5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #5: Name That Brand

• Steeped in tradition
• Sir Thomas
• Does brisk sales
• Hot and cold
• A taxing situation

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Answer #5: Lipton Tea

Legend has it that the Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung first discovered tea in 2737 BC and that it has remained virtually unchanged since then (Clue #1). Supposedly, the emperor was preparing a kettle of boiling water on his terrace when a few tea leaves accidentally landed in the liquid. Curious to know how the leaves might affect the flavor, the Chinese emperor tasted the accidental brew and was delighted with the concoction. It wasn’t until the 1600s, however, that Shen-Nung’s discovery first reached Europe. European travelers to Asia fancied what had become something of a staple in the Far East and wished to introduce the beverage to their peers back home. While many colonists to the new world brought with them their appreciation of tea (and their anger at England’s tea tax, Clue #5), it wasn’t until the 1890s that Sir Thomas J. Lipton (Clue #2) truly popularized the beverage in America. Lipton, who owned tea estates in Sri Lanka, transported his tea to America in clipper ships and packaged the leaves in tins to ensure freshness and quality. Soon, Lipton became known throughout the world as “Sir Tea,” and today his likeness appears on every box of Lipton’s “Brisk” tea bags (Clue #3). Today, Americans drink 136 million cups of tea each day, and 80 percent of it is served over ice! For many, the Lipton name is immediately synonymous with tea, hot or cold (Clue #4).

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #4: Name That Brand

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Answer #4: Amazon.com

No matter where you live, you’ve probably heard of Amazon.com. Launched in July 1995, Amazon.com sought to modernize and improve the book-buying experience by offering the Internet community a more efficient way to purchase its favorite literature. The company is named after the Amazon, one of the world’s greatest rain forests (along with the Tongass and Great Bear rain forests, Clue #2), which was first discovered by the Spanish conquistador Francis de Orellana in 1541 (Clue #1). Stretching across 25% of South America and nine countries – including Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, and Guyana – the lion’s share of the forest exists in Brazil (62% in fact – Clue #4). Its basin equals 2.5 million square miles. Given its immense size, it’s likely that the commercial retailer wished to elicit associations with expansive inventory and endless product offerings. And, no doubt, associations with an adventurous and unusual buying experience were intended as well. But perhaps the greatest value in the Amazon name is that it is abstract enough to accommodate just about any product or service, lending itself to a potentially limitless portfolio of consumer offerings. Put simply, Amazon has wisely set itself up to move with the times, and as its business strategies change the name will stretch to accommodate those shifts. Sure, Amazon means “celebrated woman warriors”, but thanks to the branding efforts of this company, it now means so much more (Clue #3).

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #3: Name That Brand

• Pine, crab, and candy
• It’s not their core business
• John Chapman would be proud
• Great jobs
• Pippin

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Answer #3: Apple Computer

The word “apple” combines with Clue #1 to make new words: pineapple, crabapple, candy apple; Apple’s “core” business is computers, not fruit (Clue #2); John Chapman was better known as Johnny Appleseed (Clue #3); Steve Jobs was a founder of Apple (Clue #4); Pippin is a type of apple (Clue #5).

The story of how Apple got its name has become something of an urban legend. A survey of Web sources and branding books reveals many different versions of the process by which Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak selected this powerful, simple, and evocative name. Some of the stories claim that Steve Jobs was a Beatles fan and wanted to allude to their record company, Apple Corps; that he had just ended a summer vacation picking apples at an orchard in Washington; that he was eating an apple when he and Steve Wozniak filed the incorporation papers; that he thought of the apple as the perfect fruit, and he wanted Apple to be the perfect company; and finally, that “apple” was just one of several names generated in a brainstorming session, and no one could come up with a better one by the 5pm deadline. Both Jobs and Wozniak have discussed this topic in interviews without settling on a decisive answer. Jobs managed to combine several of these elements into one story he told recently: “I was actually a fruitarian at that point in time. I ate only fruit… And we were about three months late in filing a fictitious business name so I threatened to call the company Apple Computer unless someone suggested a more interesting name by five o’clock that day. Hoping to stimulate creativity. And it stuck. And that’s why we’re called Apple.” When contacted about the issue, an Apple PR representative said, “We actually don’t have an official statement on this topic per se.” Perhaps the real reason it was chosen was that as an arbitrary name, “Apple” really could mean anything to anyone.

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #2: Name That Brand

• A crowning achievement
• Time-tested
• Oyster
• It’s about the face
• It’s a keeper

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Answer #2: Rolex
In 1905, Hans Wilsdorf founded a London firm to distribute his timepieces (Clue #2). In 1908, he named his creations Rolex, a coined term he chose because of its ease of pronunciation in many European languages and its comfortable fit on watch faces (Clue #4). In 1926, Rolex developed its first airtight, waterproof and dustproof timekeeper (Clue #5), aptly named the Oyster (Clue #3). In the years that followed, the Rolex Oyster would cross the English Channel on the wrist of Mercedes Gleitze and climb the heights of Mount Everest along with Sir John Hunt and his team of climbers. Oyster technology would be applied to all future generations of Rolex timepieces, including the DayDate, DateJust, Daytona, Explorer II, GMT-Master II, Sea-Dweller, Submariner, and Yacht-Master. Today, Rolex is one the world’s most recognizable brand names, and its identity, a five-prong crown (Clue #1), is equally distinctive.

The Name Game has stumped even the savviest brand experts. See if you can guess the famous company or product name described in each game below.

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #1: Name That Brand

• A ‘Cheeky’ discovery
• Last drop is a winner
• Hotel moniker
• New brew
• Up to or including

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Answer #1: Maxwell House Coffee

In 1882, Joel Cheek (Clue #1), then a partner in a wholesale grocery firm, realized his dream of developing his own blend of coffee and invented Maxwell House. The blend (Clue #4), first introduced at the Maxwell House hotel in Nashville, Tennessee (Clue #3), was an instant hit, and guests began spreading the word. Years later, Teddy Roosevelt coined the famous slogan “Good To The Last Drop” (Clue #2) after finishing a cup of the java at another Nashville hotel. His endorsement sparked a debate in the community over the usage of the word “to”. People wanted to know what was wrong with the last drop! Only later did a Columbia University English professor rule that “to”, in the context in which President Roosevelt had used it, did also include the last drop (Clue #5).

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #18: Name That Brand

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Answer #18: Muzak

While the brand has experienced a recent revival, Muzak has been close to becoming the generic term for bland, oversimplified music (Clue #1). The technology was patented by General George Owen Squire in 1920 and became hugely popular as the number of high-rise buildings increased during that era. Nervous people unfamiliar with the concept of an elevator were comforted by the sound of music (Clue #2). The name, oddly enough, is a loose combination of “music” and “Kodak,” a company that Squire admired at the time (Clue #3). Today, millions of callers “enjoy” the soothing sounds of Muzak while they toil on hold waiting for the next available operator (Clue #4). How may we offer you excellent service today?

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #17: Name That Brand

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Answer #17: Frisbee

William Russell Frisbie managed a small bakery in Connecticut in the late 1800s. His pies were extremely popular, and soon he established the Frisbie Pie Company. Before long, he discovered that the pie tins’ lids had an aerodynamic quality that allowed them to glide through the air (Clue #1). In the 1920s, Frisbie pies were especially popular at nearby Yale University. Dorms were filled with the empty tins, which undergraduate procrastinators enjoyed sailing through the air (Clue #2). Since the tins were made of metal and therefore potentially dangerous, the students would yell “Frisbie” to alert the recipient of the incoming tin. Wham-O toy company started manufacturing plastic disks in the late 1950s and initially called them Pluto Platters to avoid trademark issues surrounding the Frisbie Pie Company (Clue #4). After the pie company went out of business, Wham-O reverted back to calling the disks “Frisbees” (with a slightly altered spelling). In the 1960s, the game of Ultimate sprouted up on many college campuses (Clue #3). The game, based loosely on American football, uses Frisbees in a fast-paced contest between two teams of seven. And of course, man’s best friend is famous for leaping high in the air to catch a soaring Frisbee (Clue #5). (Source: “From Altoids to Zima” by Evan Morris.)

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #16: Name That Brand

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Answer #16: IKEA

The founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, started his retail career by selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle as a young boy (Clue #1). He found that he could buy matches in bulk from Stockholm and sell them individually at a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, and ballpoint pens. Ingvar established IKEA in 1943, when he was just 17, creating the name from his own initials and the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up (Clue #2). By the early 1950s, IKEA began to focus on low-priced furniture, produced by manufacturers in the forests close to Ingvar’s home. Akurum, Sabina, Sagolek, and Konkret are just a few of IKEA’s furniture brands today (Clue #3). Now present in 29 countries, IKEA in the U.S. is commonly found near large colleges, whose students appreciate the retailer’s low-priced, sometimes funky furniture (Clue #4), not to mention the steaming plates of trademark Swedish meatballs served up in the store’s café (Clue #5). Sources: IKEA website and Wikipedia.

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #15: Name That Brand

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Answer #15: 7-Eleven

7-Eleven started out in Dallas in 1927 as the Southland Ice Company, selling blocks of ice to refrigerate food (Clue #1). When an enterprising employee started selling milk, eggs, and bread during the evenings and on Sundays, when other grocery stores were closed, the concept of convenience retailing was born. The company’s first convenience outlets were known as Tote’m stores, since customers “toted” their purchases away, and some stores even sported genuine Alaskan totem poles (Clue #2). 7-Eleven is known for its trademark beverages the Slurpee (Clue #3) and Big Gulp, and for its jingle “Oh thank heaven for 7-Eleven” (Clue #4). In 1946 the stores were renamed 7-Eleven to reflect the extended hours of store operation. Now, almost all the stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (Clue #5). Sources: Wikipedia and the 7-Eleven website.

5 clues. 1 famous brand name. 0 shame in defeat.

Game #14: Name That Brand

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Answer #14: SPAM

Invented in 1937 by George Hormel, SPAM is the now infamous canned meat product renowned the world over. The name comes from the truncation of “spiced ham” (Clue #1) and was generated as part of an internal naming contest. The winner reportedly received $100 for coming up with the name. That bought a lot of SPAM in 1937 dollars! The product earned its place in history as a staple after WWII (Clue #2), feeding soldiers and civilians in the US and abroad. Even the notoriously anti-American Khrushchev said SPAM saved the lives of Russian soldiers on the front. It now comes in multiple varieties, including Smoke Flavored and Oven Roasted Turkey (Clue #3). Its unfortunate association with junk email ties back to a 1970 Monty Python skit (Clue #4) in which visitors to a “SPAM-friendly” restaurant are serenaded by a chorus of Vikings singing “SPAM, SPAM, lovely SPAM” over and over again. Today’s email deluge is omnipresent and unwanted (Clue #5), just like the SPAM on the menu of the Python restaurant.