Brand Mix

My weekly summary of interesting and entertaining posts. More at the bottom of the page in "Martin's Shared Items." This week's theme explores when words can hurt:

1) A dumb branding strategy: Seth's Blog
Seth critiques retail stores that use generic names like Party Land and House of Socks. "This is the absolute last refuge of a marketer who has absolutely nothing to say and can't even find the guts to stand for what they do. It's just generic." He laid down a challenge for people to tell him successful brands that managed to pull off this strategy. Well, it seems like, in fact, there's quite a few. He mentions Pizza Hut, Central Market, IHOP and Radio Shack and, after reading this post that explores the same theme, I would add Best Buy too. So, perhaps not dumb, just a missed opportunity?

2) The Freakonomics Aptonym collection: One, Two, Three: Freakonomics
Freakonomics has run an occasional series on aptonyms (a name that describes what you do). Many people's surnames derive from what generations past actually did (Taylor, Cooper, Bishop (probably servant of, rather than actual one)). But the most interesting aptonyms today are the accidental ones (e.g. Dr. Glassman for an eye doctor)

3) Spotted Dick - When Product Naming Goes Bad: Brand Identity Guru (BiG)
Scott White has been discovering brands from overseas that don't translate well into American including Spotted Dick, a classic English delicacy.

4) Memo to UK Parents: Your Child Is Not a Brand: Fritinancy
Should naming your kid be like naming a new product - "something to make them stand out from the crowd?” Nancy Friedman doesn't think so.

5) "Business Literature" That Sounds Like Literature: Grant McCracken
"Why must our writers work for the corporation and write, like Wallace Stevens, as if in another life?" Grant asks the question and recommends, among other things, poetry. A mission statement as haiku? That would be different.

6) Don't let your words get in the way: The Marketing Minute
Drew McLellan points to a Burger King ad that wasn't wrecked with too many words.