category: luxury brands

Igor is big in Croatia

Apparently, there is a country called “Croatia”. Why they exist is a mystery. But we are big there.

From “The Land of The Grudge” (with pics of some Igor staffers):

Jay Jurisich radi u San Franciscu i među najboljim je stručnjacima za brendove. Jutarnjem je otkrio što je danas presudno za poslovni uspjeh te zašto će neke hrvatske tvrtke uvijek ostati samo regionalneSve je u imenu. Za jedan brend ništa nije toliko važno kao ime”, poslovna je filozofija Jaya Jurisicha koji je s tom krilaticom prije šest godina s kolegom Steveom Manningom u San Franciscu osnovao kompaniju Igor koja se bavi vjerojatno najzabavnijim, ali prilično unosnim poslom u svijetu biznisa.

Complete article

Landor has a new look…

.. but they still can’t name to save their ass.

However, that is a nice pic of Anthony Shore on the hompage. And as hard as it is to believe ladies, he is straight and available (Post-ops considered).

Anth’s interests include phlebotomy, Harry Potter and calf massages (we forgot to ask which definition of “calf” he intended).

If in a vulnerable moment you do find yourself in bed with Landor on your next naming project, be safe, use a mental dam.

Should you wake up and realize you’ve been badly screwed by a “full service
agency”, there is always Plan B or Plan B.

But for those looking for a really spectacular hump, there is no substitute for Plan A.

Downoad Here Free!

We just picked this up from the Live Feed at Agenda:

Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired, and author of The Long Tail is pre-releasing large sections of his new book Free online this week. The book examines the rise of pricing models which give products and services to customers for free.

Free! We love free stuff. The only thing we like more than getting free stuff, is giving it away!

We created the Igor Naming Guide in order to demystify the naming process. In it we show how and why great product and company names work, when focus groups and standard ways of thinking about them might have predicted otherwise. Igor’s own naming process is presented in excruciating but logical detail.

The Naming Guide is regularly updated; download the latest version of “Building the Perfect Beast: The Igor Naming Guide to Creating Product and Company Names” FREE HERE!!!

Driving Tesla on National Inventors’ Day

Today is National Inventors’ Day, celebrated on February 11th, the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Alva Edison.

While it’s natural to focus on Thomas Edison, we should remember that this day is to honor all inventors. Many of the greatest inventors have been inducted into the The National Inventors Hall of Fame™.

The name of one of those inducted, Tesla, is now the mark of a new breed of electric automobile, appropriately named in his honor.

Tesla’s patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution systems and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution. Contemporary biographers of Tesla have deemed him “the man who invented the twentieth century” and “the patron saint of modern electricity.”

Here’s a YouTube video of the unveiling of the Tesla roadster, sporting a powerful governator.

Alicia Keys performs like a Lexus

Luxury brand specialists at Agenda Inc. comment on the announcement of the partnership between Alicia Keys and Lexus.

We are big fans of the incredibly tortuous statements that luxury brands sometimes feel the need to make when they announce a collaboration with a celebrity.

It’s not easy to combine a flattering description of the celebrity, make them seem human, include the entire brand manifesto, and pass the whole thing off as a simple, and obvious, comparison.

Today it was the turn of Lexus…

“The luxury of Lexus is reflected in the elegance and sophistication of Alicia Keys; her grace and style are tremendous. In the same way that Keys’ passion resonates in her music, at Lexus we are driven to create the finest luxury automobiles through the attention to detail that is required to create refined art and design.”

When you think of Lexus are you supposed to think of Alicia Keys, or when you think of Alicia Keys are you supposed to think of Lexus?

Remember Coffee Shops Before Starbucks and iPhone?

Thanks to Starbucks and Apple, Seinfeld episodes like that just won’t be funny anymore. A new Web 3.0 generation will go, like, why didn’t she simply order the coffee on her iPhone?

iTaser

Popular Mechanics finds the weirdest products at the consumer electronics show, CES 2008.

What do you get when you mix a dangerous weapon with an MP3 player? Well, it’s not quite a humanitarian crisis so much as a case of gadget convergence straight out of The Onion. I mean, seriously, this thing’s called the iTaser.

Is this a hoax?

Go to www.itaser.com to see who makes this stunning fashion accessory.

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show - Marisa’s First Time

If girl-watching is a sport in California, where surf-loving Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Marisa Miller grew up, then Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which airs tonight on CBS, must be…well…let her describe it.

Yes, “it’s like the Olympics of being a girl.”

Igor’s latest naming work with Nokia

naming companies nokia arteIntroducing the Nokia Arte and the Arte Sapphire, both named by Igor.

Just in time for Christmas, the entry level Arte makes the perfect stocking stuffer and will only set you back $1475.00 U.S.

Via dialaphone:

The 8800 ‘Arte’ and the 8800 ‘Arte Sapphire’ are the two new models in question, easily differentiated by colour, the ‘Arte’ is black and the ‘Arte Sapphire’ is brown and by the whole sapphire mounted in the centre of the ‘Arte Sapphire’s’ D-pad. Both are 3G phones and have 3-megapixel auto-focus cameras and a massive 1GB of internal memory! Their elegant slider design helps maintain a fuss-free front panel, broken only by the D-pad control and inside the flashy box, a linen-lined pouch to keep your phone safe and warm and a Bluetooth headset can be found.

As always, it’s the special touches that make the duo stand out. For example, a couple of taps on the steel fascia wakes the clock up on the display, which also has something called ‘living wallpaper’, first seen on the Nokia 7900 Prism (pictured below), which changes and adapts to time, battery power and signal strength. The coolest new feature has to be the ability to silence you ringing phone simply by turning it face down on the table! To further set these two apart from Nokia’s more run-of-the-mill phones, they feature exclusively created videos, sounds and ringtones.

As with the previous Nokia 8800 phones, the ‘Arte’ pair are constructed using the highest quality materials and have a special fingerprint retardant coating on the panels, with the ‘Arte Sapphire’ going one better by having a soft-touch Indian Goat-hide covering too! One can never accuse Nokia of not thinking differently!

Some of Igor’s previous work with Nokia can be seen here.

The ABCs of Naming Diseases and Drugs

Impotence is now ED and painful bladder syndrome is IC/PBS. Naming specialists brainstorm to come up with innocuous acronyms for embarrassing diseases to be associated with name brand drugs.

And then, pharmaceutical companies have to come up with memorable names for drugs their customers can associate with those syndromes, and ask their doctors if it’s right for them.

For drugmakers, finding a name is more art than science.

It’s the job of drug consultants to create a name that’s not already taken, won’t lead to medical mix-ups and can help cut through the marketing clutter.

What makes a good name?

“A lot of it is more art than science,” said William Trombetta, professor of pharmaceutical marketing at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “There are certain letters that express power and control, like Z, M or P. Other letters, like S, are more passive. Depending on what the drug does, you want to give the name certain features.”

Want to sound high-tech? Go for lots of Z’s and X’s, such as Xanax, Xalatan, Zyban and Zostrix.

Want to sound poetic? Try Lyrica, Truvada and Femara.

Want to suggest what it does? Flonase is an allergy medicine that aims to stop nasal flow. Lunesta, a sleeping drug, implies “luna,” the Latin word for moon — a full night’s sleep.

Then there’s Viagra, the erectile-dysfunction drug made by Pfizer. It uses the prefix “vi” to suggest vigor and vitality. The word rhymes with Niagara, suggesting a mighty flow.

“You know exactly what Pfizer (PFE) was trying to say with that,” said Andy Valvur, senior brand strategist at Igor, a San Francisco branding company.

Drug names can suggest, but under FDA rules they can’t come right out and make medical claims. That’s why you won’t see TumorBeGone or CureAll.

For the latest thinking on naming and branding in the pharmaceutical industry, there’s Better Naming Through Chemistry by Igor.

Naming and Branding in the News: 09.30.07

B to B Online
NYTimes.com Launches New Branding Campaign

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Bank of New York Mellon to Start Branding Campaign

Jim Cota in the Indianapolis Business Journal
On the Net: Buying and branding the Bonds ball

Shaun Rein in BusinessWeek
The Key to Successful Branding in China

Los Angeles Times
Tyler Brûlé’s tunnel vision

thestar online
Core competency vital for effective branding

Naming and Branding in the Blogs: 09.29.07

Rob May at Businessspundit
Advertising on the Edge - Louisville Gets Controversial

Hugh MacLeod at gapingvoid.com
unleashing the blue monster [drum roll, please….]

Jeff Lefevere at REthink Wine Blog
Distilled Lessons in Shareable Branding for Wineries

Matthew Yglesias at theAtlantic.com
Great Moments in Sneaker-Naming

James Fallows at theAtlantic.com
Country Naming Conventions: Burma v. Mayanmar

Aaron Toponce at pthree.org
The Linux Naming Controversy

Paul Durrant, quoted at TidBITS
Mac model naming conventions

blogTO.com
Jane-Finch to be Re-Branded as University Heights

Steve Blackburn at Baby Names and Meanings
10 Great Baby Naming Tips

Neatorama
Trivia: Aztec and The Art of Naming a Child

Nothingandall, reciting Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
The Naming of Cats - T. S. Eliot

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