Is It Legal? - Indecent Naming With Tradition
When Mitsubishi launched a new car with the name "Pajero" on the Spanish market, it became obvious very soon that the name chosen was not optimal because it immediately was the subject of jokes due to its homophony with a Spanish expression related to masturbation. The same happened to Ford's model "Pinto" (Portuguese for male genital) in Brazil where it was quickly renamed into "Corcel"(horse). There is quite a long list of product names that give food to the dirty mind be they chosen accidentaly or deliberately. Obviously there seems to be a kind of tradition for this in the history of naming which originally started with place names. Some of our ancestors obviously were too innocent to realize what burden they place on their offspring when naming places like Pratts Bottom (Kent), Brown Willy (Cornwall), Lickey End (near Birmingham), Booby Dingle (Powys), Great Cockup (Cumbria). Even places such as Thong (Kent) seem to have revealed far too much for not being the victim of lewd remarks. The European continent, however, is also challenging the innocent mind of the English speaking travellers. In Southern Bavaria they will come across a village with the name of "Petting" and about eleven miles from there, in neighbouring Upper Austria, the shock might be inevitable when they enter the village of "Fucking". Inspite of the fact that the inhabitants of Fucking have had enough with English-speaking tourists swiping their sign, they refuse to change their name. It goes back to the ancient Bavarian settlement and although this area was christianized by Irish and Scottish monks in the 9th and 10th century, an amendment of the name has never been deemed necessary. No wonder that in many countries there are restrictions regarding the choice of a place name as a trademark for goods and services. One way around these restrictions is to distort the name so that it becomes indisputable but on a subliminal level takes advantage of the fact that sex sells. A recent example of successful distortion are the products of a British based fashion retailer called French Connection Group plc with the trademark FCUK. Linguists tell us that the power of a word depends on its context, and clearly the English word "fuck" falls into that category. To make it even more explicit, two new fragrances were launched named "FCUK Him" and "FCUK Her". On its website, FCUK demonstrates a clear picture of its marketing strategy. Whereas the linguistic allusions are close to Shakespeare's bawdiness, the images remain subdued and innocent, which on the one hand is rather cynical but on the other hand tries to bridge the generation gap because most parents finance the quite conventional fashion attire that their children obtain from FCUK. Thus FCUK's clients in each major market display a range of attitudes when confronted with the provocatively distorted four-letter mark. The American Family Association (AFA) promotes initiatives against FCUK such as prefabricated emails protesting against the exploitation of youngsters in such a manner. Sex in marketing is bound to raise demand along with a few eyebrows which in addition either secure the necessary publicity or ban the product from the market. Branding an almost swear word in order to create a cash cow is, however, not restricted to fashion clothing and related products. On a recent visit to New Orleans I was surprised by the abundance of labels for their traditional hot pepper sauces. Besides the well known Tobasco, there are more spicy brand names such as "Burning rectum" or "Hot shit". It shows that name design must be ready to apply wit to anything that makes the blood boil and the label sell. Obviously this does not really work with other economic fields, for instance with tourism, because the places mentioned above are not among the hot spots that travel agents propagate in their catalogues. About The Author Wolfgang Nedobity is terminologist and CEO of NameDesigner. More info at www.namedesigner.at namedesigner@A1plus.at
Related News
SMEs to get aid with branding, packaging - Malaysia Star
SMEs to get aid with branding, packagingMalaysia Star, Malaysia -Jul 2, 2008“Tesco will provide the market access with Limkokwing University contributing the expertise on design and branding,” SMIDEC chief executive officer Datuk ... |
Beware of Branding Success - Branding Strategy Insider
Beware of Branding SuccessBranding Strategy Insider, FL -Jul 3, 2008Becoming the number-one brand in any market brings with it new, potentially fatal dilemmas. The first is prominence: getting to the top puts you directly in ... |
TEAC appoints new marketing head, announces re-branding campaign - Current.com.au
Mercury needs re-branding - Nature.com (subscription)
Nature.com (subscription) |
Mercury needs re-brandingNature.com (subscription), UK -17 hours agoResults are in from Messenger, the spacecraft that swooshed past Mercury in January. To my great disappointment there’s no mercury mentioned in the results. ... |
LG pumps £28 million into re-branding the former NEC Arena in ... - TechRadar.com
Downtown Lakeland teams with St. Louis firm to build branding - Bizjournals.com
Board meetings, combine clinics keep Murray on the road - The Prairie Star
Nation building and branding Malaysia - Malaysia Star
The value of branding becomes patent - Financial Times
The value of branding becomes patentFinancial Times, UK -Jul 3, 2008By Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai More companies are filing for patents in China - and suing to enforce patent rights there - than anywhere else in the world, ... |
Pro Life BC introduces its new branding - B.C. Catholic Newspaper
Pro Life BC introduces its new brandingB.C. Catholic Newspaper, Canada -13 hours agoDirector James Borkowski elaborated on some of the meaning behind the brand, saying, "A signal is a consistent message usually providing direction or ... |
|
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Trademark Your Business ? Lessons Learned
Small business owners learn many lessons the hard way - through
the school of hard knocks. I recently experienced my own tough
lesson concerning the importance trademarking my business name.
Like many solo-entrepreneurs on a tight budget, the thought of
trademarking my business name was not high on my priority list.
Had I placed more importance on it, I might have saved myself
some anxious moments, not to mention a few hundred dollars in
attorney fees!
Corporate Logo Design ? 6 Keys to Success
A corporate logo design should be highly instrumental in building your corporate identity and should successfully exude the company's attitude. The viewers must have some idea about the disposition, character, or fundamental values of your company through your logo.
Brand Love, Part 2
Last issue, I talked about increasing your Brand Love-- meaning to increase the affection that prospects and customers feel toward your business.
Shattering the Branding Myths
If you've been online long, you're sure to have seen many "gurus" give their ideas about branding. However, much of what you read simply isn't true. Over the years, many myths about branding have taken hold in the online world and spread like wildfire. The fact is: They are doing you more harm than good.
Trademark: Do I Need One for My Business Name and Logo?
Wondering if a trademark is important to you as a business owner? Let's start with the basics. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or logo that distinguishes and identifies the source of goods of one company or person from another. For example, the name Kraft is trademarked, as is Nike's "swoosh" logo.
Simple Risk Reversal Formula Will Send Your Sales Into Space (2 of 2)
Make A Bold Promise Then Back It Up With An Awesome Guarantee
Brand Value Plan - Brand Identity Guru
Developing brand value is critical to every organization and when professionally executed, delivers a clear and measurable competitive advantage to your firm. It does so by helping you establish a positive connection and value-relationship with your customer, which, over time, will build brand equity and increase brand value.
Articles: The Perfect Branding Tool
If you own a web-based business, you're probably aware of the need for things like link exchanges, lead-purchasing, SEO copy, banner ads and all of the "traditional" ways to get exposure on the World Wide Web.
Importance of Branding - Whats in a Name?
Branding is perhaps the most important facet of any business--beyond product, distribution, pricing, or location. A company's brand is its definition in the world, the name that identifies it to itself and the marketplace. A model may be beautiful, but without a name, she's just "that girl in that picture." Where would Norma Jean be without Marilyn Monroe, or who would imagine Coca-Cola as just a soft-drink manufacturer? A brand provides a concrete descriptor to customers and competitors alike, a name for a product or service to distinguish it from anything else. Bob may run a hobby shop, but trying to advertise as "The hobby shop a guy named Bob runs down the street a ways" is financial suicide. Each customer will have to describe the shop, who Bob is, and what the shop does every time someone asks about it.
How Do You Define a Good Logo Design?
Everyone wants his company logo to be the best but how good is good? How do we define a good logo? Is it necessary to be colorful or an exquisite piece of art? Can a simple design work as a good logo? We are often in a dilemma.
Corporate Branding and Professional Logo Design
Any business with the minimum interest to be successful should concentrate on developing their corporate image and when I say "any business", I mean it, absolutely any business-even if it's a mom-n-pop shop. "Corporate image" might be a big word for such small ventures, however, what I meant by that is how the business wants themselves to be perceived by their customers. Irrespective of the size of the business it is very important to determine how do you come across to your potential customers? How do you compare to your competitors? These factors are largely determined by your branding and marketing strategies. Branding tools like logo designs, business cards etc goes a long way in creating your corporate image. Any marketing communication material should ideally have your corporate logo on it, which would give more credibility for your business as well as help your client to perceive your business as a professional enterprise.
New Uniforms Could be the Gold Charm for the Golden Arches
New designer uniforms could be the gold charm McDonald's needs to connect their new hip marketing campaign to their fast-food restaurants. This possible gold charm for the fast-food chain has the ability to let the actual fast-food restaurants reflect the image they are portraying in their advertisement campaign. The new "I'm lovin' it" marketing campaign has attracted a youthful audience to the fast-food chain. However, when this trendy younger crowd comes to McDonald's, they do not see the same fashionable place that they saw in the commercial. Instead, they see the same thing that they would see at just about any fast-food restaurant. McDonald's hopes to further entice this target market into their restaurants by updating their restaurants with new employee uniforms.
Branding: What Not to Do
Here's a little story about what not to do as you carve out a name for yourself in the world of internet business.
Branding Is Not Selling Out: ITS SELLING IN
Ever see an amazing band perform and wonder why you've never heard of them
before? Ever see an astonishing artist on the street and wonder why isn't their work
isnt in a gallery? Ever see an astounding independent film and wonder why people
all over the world don't know about it?
Attract More Clients With A Brand Identity
You've probably heard that people buy products and services from people they know, like and trust. And, as I have done, you've probably wondered how you can foster more of this "Know-Like-Trust" factor in your business relationships. Pictures are tied to our emotions in powerful ways, so strategically using your logo and brand identity materials (business cards, letterhead, brochures, website, etc.) to enforce this connection is a great idea.
Wealthiest 10% of Americans Name Top Quality Brands for 8 Products in New Survey
The seventh in a continuing series of twice-yearly surveys by The American Affluence Research Center (AARC) reveals the brands considered to have the highest quality, regardless of price, by the wealthiest 10% of Americans, the 11 million households representing about half of all consumer income and spending, a third of the total US economy, and 70% of the personal wealth of Americans.
Could Ray Kroc have founded McDonalds in the Era of Sarbaines Oxley?
Over regulation of our free markets is stifling our growth in America and killing the next superstar Entrepreneurs. Let's discuss just how bad it really is. Let's us discuss Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds and the Father of Franchising. In this philosophical discussion let us look at history for a moment shall we? If Ray Kroc had to pay $45,000 to create disclosure documents to franchise right out of the gate, could he have still had the capital to do it? Would he have wanted too? What if he had to pay an additional $15,000 per year to stay registered in all the states; another $10,000 to $20,000 to keep up with the law changes and case law? Could he have actually stayed in business?
Brand Warfare is More of a War than You Think
We will discuss Brand Marketing for a minute. In this discussion we would like to talk about brand line extension and how to do it correctly. First we are not sure if you have been looking in the grocery stores lately, but you might have been noticing some very interesting things amongst America's top selling brands, this has been increasing for about the last 5-years. For instance look at GE Light bulbs sometime. They have not only the original light bulb that GE is known for they now have; Soft Pink, Crystal Clear, Original, Standard, Miser (The energy saving light bulb), and of course Party Light Bulbs in colors of yellow, red, green, blue, and orange.
Brand Building 201: Finding The Ideal Way
The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off of an
existing category. Branching takes patience and time.
There are two speeds for launching a brand, each one with
its own pros and cons.
Brand Awareness - Brand Identity
About once a month a few of us at the office get together during lunch for what has become known as a SWAP meeting. We share thoughts, stories and sometimes play Pictionary. It's a great way to relieve stress and learn interesting tidbits about the people we work with.
|
