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Posted by Karl on 04.03.05 @ 10:51 PM EST [link] [185 Comments]

Band Names: Long Overdue
music: Jimi Hendrix: All Along the Watchtower

We meant to write about this a couple of weeks ago, but then got busy.

Music plays a very special part of the naming business. It's rumored that some naming firms REQUIRE their employees to listen to Mozart while naming. We're not so rigid here at MessagingLab, so while the day's music may include classical, it's just as likely to include classic rock, heavy metal, electro, ambient, industrial, minimal, latin grooves, Brazilian, salsa and punk.

We took a quick office poll and decided to give some awards to bands with names that fit.

BEST NEW PUNK BAND NAME: Pretty Girls Make Graves. Originally a Smiths song, the Seattle-based, female-lead band appropriated the name and ran with it. I (KS) haven't listened critically yet, but what I'm hearing is an Exene Cervenka-Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill era) vocal style with a sound that re-invents punk the way that punk constantly re-invents itself. Great name.

INTERESTING SPANISH BAND NAME: La Oreja de Van Gogh translates to "Van Gogh's Ear. Unless you're into Rock en EspaÒol, you might never know that LOVG is HUGE, as in hugely popular in the Spanish-speaking world. The sound is a little saccharine (a sappy Stereolab, KA comments, but not as inventive). The name is evocative and profound. (KA tells me what when teaching Van Gogh to elementary school students, they all want to know, "What did he do with his ear?"> Runner-up: Aterciopelados (which means, "velvet" or "velvety")

BEST BREAKOUT BAND NAME: Bloc Party. The English have a profound respect for the guitar band, a respect that waxes and wanes Stateside (currently waxing!). Bloc Party takes elements of Echo and the Bunnymen's sound which takes elements of Joy Division's sounds and adds 20 years of modern rock to create a sound that is catchy and uniquely their own. The bass and drum section of this band are an example in what a rhythm section can accomplish when they sync in a big way. In terms of the name, it sounds like a good time, and evokes the unification of Europe. You'll be hearing this all over the place in the next few months. RUNNER UP: The Killers (Question? Did they name themselves after the fictious band in the New Order "Crystal" video? First right answer gets a tattoo.

METAL BAND NAME THAT SEEMS MORE APPROPRIATE EVERY DAY: Slipknot We're sorry they didn't beat Motorhead in the Grammys, (Motorhead won for a Metallica cover!), but SLIPKNOT is layered with meaning. Add those costumes to that dense sound and is it a surprise they were featured in the "Resident Evil" soundtrack?

ULTIMATE BAND RESOURCE: The ultimate band list, which was renamed Artist Direct, a boring name to say the least, but a useful resource.

Posted by Karl on 03.17.05 @ 02:47 PM EST [link] [12 Comments]

Sneaker Names: Beisser Considered
music: Silence

I have to write something about the Puma Beisser special edition sneaker and Nike's new Considered line.


First, the Puma Beisser. Us English language speakers are going to walk around calling them BEE-SIRS. When it's really "BYE-SIR," because of the German pronounciation. (When it's spelled "EI" you say "I" and when it's "IE" you say "E", as in my last name, SCHMEE-DER ;-).)

The meaning of the name, "Biter" (from the German "beissen") will get lost on most people even though they are "fanged."

It seems as though the name won't matter because Puma is only making 500 of them. A very smart marketing tactic because there is nothing like limitedness to drive consumers wild. And that is what increases Puma brand cachet and Puma brand awareness.

As for Nike's Considered Line, I am happy to see that a company that was so criticized for their human labor practices is actually starting to create a line of shoes that are environmentally friendly. I didn't read through all of their materials, some of which sounds like it came straight from The Cluetrain Manifesto (specifically, The Conversation as in 'markets are conversations'), but this blog is about naming and the idea of Considered for a shoe brand, or a sub-brand in this case is not a bad one. It's got a certain skateboarder, hipster hipness to it. And if that's part of the demo they're going for - I don't think it is - they'll be in there with Adio, DC, DVS, Dekline, ES, Emerica (a great name and a great brand), Etnies, Fallen, Lakai, Osiris and Vans (the classic!). If however, they're going up against Birkenstock, then things get interesting because they're going head to head against the classic "crunchy" "hippie" shoe and a shoe maker that isn't bragging about the environmental-friendliness of their manufacturing and their materials. PREDICTION: Birkenstock will. [Birkenstock is also having a fire sale on their beautiful Architect line of shoes. Does that mean theyr'e going to discontinue them?]

[Interesting aside, Nike had a difficult time breaking into the skateboard shoe market because skaters didn't see themselves in Nikes, because Nike was too mainstream. Interestingly, in the history of skateboarding, there was a period in the early days, post-Dogtown, that skaters were into Nike basketball shoes. The whole way that Nike penetrated the skateboard shoe arena makes for an interesting case study, but suffice to say, they made a great product and hired some great skaters to sponsor and little by little they have made inroads.]

The Tagline says, "Consider History. Consider the Present. Consider the Future." And maybe the folks at Nike really are taking all of those things into, um, consideration. Or maybe not, perhaps this just a PR tactic. A way of getting post-consumer, enviromentalists and anti-leather vegans into Nikes.

Regardless, it'll work with a certain niche of consumers. And since we live in the age of niche marketing, the niche can never be overlooked.

BTW, I like the Considered Rock.
.

Posted by Karl on 03.10.05 @ 05:32 PM EST [link] [293 Comments]

Should Global Brands Trash Local Favorites?

Nice article by Randall Frost on this week's Brandchannel web site. It discusses the importance and popularity of local brands that sometimes get re-named, re-branded and even lost when a global company takes over.

Cites the loss of Scotland's Creamola Foam - a sweet, fizzy powdered rink that was lost when Brands Partnership, a British company bought the product from NestlÈ. Seems there is a group of die-hard Creamola lovers that want to bring the stuff back.

Also cites, P&G's experience with Dawn. In Germany, they renamed "Fairy" a popular laundry detergent (whose name would probably not fly in the English language world - at least these days). P&G's market share dropped drastically after switching to the new Dawn name.

With the renaming, the bond between consumers and the brand was broken; not even changing the brand's name back to Fairy could restore it.

The article goes on to say:

"One of the most important considerations that has been left off the table in the ongoing discussion of brand deletion is a concept called cultural brand equity. [Some brands] have rich pedigrees, and not only in their home country. While it is possible that the brands may have weak sales and profitability now, their histories are extraordinarily valuable, if dormant, assets. If brands are still lodged in the collective imagination of the country as cultural symbols, there is value on the table for the smart marketer who knows how to restage the brands to make them culturally relevant. No multinational marketing company understands this because they are trapped in what I call the mind share model of brandingóa paradigm that blinds them to the cultural value of the brand, and the way brands move through history."

While we couldn't have said it better ourselves, it boils down to being sensitive to the local culture and their history with existing brands.

Posted by Karl on 03.07.05 @ 12:29 PM EST [link] [2 Comments]

Movie Titles: The Oscars - Surprised?

Here's a list of titles:

THE AVIATOR

FINDING NEVERLAND

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

RAY

SIDEWAYS

Now, choose the winner based on the name.

It's not fair right, because you already know who won, right? But if you had to choose based on the name, wouldn't you end up choosing the picture that actually won?

I thought 'Sideways' was brilliant. Haven't seen 'Ray' or 'Finding Neverland.' Fell asleep during the Aviator. But even if I hadn't seen it and I had this list in front of me, I'd probably choose 'Million Dollar Baby.' It's a great title. It says nothing about boxing (and neither did 'Rocky') and it could've just as easily been about adoption or cloning or a rags-to-riches, Midnight's children type of story. That all means it's an open vessel name, the kind of name that you, as an individual, as a consumer, add meaning to. It's also a name that has an emotional hook.

Second place? A toss up between 'Sideways' and 'Finding Neverland' though right now, I'd probably lean sideways ;-)

Posted by Karl on 03.03.05 @ 01:29 PM EST [link] [10 Comments]