Top 200 Pharmaceuticals
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A research group out of Cornell University has created really interesting poster of the top 200 pharmaceutical drug names by retail sales. The poster not only ranks each name, but also shows its chemical structure.
The research group is call Njardarson Group. It is made up of visiting scientists, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduate students and two cute canine mascots. The team focuses on the development of compounds and hopes to educate us about how chemistry positively impacts our lives.
The Top 200 pharmaceutical poster can be downloaded for free as a high resolution PDF .
Store Brands Steal More Shoppers
Every weekend I head to the grocery store to replenish the pantry. Lately, I have noticed that fewer and fewer brand names are making their way into my cart. I filled five reusable shopping bags and spent more than $100 this week, but I can count on one hand the number of brands I brought home.
Nielsen says that I'm not the only one picking up store brands to save a couple bucks. Today, it reported that annual sales for private label are up 10% across categories.
The brands I did buy all had something that made them stand out from the cheaper alternatives. That something different is what Tom Pirovano, Director of Industry Insights for Nielsen, says brands will have to provide to win shoppers back.
He says that now is the time for brands to innovate, either through healthier ingredients, moreRead more
Creative Naming Fights for Freedom from Censors
In our daily quest to create names that are strategically on-target AND available for trademark, our verbal branding team employs the full range of symbolism, metaphors and illusions. With that, we are always on the look-out for new and creative word and letter usages.
One fairly new naming trend uses letter strings to make a name that phonetically sounds like a word...think Motorola RAZR and KRZR. While we explore this type of naming strategy to help our clients pass the trademark process, some artists are using a similar strategy to foil censorship policies.
A Chinese "children's" song on YouTube tells the simple story of the "Grass Mud Horse" (picture a lama) that lives in "Ma Le Desert" and battles the "river crab" to protect its grass. If you think thatRead more
Green Beer to Save the World
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This week, green dye and food coloring fly off the shelf to "vertify" everything from frosting to the Chicago River itself. Green beer is a popular St. Patrick's Day libation, but some brewers are taking a different turn and working to be green all year long. This time we mean eco-friendly green.
Breweries are going green by recycling spent grains, reducing packaging, or boosting the energy efficiency of the brew house.
Adnams, a UK brewery, has gone so far with one beer that it has received the endorsement of TheRead more
Best Brand Strategy
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A great brand strategy is akin to a broken record: Say one thing over and over. This consistency of message across brand touch points is what sets a brand apart from its competition and captures mindshare. Delivering on that message establishes ownership of a category and drives brand loyalty.
One brand has been unwavering in staking its claim on the idea of high-performance in the automotive world. With a history in airplane engines and motorcylces, this brand introduced the Read more
Welcome the Ox
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January 26th marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year. 2009 is the Year of the Ox, which predicts prosperity through fortitude and hard work. The Ox provides a much-welcomed turn of fortune.
As we bid farewell to the Year of the Rat, we look back and can recognize uncanny truths in the 2008 horoscope (but isn’t that always the case?). “Behind the smiles and charm, a strong sense of entitlement lurks deep within…Rats can be arrogant, deceptive and selfish…insisting on having things
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Superbowl brands: Hyundai
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Company: Hyundai Motor America
Career Highlights: A rookie in the SuperBowl lineup, Hyundai took the field last year to unveil its Genesis luxury sedan. During two spots, the Genesis is compared to luxury brands like Mercedes, BWM and Lexus. The commercial touts the Genesis as more spacious than the BMW 7-Series, but priced like the 3-Series. Narration by Jeff Bridges and the tagline “Think about it” help set the Genesis up as a thoughtful alternative to high-priced luxury.
Offensive Strategy: Hyundai played off of our curiosity and our desire to be savvy shoppers. In the first commercial, we saw the car, but we didn’t know who made it until the very end. In the second
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Queen’s Feast – Charlotte Restaurant Week
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It’s that delicious time of year, when you can sample some of Charlotte’s best restaurants without spending all your Christmas cash. For one, scrumptious week you can indulge with a 3-course, prix fixe dinner menu for only $30 per person (not including tax and gratuity).
Check here for a list of participating restaurants. Reservations, which are highly recommended, can be gobbled up at OpenTable.com.
Dig In to Democracy
The Inauguration Day watch party at Addison Whitney was a deliciously bipartisan event. Our Star Spangled potluck included:
Obamaretto Cookies
Veggies and Diplomacy (AKA “New Crew”dités)
Oh Say Can You Bean Dip
Recession Proof Twinkies
Red, White, and Blueberry Cake
Pop and Circumstance
Red, White and Blue Apple Pie
Supreme Courtellini Salad
Stars, Stripes and Bites (aka Spicy Smooth Obama Jellama Biscuits)
Yes We Can Eat Monkey Cake
No Pork Lasagna
Star Spangled Salad
Bush’s WGD Weapons of Gas Destruction
Brownies vs. Board of Education
Undocumented Illegal Tacos
Swing Vote Salad
What was your favorite dish name?
Branding Bowl Games: Orange Bowl
The FedEx Orange Bowl, played on New Year’s Day, is the second oldest college bowl game. It was created in hopes of drawing tourists back to Miami after the 1926 hurricane and the 1929 stock market crash.
The name seems like an obvious choice, as Florida is the largest producer of oranges in the U.S., but it took almost a decade for the name we know to develop. The game was first played in 1926 as part of the "The Fiesta of the American Tropics". A few years later, the Greater Miami Athletic Association organized the game under the name Palm Festival, with the slogan “Have a Green Christmas in Miami”. In 1935, the chairman of the Greater Miami Athletic Club and a local radio announcer came up with the name "Orange Bowl". FedEx became the game’s sponsor 1989.
The success of the game led to the construction of the Orange Bowl Stadium as a WPA project. The stadium was originally named Burdine Stadium, after a local businessman who owned a department store. The game moved to Miami’s Dolphin Stadium in 1996.