Name Game Seven!

Which TV commercials are easier to visualize in your mind … Target or Walmart?  You likely said “Target” because of their heavy use of the color red and their immediately recognizable target logo.  If you said “Walmart” it was likely because of the bouncing smiley face.

Which ads can you describe … Apple computer or Dell computer?  You likely said “Apple” because of the clean, fresh, unique approach to all of their marketing and the immediately recognizable apple logo.

Tip Seven: Make your brand visual!  Look at any industry and you’ll see a myriad of competitors.  Some brands may have more “legs” for a variety of reasons but there’ll usually be one or two that stand out for you because their names are highly visual in nature (like Apple and Target).  Let me say that another way — being visual isn’t the only measure of the soundness of a brand but it can help make a brand stand out from a crowd (especially for people who learn visually).

Creating a visual brand is like putting fresh oil in a car.  It may or may not make a huge difference but it will more than likely make your forward progress a little smoother.  Make it as easy as possible for consumers to remember you.  Like we say here at Acorn Creative … GO NUTS!

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Think back … take Poindexter’s “Way Back Machine” to just one or two years ago. Back to the first moment where you heard about Web 2.0. How has the world changed for your online presence? More specifically, how has your online marketing changed? Pretty amazing, yes?

Take all of these changes and imagine taking your blogging to a new level where a site out there knows your areas of interest and expertise AND tells other people about you based on their specific questions. Think “search engine” mashed with “social network” mashed with “blog directory” mashed with “dynamic content”.

Check out what the new kids on the block are doing over at Yedda.com.

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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!

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In a weekend post, Mr. Peters recalls an event where a participant posed the question “Doesn’t the success of the AFLAC duck prove that advertising works?” Tom goes on, cogently, to say “no”. BUT then he continues to describe how the AFLAC duck is actually a Black Swan.

The logic of a “Black Swan” (a la British Philosopher David Hume) goes like this … “If I’ve only ever seen white swans, does that prove that black swans don’t exist?” The clear answer is no. One can’t infer anything outside of his/her own existence.

I agree that an a priori decision to dump money into advertising based on the success of other individual companies is faulty. Tom likens this to him making a decision to move to Hollywood to try to make it in the movies based on George Clooney’s success. hmmmmm.

What I think was missed here is that the AFLAC duck is NOT just a random event. There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye:

• Although AFLAC’s ad campaign should rightfully be classified as interuptive marketing, they do an exceptional job of rising above the din of other advertisers.
• The emotional connection strategy is one of consistent, well implemented humor. Because of the success of others in this category (e.g. the Budweiser Frogs), there are truckloads of poorly implemented humor campaigns. This archetypical emotional connection of humor is powerful but weak, weanie-humor, however, just doesn’t cut it.
• Linda Kaplan Thaler (the creator of the duck) is an ad genius … one of the best in the business.
• The duck is NOT just a campaign. It’s a complete re-orientation of the company brand. Look at their new logo!

Let’s continue with the Black Swan metaphor. “Because I’ve only seen white swans, I can’t infer that there are no black swans” — true. BUT, if I saw a wide variety of water fowl and the most successful ones were those that thrived in a particular environment AND adapted to the environment in a very particular way, then I could infer that other water fowl (that I have not yet seen) would likely experience similar success. The individual water fowl have not been observed but the behavior and adaptive styles have been observed. So, although I could not infer that black swans exist, I could infer that something LIKE a black swan might exist, based on other observed patterns.

Note: It’s not often that I get to simultaneously demonstrate my lack of philosophy background with my Biology degree in a business blog!

Back to the real world example; No, I would never say “all you have to do to get a successful ad campaign is come up with a funny animal mascot”. What I would say is that if you create a brand with a funny animal mascot, you’ll more likely succeed if you consistently and powerfully tap into the archetypical emotion of humor. How a company would do that is no small feat, to be sure, but the process is not simply a crap shoot.

What I would also NOT suggest is that Tom move to Hollywood. There are already too many George Clooney “wanna be’s” in the world. Keep writing great, authentic business advice Tom and I’ll continue to be one of your greatest fans!

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Directly applicable to brand strategy and marketing … a quote from Bill Cosby:

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

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Name Game Five!

You’ve brainstormed. You’ve found cliches. You’ve found related words and phrases. You’ve found HUNDREDS more words and phrases. You’ve plowed through homonyms, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, idioms and words that were just kinda like the others. Your brain is abuzz with fabulous ideas, catchy phrases and great names.

Here’s the buzz-kill — the giant killer of finding a great name. And we can blame it all on those friendly folks we call “domain name traders”. When you find that great name, you’ll go to a name registrar (or a registrar search tool like Better Whois) and find that your perfect name is likely taken. GRRRRRR! What’s worse, is it’s not taken by a like-minded entrepreneur, it’s been snagged by a sleaze-bag domain name trader that’s profiting off of your desire for that name. It’s either back to the drawing board OR cough up their exorbitant fees. Although it will feel like these leaches are sucking the life-blood out of you, if they’re only asking for a couple of hundred dollars, I hope you can see how buying the name is a lot easier (albeit more financially and ethically painful) than spending another few days in a search.

Well, for this post, that’s tip number one!: Don’t get married to a name until you find out that the “.com” and the “.net” are both available. Also, understand that this is definitely going to be a problem for you so you’ll want to pull out your extra thick skin … you’re gonna need it.

Tip two for this post: Next, check to see if there are any competing companies on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web site. Although this is NOT legal advice, and you most definitely should seek advice from a qualified attorney who specializes in Intellectual Property law, it is possible to do a quickie check at the USPTO. If you go to the site and immediately find a conflict, you can again free up your brain and comfortably return to the drawing board without too much anguish. If you don’t find a conflict, you’ll want to have your attorney perform a “clearance search” to confirm that there aren’t any potential problems. Even then, your new, great name isn’t safe until the USPTO gives you the official “thumbs up” that you’re the new owner of the “mark”… which may take years!

To do a search at USPTO.gov;

Click on “How to Search” in the top nav.
Click “SEARCH trademarks now”
Click Free Form Search (Advanced Search)
In the “Search Term” box, type your new name IN QUOTES
Click “Submit Query”

I’ll be working with my IP attorney to try to give you mo’ bettah advice on this complex process in the future. If you’re looking for an IP attorney (especially if you live in the lovely Lakes Region of NH), feel free to contact Trademark Guru Mike Persson … and tell him I said “hi” (we’re working on his website as we speak).

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The Name Game Part Four!

The concept of “pig” and the concept of “latin” are both quite different than “pig latin”. Combining words creates new meaning and nuance that can’t be ignored. While evaluating taglines, we think one worders (eg “Rise”-United Airlines or “Invent”-Hewlett Packard) miss out on the opportunity of tapping into subtle meaning acquired by combining two or three words together.

From our last couple of exercises you have a pretty serious list of words and phrases … possibly hundreds. Start mixing, matching and mashing to take your name campaign to the next level.

When combining words be sure to take advantage of some of these strategies:

Aliteration: Words that begin with the same letter sound nice one after the other. So says Sally Sue … sometimes.
Rhyming: Can turn a phrase into a craze.
Kinda Like: It may not rhyme. It may not be a homonym. It may not even be spelled similarly. If one word is “kinda like” another, it can sometimes lead you to a very interesting and unexpected phrase.

The juxtaposition and crashing together of ideas, words and phrases is where real naming power comes from.

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Here’s the third edition of the Name Game.

Tip Three:  Learn the secret of Nyms.  No, not the cartoon about talking mice!  If you tried out tip two and now have a three column table with A LOT of words, phrases and ideas but you still don’t see something that resonates with you, try this.  Add five more columns and title them “Synonyms”, “Antonyms”, “Homonyms” (plus Homophones and Homographs in that column) and “Idioms” … you have my permission to call that column “Idionyms”. I’ll know what you mean. In the last column add “Acronyms”.  This last one is a low probability approach but it is interesting.

For synonyms and antonyms the best resource is www.Thesaurus.com.  A good list of Homonyms can be found at Alan Cooper’s homonym web site. 

A fabulous resource is www.Dictionary.com for a list of alternate meanings, idiomatic expressions (slang) and to get an even bigger list of synonyms and antonyms.

Try AcronymFinder.com for TBLOA (the best list of acronyms).

An example:  If you’re a wedding consultant and you have “rose” on your list of related words, you’d find:

Synonyms: arise, proceed, mount, succeed, advance, dream world, hope, idealism, idealization, rosy picture, cardinal points, degrees, direction symbol, map symbol, compass rose, degrees, half points, quarter points, blush, burn, color, color up, crimson, flame, glow, go red, mantle, pink, pinken, redden, rose, rouge, suffuse, be suffused, blare, blaze, blush, brighten, burn, color, crimson, fill, flame, flare, flush, gleam, glimmer, glisten, glitter, ignite, kindle, light, mantle, pink, pinken, redden, rose, rouge, shine, smolder, thrill, tingle, twinkle, alluring, auspicious, bright, encouraging, favorable, glowing, hopeful, likely, optimistic, pleasing, promising, reassuring, rose-colored, roseate, sunny
 
Antonyms: sink, fall, descend, fail, decrease, worsen, retire

Homo-nyms, -graphs, -phones: Rhos, Roes, Rows (as a boat), Rows (like columns), Rose (to ascend)

Alternate meanings:  Several dozen of them!

Idioms: MANY … including “coming up roses”

and finally…

Acronyms:  How about “Reconnaissance Operations and Secret Enforcement” or “Repository of Scholarly Eprints”

INDEED, taking this approach is a great way to overload your brain with ideas. Hundreds and hundreds of ideas.  You’ll likely get overwhelmed. That’s expected. Look at each of these ideas as a little seed.  In short order, ONE of those initial ideas will germinate into … well … a rose!

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