Band Brands
Take a peek at your music library: you’ll be amazed at how many familiar naming strategies you spot. Here are a few of my favorites:
REPETITION
Hot Hot Heat
Mr. Mister
Go-Gos
Duran Duran
RHYMING
Milli Vanilli
Lynard Skynard
Quiet Riot
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Campus Equity
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As a North Carolina native, I’ve always considered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to be synonymous with “UNC.” It was the first public university in the United States, and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century. The institution itself owns the trademark for UNC, as well as the domain name.
The University of North Carolina family of schools actually has 16 different university campuses, most with disparate brands. Some institutions utilize a brand extension approach to identify themselves as part of the University of North Carolina family, including Asheville (UNCA), Charlotte (UNCC), Greensboro (UNCG), Pembroke (UNCP), and Wilmington (UNCW). But with other constituents of the University of North Carolina family adopting a different style of naming (Appalachian State, NC State, East Carolina, etc), it looks like the system needs some consistent brand standards. Does the brand extension approach for some universities imply that they are simply an additional campus of the main school and not their own entity? And do those universities that distance themselves in naming structure from the UNC family heritage do a disservice to their students and alumni?
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The Holiday Hierarchy
Is it me, or are we transitioning immediately from Halloween to Christmas? Just when the last Trick-or-Treater of the night walks away from my door step, K-mart busts out the 15 foot inflatable snow globe. Are we skipping something? Yes, I think it is called Thanksgiving.
According to a recent study by the CDC, 34% of Americans are overweight. You would think Thanksgiving would be a marketers dream. Shelves should be stocked with bite size packages of stuffing for ‘Thank’-or-Treaters, freezers full of turkeys to carve and place on our door steps, 15 foot inflatable gravy boats—a pilgrim at the mall taking pictures with your screaming kids. Well, maybe next year…
Let’s face it, Thanksgiving does not get enough credit. How did the rest of our holidays become so commercial, leaving Thanksgiving in the dust? I have a few theories:
1.No Brand Persona
Santa, Cupid, Easter bunny—these are all characters that add a story and pizzazz to their respective holidays. The turkeys’ life story never has a happy ending. This is not a story you read your children before bed. Maybe we could add a gift giving Pilgrim to the mix.
2.Lack of buy in from children
What do children love about holidays? Free candy on Halloween, Toys for Christmas, a basket of goodies on Easter morning, and notes from classmates on Valentine’s Day. For children, Thanksgiving is just another meal. No gifts, no candy, no fun.
3.Minimal merchandising opportunities
How many turkey figurines can you have before your home décor begins to resemble a zoo gift shop? We need more characters, symbols, and colors for Thanksgiving. Side dishes don’t count. There is really only one product to market for Thanksgiving: food. You can buy food ANY day of the year. Luster=lost.
But most importantly…
4. Calendar Crowding
Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, New Year’s—all within three months. I call for a calendar reorganization. Any holiday preceding Christmas automatically gets overshadowed. Columbus Day really drew the short straw. If we move Thanksgiving to April, I think we would begin Turkey shopping in February.
I will not be rushed into Christmas this year, and I hope you will stop and smell the yams as well. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Time with family, tradition, relaxation, football---but most importantly, the FOOD! I wait all year for this meal and I am not going to leave the table early to decorate the Christmas tree. Happy Thanksgiving!
Contributed by Laine Beyerl
Taco Terrier
While I was on the verge of purchasing a puppy it got me thinking about puppy names. I could go with the standard cool name like Bruiser, to the more traditional name like Baxter, to the type of breed. Each breed of dog has its own characteristics, attributes and benefits, similar to that of a brand. Now, a dog that was once considered just a cute mutt has transitioned into its very own brand category … a “designer breed”, which has me completely baffled. Just to give you an idea of how many of “designer breeds” exist, I compiled a list of registered names from the ACHC.
- Yorkshire Terrier + Poddle = YorkiePoo
- Jack Russell Terrier + Poodle = Jack-A-Poo
- Labrador Retriever = Labrodoodle
- Chihuahua + Dachshund = Chiwinie
- Poodle + Westie = Wee-Poo
- Bulldog + Pug = Buggs
- Pomeranien + Poddle = PomaPoo
- Affenpinscher + Chihuahua = Affenhuahua
- Affenpinscher + Poddle = Affenpoo
- American Bulldog + Boxer = Bulloxer
- American Bulldog + Mastif = MastiBull
- Alaskan Malamute + Siberian Husky = Alusky
- American Eskimo + Cocker Spaniel = Cock-A-Mo
- American Eskimo + Shih Tzu = Shih-Mo
- American Rat Terrier + Boston Terrier = Brat
- Beagle + Jack Russell Terrier = Jack-A-Bee
And two of my personal favorites…
- Basset Hound + Miniature Schnauzer = Bowzer
- Chihuahua + Toy Fox Terrier = Taco Terrier
…believe me the list goes on and on
Moreover, I have noticed that in the corporate world, the “breeding” of two brand names often takes a more conservative approach to naming.
MillerCoors (perhaps “Cooller” possibly could of work due to the environment in which their product lives).
Thomson Reuters (Reuterson ehh maybe that is just a bad last name, ie Tom Reuterson).
Is this good "brandalosophy"? Or should a new name be developed opening the door to refined characteristics and benefits giving birth to a new “designer brand?”
By: Nick Irwin
Mad Addiction
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The hit A&E Series Mad Men won accolades this year for TVs Most Outstanding Drama Series. Its base premise is about a fictional 1960s New York City advertising agency Sterling Cooper and its executives.
Even being a fictional show mostly centered on the personal lives of the characters, we still get a glimpse into branding and advertising conception during the 60s. What I enjoy most about this newfound addiction of mine are the brands featured as clients of the agency. American Airlines, Heineken, Maidenform, Cadillac and Kodak are just a few. I’ve also learned that some of these mentioned do pay for the placement in addition to their advertising spots during the show.
Although the show takes place over 50 years ago when there weren’t as many legal trademarking challenges to overcome, it still portrays creativity on a personal level, even while dealing with the transitional social challenges of those times. For those of us fortunate enough to be working in the branding industry, there's a sense of pride in watching the perspective of what it must have been like then, but also how things have changed. Pairing that with the intriguing lives of the characters has made this show one that I can’t ever miss.
By: Kelly Wilson
Spooktastic Events
Branders and marketers take full advantage of creating names for holiday events, as evidenced by the plethora of Halloween-inspired names this year. Take a peek at some examples in the Queen City:
Scarowinds
Adding one letter to the original brand offers instant brand recognition
Boo at the Zoo
Rhyming adds memorability
The Amazing Maize Maze
Not necessarily Halloween-related, but homonyms are always fun
In other areas, you can find:
Halloween Spooktacular (SeaWorld)
MetroBoo (Miami Metro Zoo)
Monster Splash (Miami Seaquarium)
Howl-o-Ween (various canine-inspired Halloween parties)
What are some other Halloween-inspired brands or event names you’ve seen this year?
Branding on a Budget
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With the economy slowing, many consumer brands are feeling the pressure to keep customers spending, which means better deals for us! Listed below are just a few brands that are attempting to leverage the recent economic crisis.
TARGET:
Target’s new TV ad campaign focuses on a more cost friendly approach to everyday life. The do-it-yourself spirit of the ad empowers customers to think about their everyday life differently. For example, riding a bike to work rather than worrying about expensive gas, cutting your children’s hair rather than taking them to the barbershop every 3 weeks and exercising at home rather than paying a costly gym membership. The ads encourage me to think about the necessities in my life and how I can find ways to simplify and reduce my spending.
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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
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