September 19, 2019
News Corp, the mass media conglomerate that owns Dow Jones & Company (publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s), the New York Post, The Times (of London), Foxtel (Australian TV), HarperCollins, and others, is launching a new news aggregation app and website: Knewz.
September 29, 2017
As you’ve no doubt heard, Bodega is a new company with plans to install internet-connected pantry units, stocked with non-perishable convenience store items, in apartments, gyms, and workplaces across the country. For those not familiar, a bodega is a corner store often found in urban neighborhoods. The word is Spanish (with multiple meanings: cellar, warehouse, […]
October 28, 2015
Take it from us, product or company naming is not for the faint of heart. It’s a lot harder than just sitting around the kitchen table, drinking wine and shouting ideas at your friends (that’s actually what we do after work). Name creation is part art, part science, and it’s very easy to do it […]
October 2, 2014
Sometimes when naming or renaming, companies have a tendency to revert to the safest option—using words, letters, suffixes, and formulas that are so tried and true they have no risk of provoking any negative reaction or confusion whatsoever among consumers. Of course, a name shouldn’t confuse or anger people, but a good linguistic screening will […]
August 19, 2013
This guest post originally appeared at MarketingProfs. Naming your new company or product is a huge opportunity. Get it right, and you could put your brand on the map, generate buzz, and spark interest among customers. Get it wrong, and you might render your brand invisible—or call attention to it for all the wrong reasons. […]
October 2, 2009
This one would have been more timely 18 months ago but it’s still a good example of thoughtless naming. From what I understand, it’s a Korean word for “we”. I’m guessing the bank’s clientele is predominantly Korean, but the branch is located in the center of Fort Lee, NJ, and I noticed at least 10 […]
June 25, 2009
[Today it was announced that the Russian energy giant Gazprom would enter into a joint venture with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation. The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.] Apparently Gazprom, a Global 500 company with nearly 400,000 employees (no exaggeration) doesn’t have […]
December 11, 2008
You know, there are times when it’s just not enough to say “I think someone checked this” before going to press. Take the highly respected, highly academic, highly (today) embarrassed Max Planck Research journal, which featured some beautiful Chinese calligraphy on the cover of its special China edition. Unfortunately, it turned out to be an […]