Hydrox Returns!
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Kellogg's is bringing back the original Hydrox cookie to celebrate their 100th anniversary this year; a felicitous event indeed for the cult of Hydrox fans who have been craving the crème filled confection since their disappearance from shelves in 2003.
Although some people may remember Hydrox cookies as 'imitation Oreos', they were actually the first to market, debuting in 1908 by what would later become Sunshine Biscuits. It wasn’t until 1912 when the National Biscuit Co. (later called Nabisco) entered the crème-filled cookie market with Oreos, and the battle began. Read more
Trend Watch: Drug Delivery
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As pharmaceuticals are becoming more sophisticated, the need for targeted and effective modes of administration is becoming more apparent: a trend that is not being ignored by companies worldwide. Drug delivery is an increasingly dynamic sector of the pharmaceutical industry, and it may prove to be one of the most interesting areas of growth over the next decade.
Branding Happy Hour
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While relaxing on the outdoor patio at M5 in SouthPark, enjoying one of their “signature cocktails,” I began to question the connection between my drink selection and the names assigned to the drinks at this particular restaurant. Sure, the “French Grape Crush” is an indisputably delicious blend of white rum, crushed red grapes, soda and simple syrup…but would I ever have ordered it if it was listed on the menu as Rum with Grapes? And for that matter, would I have been willing to pay $10 for a drink that sounded so simple? Perhaps our motivations for selecting a particular drink have less to do with the ingredients and more to do with the mystique of the name. It certainly appears that today’s martini bars have bought into this theory, as evidenced by the clever drink names at some of my favorite local spots. They come in all forms:
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Economic Marketing
With the “R” word looming and gas prices soaring, it’s easy to get caught up in the economic frenzy. Watch your gas usage. Don’t spend your money. Put your savings in a coffee can under your bed like our grandparents did. While I think it’s good for us as a society to conserve our resources (from both a financial and environmental perspective), it’s hard to move the economy forward without injecting some cash into the system.
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Word Play and Word Loss
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This story I find amazingly ironic since my job is to solely work with words and letters, manipulate them, move them around, and create new ones to differentiate them from other existing brands. If any of you are familiar with and addicted to the Facebook application Scrabulous, then your life has probably changed recently. Here in the US and Canada, the application has been shut down due to toy giant Hasbro (who owns the US rights to Scrabble) handing down a copyright infringement lawsuit to the makers of Scrabulous. The India-based creators of Scrabulous are said to have never gotten permission to create the so called “knock-off” from Hasbro, nor Mattel, who owns the international rights to Scrabble. Although the game Scrabble is also an application provided on the site, it has recently been hit with an attack shutting its players out as well. With both games being blocked, the devoted Scrabulous players are making their widely disappointed opinions about Hasbro known all throughout the Facebook community.
So what does this mean for Hasbro? What will the judge decide, and more importantly, what will happen to all of the time spent playing Scrabulous on Facebook? I know…let’s get the traditional, hard-board game of Scrabble out and create a new name for Scrabulous!
By: Kelly Wilson
The Olympic Rings, a Timeless Symbol
With the opening ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games right around the corner, it is only fitting that we take a look at the history and meaning of the official Olympic Emblem, otherwise known as the Olympic Rings.Read more
Spinning your wheels for the right name
It was the mid 1950s and the Ford Motor Company had a new mid-level car to name. They spared no expense, hiring an ad agency to produce over 6 thousand name possibilities, and engaging poet Marianne Moore to create several more.
But the developers of the car simply could not agree, and after all outside names were rejected, the family name Edsel was finally chosen.
The car went on to become one of the most remarkable commercial failures of its time. Of course, the name (which, according to market research, evoked words such as “weasel” and “dead cell”) wasn’t the soul reason for the brand’s downfall. Still, sometimes it pays to play it safe.
The $99 Brand Name
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In an effort to reduce the intimidation factor at the beginning of a new project, we often tell our clients that while they may not realize it, every one of them has naming experience. We’ve all named something in our lives, be it a pet, a child, or a nickname for our car or a friend. What I didn’t know is there is, in fact, a structured way for all of us to be professional namers. Clicking through a recent email that breached my spam filter, I came across a new competitor for Addison Whitney: NameThis.com.
This site offers “three world-validated names for your thingamajig in 48 hours”…all for the bargain price of $99. Eighty percent of this fee is distributed back to participating site members, meaning those who helped create or influence the winning names actually get paid for their ideas. Of course, there is no guarantee that the customer submitting the naming request is going to like the winning candidates or that they’ll be legally viable. If you were starting a new business, would you be willing to spend $99 to give a group of average citizens a shot at naming your company, product, service or website?
Contributed by: Ashley Hollingsworth
Big-Hearted Brands: Sweet Feet
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If you are like me, you probably have at least twenty pairs of shoes in your closet. You probably even want to kick yourself, with that new pair of shoes you just bought, for straining your finances in the name of fashion.
However, there is a new shoe brand on the market that will not only go easy on your wallet, but make you feel good as well (and not just because these shoes are super comfortable)!
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The Knight and The Hare
My recent wedding presents me with a personal re-branding opportunity and a potential new revenue generating stream for Addison Whitney. I face a question that thousands of others do after marriage- Do I take my husband’s name, hyphenate or keep my current name? Could Addison Whitney solve this dilemma for me and thousands of other retired Bridezillas?
Below my current brand name and potential new brand name are run through an abbreviated review process.