Seth Godin, internet marketer extraordinaire, will be our featured guest (Tuesday, March 4th 2008) on “The Name Game,” on the VoiceAmerica.com business channel at 12 noon PST (3pm EST). Join Seth and I as we discuss ways to transform the mundane into something remarkable. Seth, for those who aren’t familiar with him, wrote the book (or should I say “books”) on being remarkable, including Purple Cow, The Big Moo, Small is the New Big, The Idea Virus, The Dip, Free Prize Inside, and (my favorite title…) All Marketers Are Liars. Seth also penned the ground breaking book/concept “Permission Based Marketing.” This was back in the day when advertisers were still convinced the only way to reach their “target” market was to bombard it relentlessly with interruptive commercials. Seth’s career long approach to effective marketing has been one of building long term relationships based on inviting, entertaining, intriguing and engaging the potential customer.

If you haven’t had a chance to read Seth’s books, check out his latest one… Meatball Sundae …Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?” What a great metaphor for the way so many companies portray themselves… based on a little bit of quality, a touch of service, low prices, great selection, and on and on. It is very much like throwing every ingredient in a bowl and thinking it will taste good. Yet it is one of the most common branding issues, the failure to create a singular, recognizable identity.

So be sure to join us. If you read this post late, you can listen to the show on The Name Game archive page. If you can make it, join us Tuesday, March 5th and let’s cook up something that tastes right!

Sometimes a brand’s strength can become its biggest weakness. Take for example the incredible time share community we belong to outside of Orlando, Florida named Orange Lake. It was created by the same guy who founded Holiday Inns — and so no expense was spared when building it. It has its own water theme park on site, as well as a golf course designed by none other than Arnold Palmer. It’s also among the most requested time shares worldwide.

So naturally they wanted to expand upon their success and build other communities, in this case in Vermont and Wisconsin. The problem? The name! Orange Lake reeks of all things Florida. It’s perfect for the Disney area (Orange Lake is less than a mile from the mouse) But the name seems oddly out of place for Vermont or Wisconsin.

And it gets worse.

The new community in Wisconsin is at Lake Geneva. So the newsletter arrives in the mailbox announcing “Orange Lake, at Lake Geneva” which we are somehow supposed to know is in Wisconsin. Orange Lake Vermont, we are informed, is located at Ascutney Mountain Resort. These are all now part of “The Family of Orange Lake Resorts.”

The real question that should be asked is whether “Orange Lake” is so well branded, so famous and so ubiquitous, that you will always think of the time share community and not an “orange” “lake.” I’m guessing most of you have not even heard of this place, so you would most likely think of Orange Lake as a business or resort near a body of water in a sunny location.

There’s no easy answers here… I’m not a big fan of just using acronyms to solve everything. O.L.R. would be less misleading, but inherently meaningless. But the owners of Orange Lake might have considered developing separate brand identities for each community… ones that fit each region. Either that, or develop a new parent name over all the communities and then provide each one its own identity. Before Wyndham bought them out, Fairfield Communities did just that. They had Fairfield at Sapphire Valley and Fairfield Mountains and Fairfield Star Island and on and on. That made sense and provided a naming hierarchy that they could continually build upon.

But as it stands now, I just can’t relate to strapping on a pair of winter boots and snow skiing at Orange Lake.

What better way to start the year than to reposition and rebrand your company and/or products to capture more growth! And who better to address the issues than marketing experts Al & Laura Ries. Al Ries co-authored the ground breaking book “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind,” back in the ’80’s. He has since gone on to write and co-author a number of other highly acclaimed works including, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.” With daughter and fellow marketing guru Laura Ries, he penned the somewhat controversial “The Fall of Advertising & Rise of PR.” (Note: I was running my own full service advertising agency when this came out, and while the title hurt just to read it, I knew that it was inherently true. The tide had been shifting from top down, expensive advertising campaigns to a more consumer-centric model based on attraction vs. force) The duo’s latest effort is “The Origin of Brands,” so this pair is about as knowledgeable as they come.

If you’ve been feeling as though there’s a shift in your industry or perhaps you’ve outgrown your company’s original purpose (i.e. 3M is probably better served with their acronym than their original name, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) then be sure to tune in this week. Also, feel free to post a question and I will do my best to ask it during the show. If you happen to read this blog after the Jan. 22nd airing, you can access it on archive by going to The Name Game page on VoiceAmerica.com. The show runs Tuesdays at 3pm EST and 12 noon PST. Pro branding advice for free… can’t beat that! And stay posted… we have yet another amazing guest to announce soon!

Make sure to tune into this week’s The Name Game on VoiceAmerica.com. (Tuesdays at 3 p.m. EST, 12 noon PST) I’ll be speaking with Pete Warhurst, President of PODS, a company I named about ten years ago, and one that sold last month for approximately $430 million. So from 70 storage boxes originally called “Portables” to a worldwide brand named PODS (Portable On Demand Storage) that defines its category… now that’s a good demonstration of the power of branding.

And since PODS is now the Kleenex of portable storage, and the word many consumers use to describe the actual storage units (much like people ask for a “Coke” no matter what type of cola is served) we will be asking Pete questions specific to creating and owning a word in the English language. Just how feasible and/or reasonable is it, to set out to own a word such as Apple, or Amazon, or Monster? It’s certainly not for the fainthearted, but it is doable if the timing, product and service is right. And we’ll discuss just when all those things align perfectly, and when you can actually attempt to own a word. It’s the naming equivalent of hitting a bases loaded home run, but that’s not necessarily what’s needed to win the game. Sometimes a bunt is all that’s required to score. So listen in as we talk with Pete and talk about his meteoric rise of the past ten years, and the role that branding played in his success.

Today was the inaugural edition of the weekly Name Game on the VoiceAmerica.com business channel. This will be a weekly internet radio series that will provide all sorts of company and product naming tips and strategies, as well as having industry leading guests commenting on trends in the naming and branding industry. The show airs each Tuesday at 12 noon PST (3 p.m EST.) Today’s show featured Tungsten client TeamLogic IT, with company president Chuck Lennon sharing how their IT franchise went through the naming process and how they came to pick the final winner. Chuck also revealed some of the ways the name was subsequently incorporated throughout the organization (i.e. their company cars were wrapped with the logo, their newsletter makes a play on the name, etc.) To hear the show it its entirety, simple go to The Name Game page on VoiceAmerica.com and click the link to hear the show. Alternately, you can also click the light bulb on the top of that page and have the show download as an icon on your desktop.

Next week we will be discussing specific naming techniques as well as interviewing Pete Warhurst, founder of PODS, a past client as well. PODS went from a newbie start up in Clearwater, Florida just ten years ago, to a major corporation that was just purchased for $430 million. So that pretty much speaks to the power of establishing a dominant brand. So be sure to tune in each week or listen to the archives for ideas, suggestions, real life case stories and inspiration into naming, branding and growing a successful company.