The Politics of Naming and Branding
The folks over at Slate have been having some fun with readers of their Trailhead campaign blog trying to come up with a name that Ben & Jerry’s might use to celebrate Senator Barack Obama’s win of the Democratic primary in the ice cream company’s home state of Vermont.
While thinking up names like Peanut Butter Barackle, Obamana Split, and Barackadamia Nut can be fun, the would-be-namers soon learned that choosing a name that works in all markets can be more difficult than first thought, after they chose the winner Yes, Pecan!
Trailhead reader Gerrit H. mocked up the brilliant pint of ice cream you see above. Tremendous job all around, especially on the blue, red, and white scheme.
Also, several readers have e-mailed telling us that our East Coast bias is on display by thinking “Yes, Pecan!” rhymes with “Yes, We Can!” Down South, pecans are not pronounced pe-CAN, but puh-CAHN, according to Trailhead devotees (Trailheaders? Trailheadians? Trailheads?). Considering Obama adamantly believes in one America, we think he might be distressed by this development. As a result, we’re looking for an alternate flavor for Ben & Jerry’s stores below the Mason-Dixon. The front-runners are currently “Barackadamia Nut” and “Neopolitician.” Got anything better? Let us know.
Meanwhile, back at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, naming operatives have been busy registering domain names. According to an article in the New York Times, “Speculators have registered nearly 2,000 domain names related to presidential candidates as of last week. Names related to Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy made up over half of the registrations, followed by Mr. Obama with 635 and Mr. McCain with 269.” See here the list of domain names registered by the R.N.C. or on servers used by the committee.
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