Overcoming Common Brand Problems - 32

Number 32 in our list of the 40 Most Common Brand Problems lingers on packaging, business cards and buildings...

Common Brand Problem Number 32: Choosing generic (non-proprietary) brand names

Analysis: While it might be tempting to choose a name that describes your product or service, it’s a mistake. The name can soon become confused with that of every other brand that takes a similar approach or worse yet, it can link the brand to an outdated product or technology.

Key Point: Consider brands that include “sys” or “tech” in their names. Is it easy to tell them apart? In retrospect, how about the wisdom of the “Cellular One” name now that PCS and other technologies have moved us past cellular? Own a name that is suggestive of a timeless consumer benefit (Aris Vision Institute – for laser eye surgery) or one that is “coined” and whose meaning you can define through consumer communication (Kodak or Xerox).

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

Comments

[Nancy]

Choosing a brand name is always a challenge. Let's face it the "Band-aids" and "Kleenex" of the product world are few and far between.
I'm a writer at Deliver magazine and recently we featured an article http://delivermagazine.com/the-magazine/2007/04/30/do-you-know-stacy/ on a company that took it's unique brand name and truly "personalized" it in an attempt to make it very recognizable.

Quite an interesting approach to brand marketing.

[Derrick Daye]

Nancy,

Thanks for your thoughts and your article. Here's an article describing that very offering from Frito Lay. It makes a nice companion to yours:

http://brandstory.typepad.com/writer/2007/05/sharing_a_brand.html

Marketers today must find a way to rise above the noise. What's in a name? Everything.

Derrick