Addison Whitney creates Welvista name for CommuniCare
CommuniCare, a non-profit healthcare network based in Columbia, South Carolina, recently engaged Addison Whitney to develop a new corporate identity after announcing plans to expand the organization nationally. Addison Whitney created the name Welvista for CommuniCare. The name change was announced on October 1st 2008. For more information please www.welvista.com.
Contributed by Laine Beyerl
Employee Feature: Amy Baynard
Name: Amy Baynard
Job & Company: Director of Verbal Branding, Head of Naming for Addison Whitney
My staple road trip purchase is: Rolos ... dig that caramel center
In my Netflix queue right now: No idea. It’s been ages since I returned the one I have. 4 episodes of Quantum Leap.
Playing in my iPod: The Monster Mash. Loaded it for Halloween and keep forgetting it’s in there.
Is Elvis really dead? As long as there are large men with mutton chops willing to don a white jumpsuit and sing Hound Dog, the King lives.
Word of the Day: Westinghousing
Westinghousing: a term used in the late 1800s for the death penalty administered by electrocution
Interestingly enough, the term Westinghousing is attributed to Thomas Edison, who famously competed against the Westinghouse Corporation in the "current wars" of 1887. So why would Edison give a competitor free publicity?
Thomas Edison had patented Direct Current (DC) electricity and with it, created the standard for electricity in the 1800s. The system was hugely inefficient, which opened the door for Nikola Tesla, a professional and personal rival to Edison, to devise a more streamlined technology. Tesla patented AC, or alternating current, and partnered with the Westinghouse Corporation to establish alternating current as the new standard for transmitting electricity.
In attempt to protect his royalties (and name), Edison launched an intense publicity campaign against Tesla's invention. When AC was put to use in electric chairs, Edison realized the power of name association and suggested that the process of electrocution be named Westinghousing.
It was a good try. In one word Edison had linked his competitor's name to a gruesome act, and also reminded consumers that AC was lethal, and therefore, potentially unsafe.
But Edison's branding tactics were not enough to overcome the simple fact that AC was the superior method of electricity distribution. Tesla's alternating current became the standard and (among many other inventions) is still in use today.
Contributed by: Maghan Cook
Oktoberfest Fakts
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So we’ve all heard of this wild sixteen day festival, but do we really know the history behind it? What once began as a royal wedding celebration has overtime transformed into millions of beer-drinking, pretzel-eating friends pouring into Munich and places all around the world for the time of their lives.
Below are some fun fakts that the average joe doesn’t know:
• The original purpose was to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810.
• It began as an organized horserace in Munich, Bavaria (Germany), which included about 40,000 guests (seems minute compared to the roughly 6 million that now attend the event).
• It may be called Oktoberfest, but the event actually starts in September and ends on the first weekend of October. (this year starts September 20th)
• Theresienwiese is the name of the field on which the festival is held in Germany.
• It has been canceled 24 times due to war, disease, and other emergencies.
• Cincinnati, Ohio, which claims to host the "largest authentic Oktoberfest" in the U.S. attracts nearly 500,000 people each year.
Get more fakts here!
Don’t worry if you can’t manage to make it to Germany this year to join the festivities because there are plenty of opportunities to celebrate on a more local level. Visit here for more info, and have fun!
Contributed by: Ashley Hollingsworth
Wherefore art thou Bailout?
John McCain recently had an interesting proposal: instead of calling the revised $700+ billion financial package that's heading from the senate to the house a ‘bailout’, we should refer to it as a ‘rescue’. This change in verbiage might provide the shift in outlook necessary for both government and public buy-in.
In other words: whereas a bailout is simply removing water from a boat, a rescue is saving that boat from the storm.
Will a little re-branding be enough to give this mammoth bill a boost? Or was Juliet right when she said, “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Or in this case, perhaps the expression is better updated to “that which we call a bailout by any other name would be rejected”)?
Contributed by: Maghan Cook
Pink Branding for Breast Cancer Awareness
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If you’ve been to Target or your local grocery store recently, you’ve probably noticed a lot of pink packages and displays. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and many brands are doing their part to support breast cancer research and raise awareness of the disease. Consumer product brands such as HP, KitchenAid, and One A Day® Women’s are just a few brands that are not only donating a percentage of their proceeds to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation but are also modifying their packaging over the next month or so to “advertise for the cure,” displaying a predominant use of pink in their package designs. In recent years, pink has become the official color of the cause and around this time of year, the increasing number of participating brands always impresses me. So next time you are doing your grocery shopping, take note of the products that support breast cancer awareness and research and do your part…buy them. Are there other brands that you know of who have gotten creative to support this cause?
Shop for products that support breast cancer research.
Chick-for-Free
Sometimes when a well-known brand changes their product, the change isn’t always readily accepted. Consumers might be wary of the new offering and unwilling to try it out- which in turn can have a negative effect on sales. (Does the “New Coke” debacle of 1985 ring a bell?) How does a brand ensure that their consumers notice the new offering and give it a try? Just ask Chick-fil-A.
If you have been to Chick-fil-A recently, you may have noticed that their menu has changed. (Go to http://www.chickfila.com/#pressroom and click on “Chick-fil-A Menu Enhancements”) The most noticeable change is with their Chick-n-Strips. The “new” Chick-n-Strips are a little bit bigger and have a slightly different taste. In an effort to promote the new Chick-n-Strips, they have been running several promotions over the past couple of months. When the menu first changed, they were offering free 3-count Chick-n-Strips for one week from 5-8pm. Then a couple months later on Labor Day, they offered free Chick-n-Strips to anyone who came in wearing College or NFL Football apparel.
Their most exciting promotion, however, occurred last week. While I was waiting for the elevator in the lobby of my office building, two Chick-fil-A employees with a tray of Chick-n-Strips, sweet tea and balloons approached me and asked if I worked in the building. I said yes, thinking they needed directions to a particular office. Then they smiled and asked if I wanted free Chick-fil-A. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! They were out today promoting their new Chick-n-Strips and online ordering to the businesses in the local office park.
I’m sure that I would have eventually tried the new Chick-n-Strips on my own, but it might have taken a little while longer. My initial response would have probably been to order the familiar Chick-fil-A sandwich and wait to hear from other people if the new Chick-n-Strips were as good as the original ones. Thanks to Chick-fil-A’s strong promotional efforts, I have now had the opportunity to experience the new Chick-n-Strips several times and I know that I like them. I’ll probably order them the next time I’m there.
By: Jessica McGrail
Don't blame it, name it!
It’s a scary time for those on both Wall street and Main street. But let's try and make some of that proverbial lemonade out of a sour economy.
I don’t know about you but when I hear 'sub-prime meltdown', I think of something off the menu at Quiznos. I think we should take this opportunity to give the sub-prime mortgage crisis a name with branding potential. If Lehman Brothers employees are successfully selling their company paraphernalia online, think of the merchandizing opportunities just waiting for an economic crisis brand! Mugs, hats, paper weights for those now useless stock certificates… the possibilities are endless.
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Baby Names
Forget the book of 1,000 baby names. Try consulting a calendar, the produce section at the grocery store or a list of inspirational words instead. If the names of Hollywood babies are any indication, non-traditional baby naming is becoming the new norm. Even if the majority of people aren’t going quite so far as to name their child Mango or November, popular baby names today are quite different than they were 50 years ago.
Top 10 Girl Names (1957)
Mary
Susan
Linda
Debra
Karen
Deborah
Cynthia
Patricia
Barbara
Donna
Top 10 Girl Names (2007)
Emily
Isabella
Emma
Ava
Madison
Sophia
Olivia
Abigail
Hannah
Elizabeth
Top 10 Boy Names (1957)
Michael
James
David
Robert
John
William
Mark
Richard
Thomas
Steven
Top 10 Boy Names (2007)
Jacob
Michael
Ethan
Joshua
Daniel
Christopher
Anthony
William
Matthew
Andrew
By: Jessica McGrail
Expanding Global Reach
Addison Whitney recently hired Doug Powell as Vice President of the West Coast Division. Doug Powell has over 17 years of account and project management experience, nine of which have been in marketing services. Doug will represent Addison Whitney in the company’s newly opened office in San Francisco, CA. The new office will allow Addison Whitney to deliver enhanced services to our current West Coast clients and allow for the opportunity to build relationships with additional companies in the area. The addition of the company’s California office is part of a global expansion plan that includes current locations in New York, North Carolina and Germany.
Contributed by Laine Beyerl