Fun_People Archive
6 Dec
... both its "Brand Alignment Process" and a "Brand Asset Valuator"

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Mon,  6 Dec 99 11:27:01 -0800
To: Fun_People
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Subject: ... both its "Brand Alignment Process" and a "Brand Asset Valuator"

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Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: Guy Harris <guy@netapp.com>
At: http://salon.com/media/col/shal/1999/11/30/naming/index.html
is an article about the companies coming up with corporate names:

	What can explain this tense, sour mood? Part of the reason is
	increased competition.  While the corporate-identity racket used to
	be dominated by a few big players -- Landor, Interbrand, Enterprise
	IG -- the market is now glutted with professional namers, all
	scrounging for the same clients.  In addition to Lexicon, Idiom and
	Metaphor, the discriminating brand managers may now choose between
	NameLab, NameBase, Name/It, NameTrade, Namestormers and TrueNames.
	Each of the firms has its own jealously guarded methodology, a
	signature "naming module" that distinguishes it from its
	competitors.  Enterprise IG has its proprietary NameMaker program,
	good for generating thousands of names by computer.  Landor uses a
	double-barrelled approach; deploying both its "Brand Alignment
	Process" and a "BrandAsset Valuator." Others find that their module
	must be described in more than a few words.  "We have a wonderful
	approach," says Rick Bragdon of Idiom.  "We use an imaginative
	series of turbo-charged naming exercises, including Blind Man's
	Brilliance, Imagineering, Synonym Explosion and Leap of Faith
	...
	We find that when clients are playing, literally playing creative
	games, they create names that come from a place of joy, a place of
	fun.  A place that allows them to transcend the drudgery of naming,
	and come up with names that are fresh and different." Bragdon's most
	recent naming project? "I-Motors," he says sheepishly.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
QOTD:
	As naming has become professionalized, it's led to a certain norming
	standard. The names have come to sound more and more alike.  You
	can imagine how, at one time, Livent might have sounded new and hot.
	Well, but now we have Lucent. And we have Aquent and Avilant and
	Agilent and Levilant and Naviant and Telegent.  What's next,
	Coolent?  What you have here is clients being taken for a ride.

		-- Marc Babej, brand planner at ad agency Kirshenbaum,
		   Bond & Partners on the growing number of firms
		   specializing in naming companies.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: Dave Hitz <hitz@netapp.com>

Those bozos had better watch out, because I've got my own proprietary
MonikerMaker program!:

	cat /usr/dict/words |
	    while read NAME
	    do
		echo I-$NAME
		echo E-$NAME
	    done

I am going to eat their lunch.

Hmm.  First I guess I need a name for my new venture.  Let's see:

	% monikermaker | egrep "name"
	I-name
	E-name
	%

That's it!  I-Name!  I'm a genius!

Dave (hitz@I-Name.com)

© 1999 Peter Langston