Not long ago, it would have been far-fetched to consider a Safeway brand synonymous with “certified organic.” But the last few years have seen a mainstreaming of organic products across the board, and in-store brands are finally getting a little panache – right down to brand name creation.

Two of Safeway’s store brands, O Organics and Eating Right, found immediate success from their debut. These product brands speak to people who are looking for healthier foods that are still good deal. (And who isn’t these days?) O Organics sales reached $150 million when it launched in 2005 and increased to $400 million in 2008 while Eating Right is expected to bring in $200 million this year. In a highly unusual move, these brands soon will be showing up in competitive supermarkets, as well, in the hopes that Safeway can further expand revenues.

In-store brands are generally cheaper than outside food brands, because of lower marketing overhead. But in this case, a little added branding focus has gone a long way. O Organics, for example, is an excellent product brand name. The O, like the numeral for zero, is a transparent communication of purity, telegraphing natural, unprocessed food. Eating Right is also effective in its straightforwardness. We all know that we’re supposed to be “eating right” and the name for this line of products communicates an easy way to follow this common advice.

It will be interesting to see if other grocery stores follow in Safeway’s footsteps — increasing their naming and branding efforts, more effectively competing against national brands, and then broadening their sales scope to include other grocery chains.

Tags: Advertising, Brand Naming, Food Branding, naming
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Catchword recently named a new bottled water from Canada (Eska). Like most of our names, this brand has an interesting tie to the key differentiator of the product: namely that the water is filtered by an esker into super-pure drinking water. But enough about the name…

What’s really cool is that the company was just featured in the New York Times and has recently launched a new, really informative web site that challenges many of the common assumptions in the water business.

The water is only available in Canada right now, but I know I’ll be checking it out once it hits the States.

Tags: bottled water, bottled water branding, bottled water naming, Eska, Eska name, Eska naming
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I don’t know about yours, but my neighborhood is suddenly covered in ads for Grape-Nuts. The marketing slant is one of bold refusals of common euphemisms and descriptions that have found their way into our vernacular. A billboard near my house reads, “I hope we can still be friends,” which is crossed out with red ink with “goodbye,” scrawled below. In the bottom right is a picture of a box of Grape-Nuts and the tagline, “It is what it is. NoGrapesNoNuts.com”. But what exactly does breakfast cereal have to do with the sugar-coating of the break up with my ex-boyfriend?

The product branding for the cereal was coined so long ago no one is quite sure where it came from. One thing is certain: since its creation in 1897, the product has never contained grapes or nuts, as the name would suggest. Over a hundred years later the company has decided to capitalize on this discrepancy. The domain name says it all: NoGrapesNoNutscom. And, as the amusing billboards would like you to believe, no bulls#@*. Just the whole grains implied by the image of a branch of wheat laid across the front of the box.

In this time of hyperbole and euphemism, these ads push a style of marketing that speaks to we folks who are tired of all the fluff and positive spin. Kudos to you, Post. We at Catchword salute you.

Just goes to show you: sometimes, even weird product names can succeed (if you spend enough on the ad campaign, that is)

Tags: cereal naming, food naming
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We here at Catchword Global Headquarters are big fans of caffeine - we never got that diet Coke dispenser installed, but we do have an espresso machine onsite. Via Craigslist, we bought a high-end Nespresso machine for the low low price of $20! Since we have to buy their proprietary coffee capsules, we get hit with ads for all their other wonderful products, including the one shown here - the Aeroccino.

I think this is a great product name - when I saw it on a Nespresso brochure, I knew what it was immediately. It made me think of light, airy clouds of foamy milk that would be the perfect complement to an espresso drink. You could combine them to make something like, oh, I don’t know, a … cappuccino! Nespresso, of course, benefits from previous product names like Starbucks’ Frappuccino, and the ubiquitous non-trademarked mochaccino. I suppose it’s possible that an Aeroccino would be a coffee you’d drink on an aeroplane, or perhaps something the Breatharians invented. But in the context of coffee, it’s perfectly clear where the “aero” and “-cino” intersect. And now that I know what it looks like, I want one.

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Occasionally we encounter start-up technology clients who tell us they want their name to be so popular it gets turned into a verb. Like, Google or Xerox. Oh ho ho, no you don’t! These big-name companies spend a lot of money fighting the genericization of their famous brand names. They all want to protect themselves from their brand name becoming so generic that they lose their trademark rights.

Case in point. Kleenex recently took out this full page ad in Brandweek; surely not pocket change. (Keep reading after the image for more of the blog post.)

If you can’t quite read the text, it says:

You don’t need a Social Security number to get your identity stolen. When you spend nearly a century building a name that people know and trust, the last thing you want is people calling any old tissue a Kleenex® Tissue. Simply put, ‘Kleenex’ is a brand name and should always be followed by an ® and the word ‘Tissue.’ Please help us keep our identity, ours.

The upside of having your name used as the generic term, or as a “verb” is that you own top-of-mind presence with the consumer. The downside is that when your name becomes synonymous with the category name, any one of your competitors (or all of them!) can use it to describe their own similar product.
(more…)

Tags: generic name, kleenex
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I saw an ad on TV the other day for LG’s newest phone Rumor. I immediately understood and appreciated the message contained in the name: A texting phone with a Qwerty keyboard – great for spreading rumors!

Certainly LG doesn’t intend the Rumor to be used only for gossip-mongering. The phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera and camcorder, is an MP3 player, and has advanced Bluetooth connectivity capabilities. None of its features really set it apart from the dozens of other phones that have the same feature set. It’s not even a particularly stylish phone.

LG overcame these obstacles by choosing an edgy name that’s memorable and has some relevance to the product. Rumors usually aren’t good things. They’re often created and spread with the intention to scandalize and hurt others. But, edgy names can be given a positive spin. (Take Flickr or Yelp for example.) With Rumor, LG is using rumor’s negative meaning to distinguish the phone amongst its competitors, a tactic that will help it stick in people’s minds (it worked on me!). Even Rumor’s website cleverly uses the rumor theme with flash animation characters asking you the viewer questions like “Have you heard about Rumor’s Qwerty keyboard?”

I like this name a lot. It’s great that LG took a risk and adopted an edgy name and extended its potential with smart, relevant advertising. Bravo!

Tags: cell phone naming, LG, mobile phone naming, phone naming, Rumor
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A friend of mine told me about a new fortified water for dogs. The name? “Fortifido”. Duh. Leaving behind the fact that someone actually took the time to create, and then brand, this stuff, I have to say I think the name is great. Distinctive, but relevant and fun. And I bet the .com domain name was free too.

Catchword has not (yet) had the opportunity to name any pet products. We did name Petopia, but that company has gone to the great dog-park in the sky.

Do dogs bark when they see brand names they like? Wouldn’t you just love to observe the market research around this name? “So what associations come to mind when you hear the name ‘fortifido’?”

“Woof”

A naming consultant’s new best friend.

Tags: Fortifido, pet food naming, pet product naming
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According to my bio I’m a magazine junkie with a predilection for high fashion. It’s true - I love magazines, especially my wife’s fashion mags (yeah, I’ll admit it). Flipping through her recent edition of People Style Watch I noticed this curious new brand name for a lip moisturizer: Chicken Poop. That’s right - CHICKEN POOP. As intended, I was a bit taken aback. Perhaps even a little outraged. Yeah, I guess I *was* outraged because my hands were up in the air, I was talking to myself about it and I’m sure I was making some pretty ugly faces. “What are they THINKING?! Chicken Poop??!! For a MOISTURIZER??? For ANYTHING??? This IS an outrage. It’s inflammatory! I’ve got write to someone. But who?? The FDA??? Nah. My congressman?? Yeah, right. Maybe I’ll just blog about it. Who else is gonna listen?”. So you’re all I’ve got. Thanks for being there for me.

Let’s face it - as namers we’re simply unable to evaluate a name without thinking about all the conceivable associations, the potential linguistic and cultural issues, the name length and construction, how easily it’s pronounced, its appropriateness for the product, and about a 100 other naming measurements. It’s like our DNA became altered 15 years ago when we got involved in brand name development. It’s now physically impossible for us to just DIGEST A NAME. We’ve gotta really chew it up, super fine, to a paste, before sending it down our gullets. Which is fine, and to be expected I suppose; we love what we do. But sometimes you just wanna read a name as anyone else would. As any consumer would. So here goes. Chicken Poop as evaluated by Mark Skoultchi, general consumer and magazine thief:

Holy Crap!! CHICKEN POOP??!! For a MOISTURIZER??!! Why would I want to smear chicken poop on my lips??? That’s absurd. What are they thinking? Idiots. Ohhhhh, wait. It’s probably not *really* made with chicken poop, is it?. No, I bet it’s not. This is some sort of marketing gimmick, isn’t it? Yeah, that’s it. There’s some other reason why they’re calling it Chicken Poop. Probably just wanna get my attention, be a little diiiiffrent. Probably not one turd in the whole recipe. But still, Chicken Poop?? For a lip moisturizer?? Whatever the story, do I really wanna be a part of it?? Hmmm. I’m not sure. Probably not. Maybe just a stick, to see how how it works. Maybe more, I don’t know. It’s funny. My friends will laugh. Certainly something to talk about. But long term?? I don’t know. It’s kind of a joke. Can’t imagine myself ever taking it seriously. And while Kiehl’s is a whole lot harder to spell, it works really well and I’ve always liked that brand. Guess I’ll just have to see.

So there you have it folks. Straight from the general consumer’s mouth. Sounds like he’s intrigued, but I’m not sure he’s gonna develop a real loyalty to that brand. Granted - he’s just an audience of one, but my guess is that Chicken Poop never displaces any of the heavy lippers in the category. That’s not to say it won’t make Jamie Tabor Schmidt (owner) a lot of money (and by the way, Jamie, I do love tongue-in-cheek marketing, including your “Simone Chickenbone, Natural Put-Ons” slogan, as you call it), but I do wonder how much traction the brand will have over time. And perhaps that’s just fine with Jamie. As she indicates on her website, www.ilovechickenpoop.com, she has 7 new products in the making. I’m sure the new brand names will be similarly provocative. Turkey Flem Hair Paste anyone??

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Saw a commercial for this contraceptive the other night. Actually really like the name. Marketed by Berlex Labs, Yaz is sort of a follow-up to the company’s already successful Yasmin oral contraceptive. I think Yaz has less estrogen in it than Yasmin, and Berlex claims it can treat emotional and physical premenstrual symptoms, and even improve moderate acne! Nice. Improve your skin - Improve your sex life – Time to protect yourself! Well done guys.

So the brand name. Yeah, I like it. Especially for a pharmaceutical brand name. It seems at least some of the branding folk in women’s healthcare kinda “get it”. Yasmin, Seasonale, Alesse, Mircette, Cyclessa – all relatively appealing brand names. And now Yaz, which, in my opinion, raises the bar even higher. For starters, how many pharmaceutical brand names have only three letters? And how many are as easily pronounced as “Yaz”?? I also love that the brand name has energy, emotion and personality, which is very consistent with the product’s marketing. Heck, I’m screaming the name and I don’t even see an exclamation point next to it! Lastly, it smartly alludes to “Yasmin”, and implies a relationship between the two products and the company that develops them. A shorter name for a lower estrogen product with the same progestin (drsp, or drospirenone). Makes at least some sense to this naming consultant.

So I like the name. I just wish they would have put a little more thought and consideration into the COPY. My goodness people, who’s doing your writing for you?? Having just touted the brand name I have no qualms about including the following piece of dreck pulled from the Yaz website:

One of the great things about being a woman is that you’ve got so many options, and the power to make your own decisions about them. You decide who you’ll hang out with, how you’ll spend your free time, what job you’ll take. This includes birth control options, too.

Huh? When did women get the power to make their own decisions?? Is someone pulling my leg?? And wait, don’t I, as a man, also have that right? Did I lose that right?? I’m pretty sure I can still hang out with who I want, though I’ll admit my kids pretty much do monopolize my free time, so I guess I don’t have much choice there. But still, I’m pretty sure the right to make your own decisions is a right shared by both men and women. Nothing exclusive about that right, RIGHT?

So good name guys! Poor copy, but good name!!

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I saw a commercial on TV for this new product the other night:

VERAMYST works on a whole range of chemicals that lead to your allergy symptoms.*

*The way VERAMYST works is not fully understood.

Say what?

Although I like this pharma product name - vera connotes truth, reliability, effectiveness - the fact that the FDA has approved a prescription drug that works by magic is disturbing. I suppose I can believe that it’s non-lethal, having been through clinical trials, but I don’t think I would take a drug whose mechanism “is not fully understood”. But that’s just me.

The marketing tagline on the Veramyst site is “The Power of One”, because presumably the mysterious action of Veramyst is effective against many different types of allergens. I think they should change the tagline to “It really works - but we don’t know how!”

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