Category: industry insider
Our sister site Wordlab, created by one of Igor’s founders (me), just re-launched today in a big way. I completely re-designed and re-coded the site, changing it 100% from the old Wordlab that had remained largely unchanged since it launched in 1998.
The new Wordlab is a full-fledged social network for naming and wordplay, collaboration and creative thinking. As such it is structured a bit differently than what you are used to if you were a user of the old Wordlab and its Wordboard forum, but the opportunities for interaction and collaboration are much greater and more powerful.
Check it out, sign up for a free membership, and join in the fun, either as someone looking for naming help, someone who can lend suggestions and advice to other users, or both.
As we gleefully pranced and flounced about, celebrating the 250 thousandth download of the Igor Naming Guide; we got a complaint. At 115 pages, the ultimate free, how-to resource for naming companies and products, had gotten too long.
Having nothing better to do, we responded. The naming guide is now available in two different lengths: soul-crushing (115 pages) and moderately-irritating (26 pages).
Either version of the naming guide can be downloaded here.
Via Dom Nozzi:
Ben & Jerry created “Yes Pecan!” ice cream flavor for Obama.
They then asked people to fill in the blank for the following:
For George W. they created “_________”.
Here are some of their favorite responses:
- Grape Depression
- Abu Grape
- Cluster Fudge
- Nut’n Accomplished
- Iraqi Road
- Chock ‘n Awe
- WireTapioca
- Impeach Cobbler
- Guantanmallow
- imPeachmint
- Good Riddance You Lousy Motherfucker… Swirl
- Heck of a Job, Brownie!
- Neocon Politan
- RockyRoad to Fascism
- The Reese’s-cession
- Cookie D’oh!
- The Housing Crunch
- Nougalar Proliferation
- Death by Chocolate… and Torture
- Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
- “You’re Shitting In My Mouth And Calling It A” Sundae
- Credit Crunch
- Mission Pecanplished
- Country Pumpkin
- Chunky Monkey in Chief
- George Bush Doesn’t Care About Dark Chocolate
- WMDelicious
- Chocolate Chimp
- Bloody Sundae
- Caramel Preemptive Stripe
- I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands…with nuts
But who is Dom Nozzi? If it is true that you can judge a man by the company he keeps, then Dom can be summed up by this list of his friends as of 1966.
Of course, you may just want to judge him based on the fact that he maintains a list of his friends from kindergarten.
He is obviously quite mad.
Sometimes imitation is flattery, sometimes it demonstrates a complete lack of originality and / or corporate ethics.
Naming and branding parody site Landor has posted an article which they claim authorship of called “How not to name“, accompanied by a photo of Anthony Shore, head of global naming at Landor. It is posted on a section of their website that they ironically named “Thinking”.
Here is an except (from point 2, paragraph 3):
This “positivity principle” explains why a scandalous name (Virgin), a slur (Banana Republic), and a small, hairy larva (Caterpillar) are perceived positively.
And here is how this thought was written five years earlier, both on the Igor website and in the Igor Naming Guide:
Unless everyone understands the positioning and the correlation between it and an evocative name, this is the type of feedback that evocative names will generate:
Virgin Airlines
- Says “we’re new at this”
- Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional
- Investors won’t take us seriously
- Religious people will be offended
Caterpillar
- Tiny, creepy-crawly bug
- Not macho enough – easy to squash
- Why not “bull” or “workhorse”?
- Destroys trees, crops, responsible for famine
Banana Republic
- Derogatory cultural slur
- You’ll be picketed by people from small, hot countries
The Landor article “How Not to Name” is written in a format that states popular misconceptions and the debunks them. Here they attack the mistaken idea that focus groups are helpful in choosing company or product names (from point 6, paragraph 1):
As a rule, it’s smart to entrust strategic business decisions to someone who trades an hour of their time for $25 and a few handfuls of M&Ms.
And here is how Steve Manning, co-founder of Igor, expressed the same idea 5 years earlier in an article in Elsevier Food International :
“If you’re trusting the future of your brand to a bunch of people who are willing to give up their time for $45 and a stale sandwich, you’re in trouble.”
Was Mr. Shore of Landor aware of Mr. Maninng’s quote? Of course he was, Mr. Shore was quoted in the very same article as Mr. Manning.
The final insult comes at the end of this “Landor authored” naming article:
© 2007 Landor Associates. All rights reserved.
Reached for comment, Anthony Shore, head of global naming at Landor had this to say.
Related 1 | Related 2
Read more: naming companies, naming consultants
“Insert the proprietary Landor Naming Process Tool into the anal canal and twist until it grabs the membrane. Continue twisting another half turn, then steadily pull the proprietary Landor Naming Process Tool out of the canal. Extract 10 inches of membrane, tie the membrane off and cut.”
As with any process, the only true measure of success is what comes out the other end.
Dove. Smooth, creamy, soft, nourishing Dove. Good for you. Makes you feel good. Which Dove? The chocolate or the soap? Maybe you are a bit frazzled by a flash of thought that you’ve been in the dark about Dove being both skin care and chocolate? Only now, years after the products hit the market, you’ve had this revelation. Don’t be fooled. It’s simply a perfect example of how two polar products/companies, both high profile, co-exist within the same market venue. From a naming standpoint, we pose the question, is this naming affair a healthy risk or flat out confusing? And how will it effect the overall brand identity of each product?
The Dove (skin care) campaign for “Real Beauty” has certainly not gone awry. Since the campaign broke ground in 2004, promoting a healthy, realistic female physique, emerging skin care products have been launched under the same campaign, keeping Dove among household must-haves.
Tiptoeing in the steps of Dove skincare, comes “Dove Beautiful” for healthy skin (that’s Dove chocolate, not Dove skincare). Oh really? (In marches the editorial portion of the SN post) So did Dove and Dove team up? …Now promoting more average bodies, (aka not skinny) we ought to force feed some chocolate onto all these beautiful ‘real’ bodies and see how real Dove skin care holds up their end. Funny, Dove chocolates are a product manufactured by Mars, who by the way is pushing the ‘healthy lifestyle’ aspect of Dove Chocolates, and all of their chocolates; the same. I can’t wait for Hostess to come out with a line of ‘healthy lifestyle Ho Hos’ followed Suave’s shampoo campaign supporting frizzy hair because it’s natural and real beauty.
There are several arguments here. Although a few digs are being passed at both ‘healthy lifestyle’ campaigns, the debate is really about how both Dove and Dove intend to speak to the same audience, essentially conveying the same message, with very similar identity, and oh, one more thing, the same exact name. Ladies, eat the chocolate, and apply the lotions. As gluttons for beauty it’s a win-win situation.
When nature calls at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, so will GPS. Not to say that your calling nature will signal GPS to locate the nearest restroom. But it may as well. With a proposed electronic mapping system designed to navigate restroom-goers to over 210 toilets, patrons should be well prepared to conveniently release without wandering around China squatting down side streets.
Other highlights as China prepares for visitors: Baby-on-board badges, cleaner cab drivers, less algae
Is Obama pandering to Latin voters or possum eaters?
Just above the eagle’s head are the words “Vero Possumus,” roughly translated “Yes we can.” Not exactly E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One), the motto on the presidential seal and the dollar bill. Then again, Mr. Obama is not the president.
The ad agency flack who dreamed up this great seal logo and tagline for Obama really should be sent back to his cubicle on Madison Avenue.
Back in March of this year, a list of 20+ tips for managing life in 2008 was posted at the following:
ADVICE FOR 2008 http://g33klite.com/index.php/facts/79-tips/59-advice-for-2008
Creeping into the eves of July, it’s time to step back and evaluate the progress, merely 4 months later. A few points from that list of tips have been selected at random and undergo a quarterly review:
1. Don’t bring another life into this world for all the wrong reasons.
QR: If you or someone you know have discovered any right reasons, the world awaits your post.
2. Do what you have to, even at society’s scorn.
QR: Still working on this one? See http://www.opec.org
3. Go on that trip, don’t postpone it.
QR: Stimulus check meets 1/16 airfare, voilá!
4. Start a new career.
QR: The unemployment rate should be a good indication of job vacancy. Go get ‘em!
5. Don’t wait for someone to take care of you.
QR: Healthcare benefits are nowhere near, put this at the top of your list.
Apparently, there is a country called “Croatia”. Why they exist is a mystery. But we are big there.
From “The Land of The Grudge” (with pics of some Igor staffers):
Jay Jurisich radi u San Franciscu i me?u najboljim je stru?njacima za brendove. Jutarnjem je otkrio što je danas presudno za poslovni uspjeh te zašto ?e neke hrvatske tvrtke uvijek ostati samo regionalneSve je u imenu. Za jedan brend ništa nije toliko važno kao ime”, poslovna je filozofija Jaya Jurisicha koji je s tom krilaticom prije šest godina s kolegom Steveom Manningom u San Franciscu osnovao kompaniju Igor koja se bavi vjerojatno najzabavnijim, ali prili?no unosnim poslom u svijetu biznisa.
Complete article
Posted: April 29th, 2008 |
Category:
Igor,
advertising,
company names,
identity,
industry insider,
language,
name changes,
pop culture,
product names,
taglines
