working on this website portfolio of my language-based artwork for several years now, and while I have many more images to add, I decided finally to make it public and see what happens. You can see that when I’m not thinking of names for things, I’m thinking of…well, words and the mashed-up metastasizing morphology of language. Sort of obsessive, I suppose.
And of course there’s a blog where I can ramble even more erratically.
Actually it’s better than Yellow, naming-wise. Usually, we would advise against using the word “Green” as a modifier to a business name as a way of conveying “echo-friendly”. It’s done so much that Green noise becomes White noise. It’s hack naming, and only appropriate for hacks, hence Green Cab of San Francisco.
It’s the perfect name for a cab company comprised entirely of Toyota Prius’, and it also leverages the until now untouchably iconic Yellow Cab brand against itself. Nice. And success is guaranteed by the fact that by simply calling Green Cab instead of Yellow, the customer feels like they have done something honorable.
Posted: August 25th, 2007 |
Category: Uncategorized 
You can see that when I’m not thinking of names for things, I’m thinking of…well, words and the mashed-up metastasizing morphology of language. Sort of obsessive, I suppose.