Hawaiian Brand Powerhouses … NOT!
December 4th, 2006 by Chief Nut
Other than the Dole pineapple empire, can you name one other Hawaiian brand? And even Dole isn’t reallllly a Hawaiian company — James Dole came over from the mainland to found the company in 1851. The likely reason Hawaiian names aren’t the basis of power-house brands is because they’re so flippin’ hard to read, hard to pronounce and hard to remember (At least for us “Howlies” - Hawaiian slang for non-natives). If you’ve ever been to Hawaii, you’ll know what I mean. Ask for directions and you’ll get something like:
“Take the kaapalula highway to kaapapuu. Take a right on uppukaka street and then a left on kupajava lane. If you go past the pupukippilala mall, you’ve gone too far.”
Uhhhhh …. riiight.
Time for Name Game Round Six:
Your name should be:
- Easy to read (silently … no moving your lips)
- Easy to pronouce. It should flow off the tongue like velvet.
- Difficult to miss-spell.
OK, before I get a flood of emails from hoards of irate Hawaiians, please understand that I LOVE the beauty of your language. It’s just hard for me to adapt. Put me up in a shack on a beach for a year or two and I’m sure I’ll come to my senses!
December 8th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
But…but…but…
What if the name of your business has a history, has a story? What if the name of your business came to you back when people were throwing up websites in *gasp* FRAMES? What if you’ve got the worst, hardest-to-spell company name, one that always drives you crazy when you’re trying to spell it for clients and inquirers, but it’s carved on the inside of your wedding band — and was carved there FOUR YEARS before you even knew you wanted to go into business…WITH…YOU…SPOUSE???
Hmmmm? Hmmmm? What doth thou suggest then? (And if you tell me to ditch the sentimentality and get over it, I’ve got a swift, strategically placed kick for you.)
-Lani Voivod
co-founder of Epiphanies, Inc.
that’s e-p-i-p-h-a-n-i-e-s-i-n-c-dot-com.
P.S. “A-Ha Yourself!”