2 responses so far ↓

• 1 supastring // Oct 7, 2006 at 9:23 pm

  yeah, but the Wii name has been really successful. websites have fun using it in headlines, it stands out, and the negative meaning has pretty much dissapeared in everyone’s mind. viva wii

• 2 NIQ // Oct 9, 2006 at 12:52 am

  I second that Supastring.

  Interestingly enough, I came up with four very important points this article, its writer and the guy quoted forgot to address.

  Perhaps you’ve got your own. Here’s my list:

  1. Age: By the looks of it, the writer and the guy quoted are both in their 40s. Let’s step back a few years and think in terms of their parents (my grandparents). It’s a little like Sinatra fans critiquing Sabbath. Ouch!

  2. Region: News flash, a large percentage of the world doesn’t speak English all that well. And names with “something to grab onto mentally” don’t include difficult, hard-to-pronounce, hard-to-remember words like “Urge” or “Mojo” or “Igor”! If we’re to create truly global names that people get, sometimes we have to spin simple words and metaphors or rely on pure sound for things to fly.

  3. Searches: Unless you’ve got the buzz, ad-dollars or wicked programmers to back your new, meaty, real-word name with “something to grab onto mentally,” you’ll have to create something distinct to rank high online.

  Take the “Revolution”/”Wii” example:

  “Revolution”:
  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=revolution&btnG=Search

  “Wii”:
  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=wii&btnG=Search

  4. Finally, language is fun: As word guys, we all know this. Even if it means splashing a little toilet humor around to get your wii point across (get it? games, fun with friends, laughter?), I think it’s fine (that is, if you have the messaging power to imbue your own message in a short time). No need to be stodgy corporate-types. Most of the world isn’t.

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