Back in the day, Ken Segall
helped create Apple's Think Different campaign and
helped name the iMac. More recently he worked on JC Penney's
Yours Truly, commercial, before JCP ousted Ron Johnson as its CEO. He writes a sharp, entertaining blog called
Ken Segall's Observatory, where he offers opinions on advertising and design geekery.
His take on Ron Johnson's failure is interesting, as is
this post on what it takes for an advertisement to stand out in a crowd. He calls attention to surprisingly decent ads from
Microsoft and
Dell, critiques terrible ads (from
Microsoft and
JC Penney and even
Apple, and comments on
whether skeuomorphism has its advantages. He's also
fond of
discussing product names. Give this one a skip if advertising gives you hives, but for those of you who're interested in things like this Segall's blog is especially choice stuff.
posted by Rory Marinich
on May 3, 2013 -
26 comments
A good
naming scheme is scalable, unique, and easy to remember. The purpose of these naming schemes is to name networked servers, wireless access points or client computers, but it can also be used to name projects, products, variables, streets, pets, kids, or any other project where unique names and rememberable names are required.
posted by TangerineGurl
on Oct 24, 2012 -
120 comments
Thousands of new products and businesses every year need names. The creation of these names, is a business in itself, and is usually a pretty secretive process. But
Igor, a naming and branding agency, offers a surprisingly detailed and illuminating primer on the naming game. Igor describes
how they do it and
who they’ve done it for. Igor’s
naming taxonomy charts for various products (including one for the
company names of naming companies) help illustrate the research portion of the process. Check out: studies of successful names like
Pepperidge Farm’s cookie names, and why AT&T Canada’s name change to Allstream was
a bad idea. And don’t miss Igor’s two blogs (metablogged
here):
Snark Hunting, “all about naming and branding in popular culture” and
Wordlab, on “naming and branding issues.” For fun, try Wordlab’s own tongue-in-cheek
naming tools, like the Drug-o-matic drug name generator, Name Your Band, and the Morpheme generator.
posted by beagle
on Sep 7, 2006 -
25 comments
The name "Firebird" was chosen by Mozilla to rename their
Phoenix product. However, Firebird is also the name of a popular and long-standing open-source
database project -- and the Mozilla organization was clearly
aware of this naming conflict before making their decision.
Some feel that such an action, within the context of the open-source community, is unfair and constitutes bad etiquette, at the least. The discussion is
ongoing, but LinuxWorld reports that the Mozilla organization has deleted recent message-board comments that criticized their decision.
posted by TreeHugger
on Apr 16, 2003 -
18 comments
The Name Game Valley Creek Farms "solicits help from clever people each year to help name their young horses." If you consider yourself a gifted wordsmith with a knack for penning equine monikers that will get the
bugs a buzzin' and make the
farrier smile, this is your chance to take the reins. But it's not
easy. The rules are
extensive and your choice may already be
taken. But with luck, you may one day hear your
literary masterpiece of 18 letters or less roll off the caller's tongue and become part of thoroughbred
history.
posted by snez
on Feb 27, 2003 -
13 comments
What's with that tacky ass name? A
coffee shop which opened in a rather prominent area of the city in which I reside has started a little controversy here. Turns out the shop's name has created a fair amount of controversy
elsewhere. How long until the f-word shows up in prominent signage across America? Meantime, what's the wildest or tackiest name for a business you've ever heard? Any ideas for potential businesses with "cuss" word-oriented names? Is there a possible trend in there somewhere?
posted by raysmj
on Feb 24, 2003 -
90 comments
KPMG Consulting is now BearingPoint "Employees briefly rallied behind the chief executive's surname, Blazer, but that's also the name of a Chevrolet sport-utility vehicle. The name BearingPoint is based on navigational terms that signify 'setting a direction to an end point,' the company said." It seems like this one's going to last a bit longer than
Monday did.
posted by dayvin
on Oct 3, 2002 -
16 comments
It's big, it's bad, and it's coming your way. Beware Bonnie! No, no, wait. Hide from Hanna! Hmm, nope. Run from Rene! Geez, this
naming thing isn't easy. How do you
name a tropical storm? Should the name be masculine or feminine? Should it roll off the tongue with ease or be a mouthful? Are there some names you
can't use? If a tropical storm was closing in on your neighborhood, what would
you call it?
posted by debralee
on Sep 12, 2002 -
10 comments
First, National Airport was renamed for him. Then, the International Trade Center in downtown DC was christened in his honor.
Now the powers that be have named a new naval aircraft carrier the USS Reagan.
I realize people are trying to honor the old bastard. But doesn't this seem inappropriate (even rude) considering he's not quite dead yet? Or is Alzheimer's close enough? *sheesh*
posted by ratbastard
on Mar 5, 2001 -
38 comments
San Francisco Muni to consider naming stations after advertisers. If you've been in SF (or any major US city) recently, you've probably noticed the buses covered with ads inside and out, the two stadiums named after corporations (all US stadiums seem to be now), and subway platforms coated in billboards. Now, they're considering selling the names of each station off to the highest bidder. Is this going too far or should a city do anything to make a buck?
(I'm reminded of the book Generation X where the author jokes about rampant advertising, and how one day you'll ask your friend what time it is, and he'll simply say "Pepsi")
posted by mathowie
on Jan 23, 2001 -
40 comments
How you say Duking it out with Accenture for the title of most disagreeable computer-generated faux-English corporate nomenclature
de la semaine, a company with the perfectly good name Productivity Works has gone and screwed it up by renaming itself
isSound. "Because
the future is listening," the homepage tells us. What it's listening to is all of us stammering to pronounce an unnatural string of letters. In related news, despite admitting it still works,
isSound isShitcanning itsScreenReader, pwWebSpeak.
posted by joeclark
on Jan 3, 2001 -
5 comments
Now this is really stupid. 14-year-old Francis Di Masi's petition to have his name legally changed to "Frank" because he gets teased mercilessly in school about it was rejected. The judge said in his decision that "Learning how to deal with these taunts [is] part of growing up."
My first name, family name and nicknames have always given other people trouble when it comes to spelling and pronounciation, so I know what it's like to grow up getting name-related grief every single day of your life; "tedious" doesn't even
begin to describe it.
So while I don't think "Francis" is altogether a
bad name, why shouldn't the kid get to legally call himself whatever he wants? I mean, if some moron can change his name to DotComGuy without a hitch, why not Frank?
posted by lia
on May 31, 2000 -
21 comments
