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    naming

    Truist Brand. C Team Stuff.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    First impressions in branding are important.  I once heard a young woman say she knew she was going to attend Wake Forest after seeing the front gate.  How’s that for branding?

    In branding names are first impressions. Naming is hard but it’s so important. Just look at the name of the bank resulting from the merger of SunTrust and BB&T. Truist. What a cluster fork.  The name has been announced on the web. The video launching the name has launched. The video that sets the stage for the name change has launched. But the mark has not. Not as of this writing (6/25/19).  I was talking to a banker from TruePoint bank last week who told me the Truist name is in litigation by another bank with True in the name. Oops.  Trademarkia anyone? Maybe that’s why the new logo hasn’t been seen.

    The Truist name has something to do with heritage name SunTrust. BB&T seems to have been jettisoned altogether. They would have been much better starting from scratch. Names are as much about the future as the past and if you’ve been paying attention to the news lately you’ll know the banking industry is moving. Moving more quickly today than in the last 100 years.

    Can you say blockchain? Can you say mobile banking? Can you say deposit slip?  Hee hee.

    Truist is C team thinking. A miasma of team-think. The lawsuit may be the best thing that has happened to his effort.

    Peace.

     

    Starbucks Refreshers Poorly Named.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Refreshers is the brand name of a clear, cool new summer drink being offered up by Starbucks.  The two flavors are Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus.  Were I the type to leave the office mid-afternoon and drive for a cool drink I’d def try one. The drinks are colorful and contain real pieces of fruit. Since they come from Starbucks they’ are “refreshers” and not at all to be confused with tea.  Just like Dunkin Donut’s Coolatas (am I spelling that right?).

    What makes these tea or ade look-alikes uniquely Starbucks is they contain “natural energy from green coffee extract.”  Very interesting.  If you’d like to try one, free 12 oz. samples will be offered this Friday between the hours of noon and 3 P.M. at Starbucks stores. (In NY, but most likely nationwide.)

    The print ads look nice. And the energy thing makes a smart point, but the name is pretty goofy. If this product launch is an attempt to open up a new category – and I think it is – it really needs a product name that better reflects the “Is” not the “Does.”   Naming is an art. I’m betting this product will be a modest success, but the name will be a hindrance.  Some words in advertising and marketing are radioactive in their ability to turn off consumers. Radioactive in their ability to create consumer passivity. Unless you are Coca Cola, refresh is one such. Peace.   

     

    Naming. And brands.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I was driving to Rhode Island last week and happened to notice that a number of really rural road names were quite descriptive. Niatic River Road. Stone Heights Turnpike. Waterford Parkway. Sunset Drive.  It got me thinking about naming. Back in the 1600s and 1700s (and before) when there weren’t a lot of maps and people didn’t travel that far, thoroughfares were named based upon features and geographic realities. Heartbreak hill. Point O’Woods. Tip of the mitt.

    Names that were easy to remember and descriptive were the strongest names. They added value. Names with no endemic meaning, less so.

    The best brand names today follow this old maxim. They are descriptive. They are descriptive of product, value, and uniqueness. The strongest brands in the world are not silly constructs of Madison Avenue, they are like packaging…part of the selling fabric. Coca-Cola used cola beans to build its brand.

    Naming is hard work. Just look at all the silly pharmaceutical brand names on TV today. It’s like we ran out of words to use. So the naming companies put the alphabet in the blender and BAM.     

    While director of marketing at a web start-up, I wanted to name the drag and drop web creation tool Mash Pan. The Chief Technology Officer who used to say “dude” a lot, opted for Zude.

    Opt for communication value. Consumers don’t need to work so hard.

    Peace.                                                                                                       

     

     

    Jeep Grand Cherokee Brand Controversy.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Representatives of the Cherokee Nation have asked Stellantis, the car manufacturer that owns Jeep, to stop using Grand Cherokee as a brand name of the top-selling SUV. Stellantis by the way, is the name resulting from the merger of the Fiat Chrysler company with Peugeot. (I’ve got to get out more.)

    Living not too far from Cherokee, NC and having read up on the Tribe’s history, e.g., Trail of Tears, broken treaties, deforestation, racism, I understand their sensitivity. It’s time for a change.

    Naming is tough. Just look at the moniker of Jeep’s parent company. Hee hee. And it will take fortitude to rename this car brand with such a strong heritage. All the more reason to do it right. And with permission. Perhaps negotiate with the Cherokee nation and use something from their native culture. It’s a respect thing not a money thing.

    Most Grand Cherokee owners will not be happy with the name change. That’s up to them. Jeep is a powerful master brand and will lend a hand to any car name chosen.  But my recommendation would be to celebrate the Cherokee Tribe with a commemorative name, approved by the Tribe, that suits the car and strengthens it’s Americana cachet.

    Peace.

     

     

    Naming Brands Is Hard.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Sorry to go all pet peeve on you again but while driving on the interstate the other day I passed a large white truck with the name IPX Logistics on the side.  I scratched my head and wondered what they were delivering. Logistics? Hee hee. Trucking companies now often use the word logistics in their branding — especially for smaller companies.  It’s a mistake. As a fan and founder of the Is-Does Club, I like explaining what a brand Is and Does in the name. 

    Logistics are an important part of transport no doubt. Proper planning can save time and money.  However, that only helps if people can find you and know what your company does for a living. If looking to transport stuff a long distance I’m not Googling “Logistics near me.”  I’d almost rather use your surname in your brand. At least it shows a sense of fealty and personalization.

    Brands aren’t something you build randomly. Obviously, it starts with a good product but then one must convey that goodness, which starts with a communicative name. I worked at a social media company called Zude whose co-founder liked to use the word Dude a lot. Fail.

    Naming your company is important. First to you. More importantly it must work for your customer. Take it seriously.

    Peace.

     

     

    Brand Names

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Naming is perhaps the most interesting part of branding; especially so, for products that are new, unique and first-mover in a category. Naming that communicates a product’s Is-Does is optimal.  It explains what a product Is and what it Does.  The first light beer, Miller Lite, is a beer and does provide a lighter product profile.

    Brand names with marks, called logos, are able to convey more than just a brand because a picture and/or type treatment offer additional information.

    When a product or service is more complicated, as is often the case in technology or healthcare, the brand name and logo may not be able to convey a full Is-Does. So a tagline offers a fuller opportunity to complete the Is-Does. There are even some cases when all three don’t fully explain — so one completes the story with boiler plate. Boiler plate is found on PR releases and on web sites under the About tab.

    Finally, the best brand names of all offer more than what a brand is and what it does, they offer a little bit of poetry.  A smidgen of humanity and tone.  A smile. 

    Brands are empty vessels into which we pour meaning. Start off with a name that conveys good information and meaning and the pour becomes a little easier. Peace!

     

    The Branding Institute, Poppe Advisory Center.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I’m thinking about rebranding as The Branding Institute, Poppe Advisory Center.  It has branding in the name, sounds like a bigger company and, as an extra benefit, should increase search results. Not exactly a name that rolls off the tongue but, hey, it’s a Monday. 

    Now if you are into semantics or are part of the super-majority of business people you may take this to mean I’m simply changing my business name. Most people default to name change when you say rebrand. A lesser percentage of people may assume I’m changing my logo, package or website.  But real nerds know that branding is way more foundational. Way more than a combination of physical outputs; it’s the means by which you engineer preference. Indelible preference. Bring starts with strategy.

    Just as a psychiatrist will counsel a depressive person that moving to a new city won’t solve their problems, changing the brand name or product packaging won’t cure marketing ills. One must start with brand strategy – an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.  And since I am not going to change my framework for brand strategy, my tool kits or outputs, it really wouldn’t be a rebrand, now would it. It would be a simple name change.   

    Ah never mind.  What’s The Idea? will live to see another day.

    Peace.

     

     

    Extract This…About Naming.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    So yesterday I suggested that Starbuck’s misnamed its new fruit flavored iced coffee product Refreshers, jumping straight to the benefit in the name, and not necessarily an uncommon benefit at that. Starbucks missed an opportunity.  Here is link to the video explaining how Refreshers are made. Green coffee extract is the secret to the new product.  Three words that together don’t particularly make the mouth water.  No wonder they called them Refreshers.

    Here are a couple ideas and words that may have been overlooked in the naming meeting. Words that don’t deliver the benefit, but work to explain the new product.  The  Is of the Is-Does, as it were.

    -Pre-roasted

    – Natural state beans

    – Pure caffeine

    – Arabica beans

    -Young, you get the idea.

    Naming is hard.  Think Apple.  Brand are empty vessels into which marketers pour meaning. But consumers extract meaning from brands and the first experience in the name. Make it a good one. Peace. 

    Naming. And Breweries of Jackson County.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I went to a brewery yesterday in Sylva, NC branded Innovation Brewing. The logo contains a machined gear in place of the O.  The good news is the beer is better than the branding. The tap room was well organized, all the beers listed by beer type. And they seemed to be in descending order of alcohol content. I liked the taproom set up, the tables were cool, the bar was well done and the outdoor seating quite fine.  

    That said, the name was just wrong — for a beer company in the mountains. Nothing inside the taproom said innovation. It was a tap room. Innovation was just a random word. And a non-endemic word at that.  Having done a ton of work in the technology space, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about innovation as a brand quality. Is the word an inside joke? As in, it’s beer for God sake.

    Whatever the strategy, the name doesn’t work.  Not for first timers. Having never been there before, had I a choice between Innovation Brewing and Balsam Falls Brewery (not a Google result for “Breweries Near Me,”) I would have selected the latter…site unseen.

    Naming is important people. Especially for first-time consumers.

    Peace.

     

     

    The First Step of Branding.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Naming is one of the most important functions of branding.

    For a tech startup I worked at, the CTO liked the name Zude. It rhymed with dude.  I liked the name Mashpan.  It sounded like a home brew device, was a cousin of Mashup and the word Pan stood for “all, complete, total.” (Our product was a web authoring tool used to build websites without code. It was a drag and drop play.) My point? A name should that convey information.  

    This week I attended a meeting of startups working on their financial pitches as part of Elevate, a Venture Asheville program. Two of the very cool startups have names that make my point.  One company is named East Perry, the other Larry.  The former sells ethically sourced sheep-skinned home décor while the latter sells a refrigeration device. I can’t go into too much detail on the latter (and changed its masculine name) as the product is proprietary but suffice it to say, Larry doesn’t convey dittly. And though East Perry sounds like a nice street name or address, it too, is not particularly pregnant with meaning.

    Naming takes time, energy and forethought. Words are important. In the way they sound.  Their harmony. Their poetry (East Perry ticks that box.) But most importantly, what a brand name conveys informationally is mission one.

    Get your name right and the first step of branding is complete.

    Peace.

     

     

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