« June 2008 | July 2008 | August 2008 »
While it’s no secret that Wal Mart products last about as long as a modern marriage, the impulsive Superstore child, Sam’s Club, has recently wed with Geeks on Call for PC service.
Admitting that the products they peddle are destined for failure, select Sam’s Club outlets will now offer on-call technology services in-home and in-office for participating members.
Notice that the Geek is playing pocket pool, and his glasses need a bit of repairing themselves, which is somehow supposed to signify that this guy really knows what to do with an allen wrench and a pair of tweezers. Your broken gizmo is in good hands.
Coming soon, on-call repair service for Wal Mart’s very own broken-when-you-buy-it iLo TV. Guaranteed broken with on-call repair service. Nice.
Brandweek has published their ranking of The Top 2000 American Superbrands, and it’s a real head-scratcher. Relying on a suspect “methodology” that is based on many factors, but highly weighted toward ad spending, here are their Top 5 American Superbrands:
- AT&T
- McDonalds
- Verizon
- Macy’s
- Sprint
The problem is, they are trying to quantify what a “Superbrand” is, and their numbers may add up, but not to anything that a consumer would recognize. This is the same fallacy that leads focus-group decision making toward weak names that have the ability to excite statisticians, but not people. For instance, if you look just at press, word-of-mouth buzz, overflowing retail stores, people lining up to buy their products, advertising and general cultural ubiquity, most people would agree that Apple should probably score very highly on a list of Superbrands. That, however, is not the case here.
The only two Apple products in the Top 100 are “Apple Macintosh Computer Systems” at number 86, and “Apple iPod Digital Audio Player-Recorder” at number 91. No clear reason why other entries are for a company, while for Apple they are for individual products — certainly “Apple” as a company entity would rank pretty highly on a rational list of top U.S. and international brands. Not only that, but some of the “Superbrands” that outrank Apple include, “Chevrolet Silverado Trucks” (32) (maybe Brandweek intends “Superbrand” to be understood in the same sense that Superfund is), “Empire Today Home Repair Services” (55), E-Surance Insurance-Auto (66), and in a head-to-head deathmatch of the brand titans, PeoplePC Website Internet Service Provider (90)!
It’s not like we’re trying to fluff up Apple, or join the iBandwagon, or drink their KoolAid, but whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, you have to admit that Apple is a very powerful brand, and any list of “Superbrands” that puts them well behind the Chevy Silverado, a dinosaur facing extinction, and “Empire Today Home Repair Services,” makes you wonder if the statisticians who figured all this out might be the same ones who recently lost their jobs in the financial sector after failing to notice the tsubprime tsunami.
May the debate on Apple and religion continue. From Sunday Mass to Sunday Mac. Communion to Computer. All Mighty God to All Mighty Mouse. Eve’s real Apple. Circulating discussions about Appelism, the Apple Church, and various other religious exchanges on the overall Apple faith merely scratch the surface of an increasingly monopolistic Apple Inc. kingdom to sweep the Altars.
It is safe to note that Apple Inc., at the forefront of the digital world, continues to redefine “sacred time” — keeping designers, video monkeys and other creative worker bees at their office cubes working those iApps on their iMacs, with the iTunes from their iPods ringing in their iEars, occassionally interrupted by calls on their iPhones with their little iFingers clicking-beeping-tapping-buzzing-chatting away in their own little iWorld created by some iGod.
One can only imagine the iChurch, iCar, iFood, and then of course the line of pharmaceutical iDrugs to cure the iPsycho, iCrazy, iLost, iConfused illnesses.
But we’re not complaining. We’ve already drunketh from the grail of iCoolAid. Cheers.
Sometimes imitation is flattery, sometimes it demonstrates a complete lack of originality and / or corporate ethics.
Naming and branding parody site Landor has posted an article which they claim authorship of called “How not to name“, accompanied by a photo of Anthony Shore, head of global naming at Landor. It is posted on a section of their website that they ironically named “Thinking”.
Here is an except (from point 2, paragraph 3):
This “positivity principle” explains why a scandalous name (Virgin), a slur (Banana Republic), and a small, hairy larva (Caterpillar) are perceived positively.
And here is how this thought was written five years earlier, both on the Igor website and in the Igor Naming Guide:
Unless everyone understands the positioning and the correlation between it and an evocative name, this is the type of feedback that evocative names will generate:
Virgin Airlines
- Says “we’re new at this”
- Public wants airlines to be experienced, safe and professional
- Investors won’t take us seriously
- Religious people will be offended
Caterpillar
- Tiny, creepy-crawly bug
- Not macho enough – easy to squash
- Why not “bull” or “workhorse”?
- Destroys trees, crops, responsible for famine
Banana Republic
- Derogatory cultural slur
- You’ll be picketed by people from small, hot countries
The Landor article “How Not to Name” is written in a format that states popular misconceptions and the debunks them. Here they attack the mistaken idea that focus groups are helpful in choosing company or product names (from point 6, paragraph 1):
As a rule, it’s smart to entrust strategic business decisions to someone who trades an hour of their time for $25 and a few handfuls of M&Ms.
And here is how Steve Manning, co-founder of Igor, expressed the same idea 5 years earlier in an article in Elsevier Food International :
“If you’re trusting the future of your brand to a bunch of people who are willing to give up their time for $45 and a stale sandwich, you’re in trouble.”
Was Mr. Shore of Landor aware of Mr. Maninng’s quote? Of course he was, Mr. Shore was quoted in the very same article as Mr. Manning.
The final insult comes at the end of this “Landor authored” naming article:
© 2007 Landor Associates. All rights reserved.
Reached for comment, Anthony Shore, head of global naming at Landor had this to say.
Related 1
Related 2
P.B. Loco admits they’re crazy up front with peanut butter a la curry, sun-dried tomato, and sun-ripened apricot, to name a few. Marketing themselves as the ‘Adult Peanut Butter’ P.B. Loco explores mature ways to incorporate peanut butter into a grown up diet.
Enjoy P.B. Loco in a variety of gourmet dishes like chicken satay and shrimp stirfry. These food folks were the kids in grade school who dipped their Cheetos in chocolate pudding, pretzels in yogurt, and now mix drinks while they cook. Not yet in California, P.B. Loco is inevitably bound for the SF kitchen crazies. P.B. Loco, P.B. Loco, P.B. Loco!
Fatten up your computer storage space with bacon, pizza, a slab of pork, or a burger. Simply inject the food into your computer’s USB outlet, and try not to get hungry while you’re working. Keep out of reach of children and animals (hungry people included).
NOTE: This product is not available to purchase with food stamps.
In recent years, street art has emerged into iconic and influential messaging as paint and concrete increasingly compete with paper and computer screens. Though much of modern street art falls short on delivering tangible consumer goods, it undoubtedly capitalizes on the consumer psyche. At the very least, dominating consumer attention.
There is subconscious branding taking place in street art, merely based on the location of the art (city, neighborhood, street, building, wall), in addition to the visual piece itself. How will marketers and ad gurus tune into this medium, and when will street art morph into recognizable advertising?
To kick things off, Vespa’s “Squareheads” is a running campaign with street art imagery of hipsters sporting square heads, a play on the signature vintage square mirrors adorning the scooter. Note to viewer, nowhere on these displays do you read a single Vespa label.
Shedding light on current street art campaigns: London’s Tate Museum wall art from a group of global masters; Berlin’s Urban Affairs booming street art festival; And the Bay Area’s very own eclectic modern street art pieces from 2004, Emeryville Utility Box Art. Each of these exhibitions display pieces to what modern advertising could potentially amount.
Following news that Brangelina named twins, son Knox Leon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline, it appears there’s a global trend toward more sensible names for babies. And, when they aren’t sensible, some courts may remove children from parents regarded as abusers because of the bizarre names of their children.
Family Court Judge Rob Murfitt stated his concerns in a written decision after a custody hearing in New Plymouth, New Zealand, revealed a couple had named their child Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He was so disturbed at the effect on the nine-year-old that he ordered her temporarily placed under court guardianship so a suitable name could be chosen.
How about Talula Bankhead?
“Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.” ~Tallulah Bankhead
This is the first and only certified site to register and receive a “Certificate of Authenticity” of ownership of your wang name.
Great names are still available. Register now!
This blog post is not sponsored by
Solely invented to deter cats from walking across your computer keyboard, The Refined Feline furniture quite literally pushes their latest product to the edge with Kit-in Box.
Illinois bank changes their name from First State to Legence to avoid being 1 of 20 million other “First State” related hits upon web search results. Commenting on the identity crisis and strategy to regain attention with the rename, bank president Kevin Beckemeyer says, “A business needs to be top in the mind and heart of its customers, not one in millions sharing the same name or a similar name, Beckemeyer said.”
Fun search facts:
- Total Google Search results for First State Bank 22,500,00
- Total Google Search results for Legence Bank 184
How memorable is a name like Legence for a bank, especially being a name close to “Legend” where search results for ‘Legend Bank’ round off at 21 million hits? Or is it pronounced “Leg-ence”, as in “leg essence”? A bank willing to Show a Little Leg? A Leg Up on the competition? Or just another case of Restless Legence Syndrome?
Our friends and colleagues at Whisper brand strategy consultants are hosting this Monday’s Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best of the law blogs. “Lawyers, and law firms, have always been brands,” writes Steve Cranford, CEO of Whisper.
Here’s a piece from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog that we’d have recommended for consideration in this week’s Blawg Review #169, even though it was obviously posted too late to make the cut, it’s that good:
July 21, 2008, 4:59 pm
Coming Soon: The Heller v. D.C. Commemorative Revolver
Posted by Ashby Jones
We know that last month’s Supreme Court ruling in Heller v. D.C., in which the court shot down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, made a lot of people happy (and many distressed, as well). But for those who are just beside themselves with glee, who need some sort of physical manifestation of their deep and unadulterated joy, well, it’s your lucky day. Have we got just the item.
Introducing the Smith & Wesson commemorative Heller v. D.C. revolver! That’s right, the Springfield, Mass.-based gun maker announced Monday it would present engraved Model 442 revolvers (pictured) to the six plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the high court’s June 26 decision. Here’s the Associated Press story as well as a press release from Smith & Wesson.
Smith & Wesson said the gun’s right-side plate will be engraved with the words “D.C. vs. Heller” on a scale of justice, which is tipped toward Heller. “Second Amendment” and “The right to keep and bear arms” will appear below the scale. The commemorative revolvers will be sold in the fall, with a portion of sales going to the Second Amendment Foundation.
Apologies to the Law Blog for ripping off this post, and to Warren Zevon for riffing off the title of this song.
« June 2008 | Home | August 2008 »
