There is magic in a name...

A name reflects an identity.  An effective brand name has to be distinctive, protectable, easy to pronounce and remember, meaningful.  It has to stick in consumers' minds and connect to the good or service it represents.  There has to be some magic in the name to make it timeless. 

There are a number of types or categories of brand names that you can follow.  Founder names, for example, where companies or products are named after their founders:  Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart, Ben & Jerry's.  Acronym names such as IBM, GE, CNN.  Descriptive names, where the name reflects the nature of the business:  Toys "R" Us, Mop and Glo, Wash and Go.   There is also the magic spell type, where you can make an alteration in the spelling of the name to make it more unique and protectable: Flickr, Tumblr.

Have you found the magic in your company's or product's name?

Happy Family

Groupe Danone has always known the right targets of investment.  It has recently bought Happy Family, one of the key players in organic baby food in the US market.  The organic sector of baby food has been continuously rising in terms of importance and sales.  Groupe Danone knows well that the target market of mothers want nothing but the best and healthiest for their children and families.  What a better group to invest in.  Happy family for happy returns!

A cup of Nescafe anyone?

Nescafe is celebrating its 75th year anniversary with 5.500 cups consumed every second in over 180 countries.  It has been rated, by Interbrand, #35 in 2012 Best Global Brands with a brand value of 11 billion USD.  It is the world's 1st soluble coffee!  It continues to grow and enhance its taste and global presence...

Jazz up your morning cup of Nescafe!

Moxy Hotel for the economic crisis…

Marriot Hotels and IKEA are partnering to develop a budget hotel chain targeting the millennial type of consumer living the economic crisis.  The plan involves about 150 locations throughout Europe in the next decade with the first opening in Italy next year.  The hotel will not feature any of IKEA furniture, but it will apply IKEA’s concept of self-assembly to its rooms which will be prefabricated offsite.

Smart partnerships for tough times and promising customers…

Thongs for little girls?

When back in 2002, Abercrombie & Fitch introduced a line of thong underwear for young girls of age 10-14 and a line of T-shirts featuring Asian caricatures it failed to predict the trouble, the insults, and the boycotts that they would have caused.   Part of their ineffective and wrongly approached PR campaign was to publicly state that the Asian caricature T-shirts would assumingly be liked by Asians and that the girls’ thongs would be cheerful and cute, just like the potential consumers…

When involved in a socially irresponsible move, strategy or product launch, your immediate action should be to publicly admit your faults through an appropriate PR campaign, instead of coming up with unprofessional, selfish and damaging to your image comments.

Refreshing of brands during the economic crisis

The economic crisis has affected all companies in all industries.  Even the fast food industry has been facing difficult times, more specifically in the American market which has been stagnant for a long period now.

Wendy’s, the no. 3 in the industry, is freshening its brand, packaging, logo and products in an attempt to increase its customer attraction and sales.  Its new logo will appear on packaging, advertising and employees’ uniforms as of next week.  New products on its menu like the new cod sandwich will also be featured in its new advertising campaign.  McDonalds and Burger King, the nos. 1 & 2 of the industry, also follow similar strategies.

Tiffany jewelry at Costco?

Well, here is another battle between companies…Tiffany’s at court against Costco that has been marketing diamond engagement rings under Tiffany’s name and trademark, when in fact the rings had nothing to do with Tiffany’s.  In addition, Tiffany had similar cases in the past with Overstock and ebay.  How can a low cost seller be distributing high end, luxury products?  Many consumers have fallen into that trap, though, and Tiffany’s image has been endangered.  Exclusive distribution rights have to be allocated when dealing with such high-end products and names.  Luxury brands and distributors have to be alert to protect their image positioning, as well as consumers.