Funny, Effective Flyer Ad
Posted: November 18th, 2012 |
Category: advertising Re-Designing The Stop Sign – aka “The Process”
Too funny. A parody of the corporate creative process.
“What if there were no stop signs, and a major corporation was charged with inventing one? They’d brief their agency and let them do it. Sorta”
Top secret Landor process document revealed
“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.
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Says Blandor the Imponderable: “Oh deer! Perhaps I should butt out….No! My auricular has been opened, laid bare for all to observe! This time, no amount of blandiloquence will assuage this insolent corporate sabotage! And furthermore, we use a much larger mammal in our current work” |
Posted: November 10th, 2012 |
Category: advertising, company names, industry insider, name changes, pop culture, product names, taglines The past, the present and the future walked into a bar.
It was tense.
Posted: November 1st, 2012 |
Category: Igor Bad font choices ruining America’s brand
America Is F*cked…….(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.
How to sell fish pie
Thanks to Tom Whitwell of The Times of London, who waved this one under our noses first thing in the morning. Tom e-mails:
If you’re going to have a brand name like Eat Fussy, you have to be very careful which fonts you use.
Lower case was probably a good call…
“Mummy’s Favourite”. We’re sold.
[ More posts about naming | More posts about food | More blogs about naming ] | More blogs about product names ][ More about company names ]
Posted: October 31st, 2012 |
Category: Uncategorized 
The Igor Naming Agency’s Company & Product Naming Guide Goes to School
We are proud to announce that as of this week, our Naming Guide is part of the official curriculum for a course at London Business School.
Posted: October 11th, 2012 |
Category: Igor Bravo’s reality show “Start-Ups: Silicon Valley” will finally premier November 5
The wait is almost over—though its questionable if anyone is actually waiting to watch the show or simply to rip it to shreds afterward.
Bravo’s reality show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley (previously titled just Silicon Valley) will finally premier November 5. The San Francisco Bay area tech community has been up in arms about the show since news got out about its existence, with the the tech world fearing the show will take the difficult and important work done in Silicon Valley and minimize it for dramatic effect.
Despite the objections, the show goes on and the six Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are preparing for their debut. They are:
Ben Way, 32, who made and lost millions by age 22 and is now trying to make it back to the top again.
Hermoine Way, 27, a trained journalist transitioning from covering tech to making it.
David Murray, 29, who was one missed mortgage payment away from losing everything, but remains set on bootstrapping the next big app.
Dwight Crow, 26, a programming savant, whose activities include partying with hacker buddies and solving complex algorithms while playing beer pong.
Kim Taylor, 30, who led a company to success, but struggles with having to trade the security and comfort she is used to with the discomfort of creating her own startup.
Sarah Austin, 30, a Silicon Valley native who live-broadcasts her entire life online.Is the show a prime example of the negative consequences of turning entrepreneurs into celebrities, or does it show the rest of us a side of Silicon Valley that startup founders just don’t want us to know about?
Decide for yourself: Watch the three-minute preview here.
Our latest naming work, ShoreTel Sky, just launched
Via No Jitter:
Why Sky instead of Cloud?
Since M5 has been known as the ShoreTel Cloud Division, why not just go with ShoreTel Cloud? Gavin [ShoreTel's CMO] admits that his initial inclination was to do just that. But Gina Jacobs, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at ShoreTel, convinced him that it made sense to explore alternatives. If they didn’t find something the team liked better, they’d be happy with ShoreTel Cloud.They brought in a brand consultant who worked with them to choose ShoreTel Sky. A few of the reasons they believed it was better than cloud include:
* There is no uniqueness with cloud. Everyone is using it.
* The alliteration of ShoreTel Sky is catchy, sounds good.
* Sky has lots of positive associations, for example “sky is the limit” and “blue sky.” Cloud on the other hand has some negative ones, like “cloudy day” or “cloudy future.” Apparently the consultant helped make the point that associations matter by comparing how well Apple worked as a brand name versus, say, pear. Apple of your eye? Yes. Pear of… ?Gavin reports that the four-person branding team gave ShoreTel Sky “eight thumbs up.” Though being publicly launched today, employees and partners given an early preview were “exuberantly enthusiastic” with the choice.
California’s health exchange considers fruity new name
Want to buy health insurance from an avocado? California thinks you might.
Officials at the California Health Benefit Exchange, knowing their new online marketplace for medical insurance is a mouthful, are considering some new brand names to generate buzz with millions of consumers.
“Avocado: A uniquely California approach to affordable healthcare” was one possibility presented at a board meeting Thursday.
Other names tossed around were CaliHealth, Wellquest, Health Hub, Eureka and Condor. Officials said the monikers must still undergo more consumer testing and research before a final decision is made later this year.
Enrollment in the exchange begins in October 2013 with policies taking effect in January 2014.
Marketing is crucial for the new exchange, which is responsible under the federal healthcare law for enrolling nearly 2 million new people in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for the poor, and helping an additional 2 million Californians purchase coverage with federal subsidies.
Posted: August 27th, 2012 |
Category: Igor Our latest naming work: “Envoy” for Codan
From the Codan website:
Codan has been recognized as the leading supplier of HF Radio products to aid and humanitarian markets for more than 25 years. We have a deep and ongoing commitment to serve the communications needs of organizations that provide relief to developing communities affected by war, famine, natural disasters and political strife. These organizations include:
Many United Nations organizations
Red Cross & Red Crescent
Oxfam
International organization for Migration (IOM)
Care
Save the Children
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Posted: July 9th, 2012 |
Category: product names Creative Artist Agency’s Cannes 2012 Grand Prix winner
“Chipotle – Back to the Start”. Branded Content & Entertainment category.
Posted: June 23rd, 2012 |
Category: Igor “Innovation” meant something different in 1880
Yep, it’s a button.
Posted: June 23rd, 2012 |
Category: Igor “German Chocolate Cake” Not German
German Chocolate Cake is not German, rather it is named after an American, Sam German, who baked the first one in 1852. It’s true.
We just thought you should know.
Posted: June 21st, 2012 |
Category: Igor 
Green is the new Yellow
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 hybrid vehicles’, 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: May 14th, 2012 |
Category: Uncategorized Welcome to Whole Foods, Mill Valley, CA
Know the difference between the names Cage Free, Free Range and Pasture Raised Eggs?
Posted: April 12th, 2012 |
Category: Igor Company / Product Naming Tip # 1741 – Theory of Negativity
All the best names are provocations: Virgin, Yahoo, Spanx, Caterpillar, Apple, Oracle, Banana Republic, Crossfire, Igor. To qualify as a provocation, a name must contain what most people would call “negative messages” for the goods and services the name is to represent.
Fortunately, consumers process these negative messages positively. As long as the name maps to one of the positioning points of the brand, consumers never take its meaning literally, and the negative aspects of the name just give it greater depth.
Nothing is more powerful than taking a word with a strong, specific connotation, grabbing a slice of it, mapping that slice to a portion of your positioning, and therefore redefining it. This naming strategy is without question the most powerful one of all.
Caterpillar is the most effective name in the earth-moving equipment sector precisely because it is not “Bull” or “Elephant” or “Workhorse” or anything else that is linear and obvious. Caterpillars are weak and easily squashed, yet Caterpillar is the most engaging name in its industry. And of course the word “Apple” is the antithesis of high tech, and an “Oracle” is not scientific nor reliable.
Here are some of the strong, specific negative images that were instantly overcome by powerful, provocative names:
Posted: March 27th, 2012 |
Category: Igor Abbott Labs’ Inexplicable Explanation For ‘AbbVie’
Via WSJ:
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) on Wednesday unveiled the name of its planned pharmaceutical company spinoff, “AbbVie,” which Abbott says evokes its heritage and the Latin word for “life.”
Of course ‘Vie” is not the Latin word for “Life”, but hey it is only one letter off. Like “Dead” and “Deal”, or “Good” and “Goop”. What’s one letter? Everything — not to mention the crazy notion that Abbott believes we all speak Latin.
The Naming Agency of record on this one? None have dared to come forward.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Inside the AbbVie naming process:
Posted: March 22nd, 2012 |
Category: Igor Kraft names separate snack business “Mondelez”
Quick, what does “Mondelez” mean to you? Does it even infer anything? Conjure any imagery? No. Will you remember it five minutes from now? No, you won’t.
But you needn’t put Mondelez through any such tests to know how truly bad it is. The surest signal of a really bad name is when the company feels compelled to explain it.
Via USAToday:
The company says the name (pronounced mohn-dah-LEEZ) was inspired by the suggestions of two Kraft employees. It is intended to evoke the idea of a “delicious world” as “monde” is derived from the Latin word for “world” and “delez” as an expression of “delicious.”
Kraft is claiming the name has meaning. The difference between “Having a meaning” and “Being meaningful” makes all the difference.
Posted: March 21st, 2012 |
Category: Igor Company & Product Naming Workshops
We offer full & half-day naming workshops, onsite at your offices. Whether you need help to kick-start a project, are stuck in the middle of a naming exercise, or need assistance choosing a final name and getting approval and buy-in, we will customize a workshop to ensure the most powerful results for your naming needs.
A proven, logical and transparent process is essential to ensure the strongest, most effective results for any naming project. It is essential to establish agreed upon criteria within your organization on what your new name needs to do for you and provide a shared set of tools for your team to best create & evaluate names with.
These workshops are designed to assist you in the hands-on process of naming via the best practices outlined in our definitive Igor Naming Guide.
Our intensive workshop will take you in-depth through:
• Competitive Name Analysis
• Positioning
• Name Generation
• Name Evaluation
• Trademark pre-screening
• Naming Architecture Design
• Naming Process Design
And of course, the naming experts of Igor will be able to answer any and all of your questions about naming.
Have physicists discovered the evolutionary laws of language in Google’s library?
Via WSJ:
Can physicists produce insights about language that have eluded linguists and English professors? That possibility was put to the test this week when a team of physicists published a paper drawing on Google’s massive collection of scanned books. They claim to have identified universal laws governing the birth, life course and death of words.
The paper marks an advance in a new field dubbed “Culturomics”: the application of data-crunching to subjects typically considered part of the humanities. Last year a group of social scientists and evolutionary theorists, plus the Google Books team, showed off the kinds of things that could be done with Google’s data, which include the contents of five-million-plus books, dating back to 1800.
Published in Science, that paper gave the best-yet estimate of the true number of words in English—a million, far more than any dictionary has recorded (the 2002 Webster’s Third New International Dictionary has 348,000). More than half of the language, the authors wrote, is “dark matter” that has evaded standard dictionaries.
Posted: March 19th, 2012 |
Category: language We’ll Be at CloudForce Today
If you have any questions about naming or just want to say hello, call or text us on the Igor mobile: 415 305 0325
Email: contact@igorinternational.com
Posted: March 15th, 2012 |
Category: Igor New MacDonalds Ad / Commercial
The premise: Goats will eat anything, even garbage, so it follows they will eat McDonald’s.
I’ll buy that, but what were they thinking???
Igor Appoints Zoe Sexton Managing Director
Igor, a Sausalito, CA based naming & branding firm that has created names and brands for Turner Broadcasting, Nokia, MTV, Hasbro, Wynn Resorts, Dupont, Seagate and Cisco, has appointed Zoe Sexton as its Managing Director.
Zoe Sexton
Sexton, a strategic business consultant and branding coach, has lead innumerable start-ups and established companies through their branding and marketing efforts for the past 15 years. She has solid experience across multiple sectors and in personal brand identity. She began her new duties as of January 2012.
Zoe will manage operations, client services and brand strategy for Igor’s global clients. Ms. Sexton has designed and implemented a new suite of services for clients, including workshops and research models to help growing companies and expanding firms embrace the most effective naming and brand strategies.
Steve Manning, founder and CEO, said Zoe is a unique communicator who brings a new perspective to Igor, as well as an unmatched ability to analyze highly complex and competitive market sectors invaluable in strategic planning for Igor and its clientele.
“Zoe brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her new role, and we look forward to her contributions and leadership in expanding our agency and services while exceeding both our revenue expectations and those of our clients,” Manning said.
Zoe Sexton holds an MBA in Strategic Leadership from Dominican University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in film from University California Santa Barbara. Zoe, who lives in Mill Valley, CA, is an author, speaker and is well-known as an established, charismatic member of the Marin County and San Francisco Bay Area communities.
Posted: March 13th, 2012 |
Category: Igor Ben & Jerry’s Re-names Flavor in Support of Gay Marriage
Via Creativity Online:
Ben & Jerry’s is renaming its Oh My! Apple Pie ice-cream to ‘Apple-y Ever After’ in the UK, in support of proposed government legalization of gay marriage. It has also redesigned the product’s packaging with a new motif of two grooms atop a wedding cake. The move echoes its 2009 effort in the US, when it renamed Chubby Hubby to ‘Hubby Hubby’ to celebrate gay marriage legalization in its home state of Vermont.
Full respect to Ben & Jerry’s for launching another amazing product name while (once again) simultaneously drawing attention & support to a pressing human rights crisis.
Read complete article
Posted: March 13th, 2012 |
Category: Igor Homeless Hotspots. A new low, even for British PR.
This creepy PR salvo consists of turning homeless human beings into walking hotspots at SXSWi, and having them wear t-shirts identifying themselves as such. Much like hailing a cab, you flag down a homeless person and have them stand next to you while you feed your jones for sending pointless texts to you friends via human antennae – texts that probably read, “this is so cool. using homeless dude as as WiFi spot at SXSWi. not going to pay him LOL!”
Yep, they don’t necessarily get paid. There is a suggested donation of 2 dollars per 15 minutes.
Their dehumanization is complete. They are just part of the machinery now – Borgs.
Par for the course from what has become the soulless, self-indulgent juggernaut called SXSWi. This cruel novelty is brought to you by marketing firm Bartle Bogle Hegarty via BBH.
More on the manky, disfigured branch of the evolutionary tree upon which BBH perches its hooves, courtesy of Wired.
Here comes the Judge
Paul Revere and the Raiders schilling for the ’69 Pontiac GTO Judge. The “Judge” name came from the popularity of “Here comes da judge!”, a cultural catch phrase made popular on “Laugh-In”.