We’ve all met people that tell us how honest they are or reassure us that they can be trusted over and over and over. Problem is, honest, trustworthy people don’t talk that way.

Nothing calls a person’s integrity into question faster than their own unsolicited assurances that it needn’t be questioned. Which is why we are cringing at the name of an association of independent insurance brokers that has had a television advertising blitzkrieg going for the last month. The name is “Trusted Choice™”, which appears on their website home page no less than 20 times, for added assurance insurance.

OK, to whet your appetite, here is a choice morsel from the Trusted Choice™ Home page:

ATTENTION INDEPENDENT AGENCIES!
Join Trusted Choice™ During June TV Ad Blitz
A three-week Trusted Choice™ television advertising campaign of more than 300 spots on such national cable networks as CNN and ESPN is underway and continues through June 29. Three commercials–one each for auto, home and business–will promote the benefits of using a Trusted Choice™ agency to millions of television viewers nationwide. Click here to see the complete advertising schedule. All independent agents and brokers are urged to join the more than 2,600 agencies that are Trusted Choice™ members. Benefit from the use of the consumer-tested Trusted Choice™ logo, national advertising and more! The support of the independent agency system that Trusted Choice™ represents is critical to the success of the branding effort. Learn more about why Trusted Choice™ needs your support, and why you need Trusted Choice™. Join the movement today or contact Trusted Choice™ for more information at (800) 221-7917.

Sorry about that, but sometimes this business gets ugly. You better go take a couple showers now.

AT&T Canada has changed its name to Allstream. The new brand name is explained on the company’s website:

Allstream is a new beginning for a new company. Our name change from AT&T Canada signals our new status as a fully independent company with a fresh new outlook. We understand that the continuous flow of information that travels through networks is more than just data – it’s the value people create.

We are now focused more than ever on providing communication solutions that enable your company to communicate, collaborate and compete more effectively.

Unfortunately, the communication solution they chose for themselves neither communicates or competes effectively. A cursory search for other corporations in the digital information sector with “stream” in their names turns up:

Stream, CapitalStream, On Stream, I-Stream, Bean-Stream, Silver Stream, Rapid Stream, Stream Theory, Health Stream, Digital Stream, Island Stream, Stream Down, Stream Logic, Streamlogics, Data Stream, Stream Soft, Jet Stream, Stream Software, Metric Stream, Packet Stream, Stream Box, Vital Stream, Code Stream and X-Stream Audio.

However, in a bold, differentiating stroke, the word “solutions” appears only eight times on the Allstream home page.

Decline of western civilization: Check out this great ad for Travelocity U.K. It’s yet another reminder of the biggest cultural divide between the United States and the rest of the world. Here in the U.S. violence is preferred over sex when it comes to what is acceptable for our kids to see on TV. Europeans have the screwy idea that sex is normal and it’s violence that is abhorrent. Crazy bastards.

Ever wonder how companies end up with names like Lucent, Scient, Viant, Navient, Sapient, Agilent, Aquent, Cerent and Luminant? They hire really, really awful naming and branding consultants. The “process” that corporations are then subjected to is as shallow and insipid as the resulting names, taglines and logos.

Fortunately, this phenomenon has been satirized for your protection by the good folks at eNormicom. It’s one of the funniest looks inside the blustering world of high cost/low impact naming and branding. And it’s all true, down to the smallest detail. Check it out.