The analysis points to the most serious peril for the following 12 brands which, 24/7 Wall Street says are most likely to disappear by the end of 2010:

1. Budget rental cars: Though Budget’s parent company currently says it will continue to operate both the Avis and Budget brands, increasing debt problems, a weakening travel industry and intensifying competition will nonetheless cause the demise of the Budget brand, 24/7 Wall Street predicts.

2. Borders books: Declining sales, heavy losses and pressure from competitors Barnes & Noble and Amazon – especially from new e-book readers – may prove too much for the brand when large amounts of debt come due in April 2010.

3. Crocs footwear: The decline in stock price from $72 per share in late 2007 to $2 today, ongoing financing issues, consumer belt-tightening and the end of a fad, leads to to 24/7 Wall Street’s declaration that “Crocs won’t make it through the year.”

4. Saturn vehicles: As General Motors faces bankruptcy, 24/7 Wall Street said it will almost certainly shutter the brand, whose sales dropped 59% in the first quarter of 2009.

5. Esquire Magazine : While the Esquire brand is plagued with ad revenue declines and intense competition in the crowded men’s-magazine market, parent company Hearst faces problems on both the newspaper and magazine fronts and will not hesitate to close down underperforming brands such as this one to bolster its overall position.

6. Old Navy apparel: 24/7 Wall Street said that parent company Gap – which currently markets the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands – is “a three-brand company living in a two-brand body” and cannot continue to sustain all three in the midst of steep, across-the-board sales declines. Old Navy, which is the weakest brand, will most likely not survive.

7. Architectural Digest Magazine: Amidst drastic cutbacks in high-end home sales and expensive redecorating, the once-healthy publication has lost 47% of its ad pages this year. Faced with other financial problems in its newspaper and magazine businesses, parent company Conde Nast will not be able to sustain the brand, according to 24/7 Wall Street.

8. Chrysler brand cars: Facing similar problems to GM as it teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, Chrylser LLC will not be able to support product design, manufacturing and marketing for a brand with many less sales that Dodge or Jeep as it gears up for restructuring.

9. Eddie Bauer: Faced with declining sales, a stock price under $1, major debt problems and a CCC- rating, analysts say its lack of differentiation in the marketplace could prove the last straw. 24/7 Wall Street said it could be out of business by mid 2009.

10. Palm: A brand that 24/7 Wall Street says has been “at death’s door for some time,” faces life-threatening competition from RIM and Apple, and can only survive in the unlikely event that it can expand the smartphone market by increasing demand for its “Pre.” Dismal financial results and association with Sprint, the already-#3 US wireless carrier, will spell complete disaster.

11. AIG: The once-venerable insurance giant’s highly publicized financial problems, involvement in the financial crisis and subsequent bailout and indebtedness to the federal government, make it the “one large brand in America which almost everyone would like to see disappear,” according to 24/7 Wall Street. Because many of the company’s operating units do not bear the AIG name, they will continue to do business as they distance themselves from the “toxic” AIG parent brand, which eventually will go away.

12. United Air Lines: As the travel industry faces unprecedented overcapacity in light of the recession, two of the large US carriers will soon need to merge to avoid bankruptcy. While it is not clear yet how such a consolidation will shake out, the stocks of UAL, American and US Air have plummeted. 24/7 Wall Street believes that United – the weakest of the carriers, soon faces a “merger,” which will most likely mean the end of the line for the brand.

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.

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.

Nokia just announced the Nokia 8600 Luna, a slider luxury phone with a shell made of smoked glass. For example, the keypad is visible through the protective cover but only reveals when you slide it up.

Named after Luna, “the goddess of moonlight, which was often represented by the Romans as a mysteriously captivating beauty encircled in a soft, yet radiant light”, the Nokia 8600 Luna will also include a 2-megapixel camera, a mini USB port and quad-band worldwide roaming.

And from MobileTechReview:

Building upon a tradition of crafting its most unique and prestigious phones from trend-setting materials like chrome, stainless steel and titanium, Nokia today unveiled the Nokia 8600 Luna, which has been precision engineered from the same material that has inspired both artists and craftsmen for centuries- glass.

The melding of nearly opaque smoked glass with unique, soft-touch stainless steel makes the Nokia 8600 Luna as enchanting to behold as it is a joy to touch. Adding to its mysterious allure, a gentle keypad illumination pulsates from beneath the glass case while the phone awaits a call. Combined with the warmth of its glass and stainless steel body, this “heartbeat” transforms the Nokia 8600 Luna from an inanimate object into a trusted companion with an organic, virtually alive form. When a call does beckon, the signature slide movement is carefully balanced to smoothly raise the ergonomic keypad from within its glass cocoon.

The balance of aesthetics and ergonomics found in the design of the Nokia 8600 Luna continues in its well thought out feature set. Nokia’s first use of a single micro-USB port not only allows for a streamlined design free of extraneous indentations, it allows owners to streamline common activities – like charging, audio and data connectivity – into a single connection. Quad-band GSM support also allows owners to easily stay connected while they are on the road, while the large, bright display is perfect for sharing images captured with the 2 megapixel camera.

In other Igor naming news, our first national television network name launched last week- there are two more in the pipe so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, over on the seedy side of town, the good folks at Landor launched their corporate HQ webcam today, where it’s just another day at the orifice. Enjoy:

We just unboxed some new iMac G5’s, and right there, right next to the most beautiful, intuitive computer ever fashioned, was that annoying piece of has-been technology. So now, like most Mac users, we have swapped out Apple’s mice for two-button models w/ scroll wheels (old Dell’s!), breaking the Apple brandscape before us.

What is Apple clinging to with the single-button mouse? An iconic design with a lot of brand legacy, for sure. But since this mouse is the one part of the experience that falls short, the part that shouts, “Yesterday!”, and unnecessarily so, the brand equity cost is too high. This mouse needs to find a new house.

[ More posts about naming products | More posts about naming companies ]

Ms. Kerrigan’s first address in NYC was 234 East 2nd Street (I lived in the same tiny building at the time). Remove “East” from the address and you are left with 2342. Her first store was at 208 East 6th Street, again, remove the “East” and you are left with 2086. Subtract the second number from the first thusly: 2342-2086=256. Take the result and subtract 64, the year she was born, and you are left with 192. Oh yeah, she lived on the 3rd floor on 2nd Street, so subract three and there you are. Wait a second, we both lived at 221 East 2nd Street…nevermind.

Well, the addresses are accurate anyway. The actual explantion is in the article — too bad its origins were revealed and the “33″ factor vanquished.

Up in Boston, fashion hardhead Cam Brown enters his 20th year in a crusade to win a 30 dollar bet by stubbornly wearing a blue shirt and khaki pants every single day for 40 years.

[ More posts about consumer product naming | More blogs about consumer product naming ]

Me: 20 days? (the American Express tag line is “the only card you’ll ever need”) My other Amex cards arrive in 24 hours when replaced.

Amex: The Blue card has a special chip inside that takes longer to produce.

Me: What purpose does the chip serve?

Amex: It provides you with greater security for online transactions, sir.

Me: But when I order online, I type my credit card number into a form, so how does a chip, which the computer never comes in contact with..

Amex: It’s for online security. Is there anything else I can help you with today, sir?

Me: Yes. You can help me understand how a chip embedded in a credit card, a card that is not inserted into anything, makes any difference.

Amex: Sir, I’ve already explained that the chip is for enhanced security purposes when making purchases online. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

Me: Is there any way to get a replacement card sooner?

Amex: We can send you a temporary card tomorrow morning.

Me: What is temporary about it?

Amex: It doesn’t have the chip.

Me: Should I use it to make purchases on the Internet?

Amex: That’s up to you sir.

Intrigued, I called the application line for Amex Blue. The very nice woman asked me if i had any questions about the card before applying..

Me: What’s the chip for?

Amex: It’s for enhanced security online.

Me: How so?

Amex: (giggling)They don’t tell us that.

The Blue card is the only Amex card with a limit, meaning that its theft causes the least damage of all Amex cards, yet it is the lone card with the “enhanced security chip”.

The Blue chip is causing damage to the American Express brand on several levels:

1. 20 day delay is the opposite of the brand positioning they have carefully built

2. lack of a script they have equipped their employees with doesn’t inspire confidence

3. the chip comes off as a silly marketing ploy that only serves to inconvenience customers

American Express needs to either create a well defined and logical explanation of the benefit of the Blue card’s unique on-board microprocessor, or cash this chip in.

“This inn probably has the most amazing views of the Pacific Ocean of any hotel in Northern California.”
    –GoNOMAD, San Francisco guide

And indeed the website photos demonstrate a remarkable view. Problem is, Sausalito is on San Francisco and Richardson’s Bay, well inside the Golden Gate. The Pacific Ocean is several miles away, on the other side of a big hill, in the opposite direction. There is no view of the Pacific Ocean from this or any other Sausalito Hotel; it’s a physical impossibility. But then the owners of the hotel know that.

This is a beautiful hotel, where the waves actually pass beneath your balcony. Why would they put their luxury brand at risk with such a crazy statement? Some people are just slippery when wet.

UPDATE 5.23.05: The Inn has fixed the problem, and changed the language of the quote on their site to reflect reality. It now reads,

“This inn probably has the most amazing views of San Francisco Bay of any hotel in Northern California.”
    –GoNOMAD, San Francisco guide