Archive for March, 2010

Nominate Your Favorite Charity for a Free Branding Makeover!

March 31, 2010

You read it right! From now until April 30th, Tungsten Branding will be receiving nominations for a complete brand makeover for America’s most deserving charity. To qualify, it must be a 501c corporation with a compelling mission that benefits the most people possible. The bright minds here at Tungsten will sort through the nominations and then put them up for a final vote in May. Voting will then run from May 1st through May 14th with the winner receiving a complete brand makeover. What does that include?…

• Name development

• Tag line creation

• Matching, or closely matching, domain name

• Corporate logo design

This type of package is normally valued at $7500 to $20,000, depending on the size and scope of the project. So if you are involved with a non-profit that is looking for a new brand identity, just fill out this contact form, explaining why this organization needs our help. From that list we’ll select the top five and put them up for a vote.

Is Your Company Brand Name an “Evergreen?”

March 24, 2010

Great brands are like big pine tress, they work year around. I sometimes refer to these as “perennial” brand names, since they don’t have to be “replanted” every new season, or every time a company changes it products and/or services.

What is the basis for an “evergreen” brand name? First and foremost, it must be built around positive connotation words that have stood the test of time. Here are just a few…

Star

Life

First

True

One

Blue

Bright

Sun

What these words have in common is their ability to instill a new company name with positive associations immediately. Rather than waiting years for an invented or coined name to gain meaning, these types of names convey attributes right from the start. Here are a few good examples…

Notice these names do not directly describe the company’s products or services. Instead they provide a sense of how they do it. DreamWorks does it with imagination. OnStar does it by leading and guiding. BrightHouse does it through intelligence. Lifetouch does it with personal service.

Companies built on a “how” name, (evergreen) vs. a “what” name (literal) tend to weather changes in their industry much better. The services they offer can change, but their manner of delivery can remain constant. They continue to grow year in and year out.

An example of an evergreen name we developed is TeamLogic IT. The name infers working together to solve problems in a systematic manner… and that’s exactly what this IT service franchise delivers. If they were called Network Technicians, it would provide little clue as to how they do business. Teamwork and logic are positive attributes that will stay “green” and positive for the foreseeable future.

Every company naming project presents its own unique set of challenges. This is just one strategy among many. But if you are in need of a new company brand name, you might consider what comes naturally — and think green!

Why Metaphors Make Great Company Brand Names

March 15, 2010

If a picture is truly worth one thousand words, then what better way to convey your corporate brand than with a metaphor? The hyperinflation of news and information requires branding strategies that disrupt, “stick,” and convey more than the literal product or service a company offers. A great example of this type of name is the relatively new travel site named Kayak.

First off, the name is unexpected. It gives the listener reason to pause and ask for more. There is an element of intrigue in metaphorical names. Kayak? What type of company is that? And here’s where it gets good… the follow up answer fits the name — an on line travel booking site that can move you along, help things flow, streamline your travel plans, get you on your way, keep things afloat, stay above water, etc. etc. This type of naming strategy provides more than a mere moniker, it provides an entire marketing lexicon to build upon.

The same holds true for great brand names such as Amazon, an endless source of diverse products, and Monster, a huge job site with large numbers of listings. Jaguar highlights the luxury car’s speed, responsiveness and agility. And when I open my hand, there sits a Blackberry, (which says a mouthful.) John Deere, a legacy name, plays off the animal vs. the surname (“Nothing runs like a Deere.”) In our own case, Tungsten highlights our commitment to branding brilliance.

David Ogilvy, the father of modern advertising, said that the best ideas have “legs,” or continual staying power. Metaphors can provide that type of long haul brand endurance. Looking at the definition of metaphor explains why…

Metaphor: “A figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object. Metaphors suggest the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object.”

Imagine having your generic, or incoherent, acronym-ladened company name distilled to one simple word — a word that expressed an entire idea. Kayak, the travel site, works much better than Expedia, which has to be explained (express? expedite? pedestrian? encyclopedia?) or worse yet, heavily advertised.

If you are considering naming a company, then take a look at metaphors. If you can pick a good one, you just might have “the Midas touch!”

Should Toyota put the brakes on its “Moving Forward” tag line?

March 11, 2010

When companies face a public relations crises, it’s easy to overlook the effects it has on the various brand messages. But if not monitored carefully, they can have the reverse effect. Take the recent example of Accenture’s removal of all things Tiger. Their message “We know what it takes to be a Tiger,” went from status builder to water cooler parody in no time.

So who’s at the wheel at Toyota with their current tag line “Moving Forward?”

That oversight seems to be another indicator that the company is in reactive mode. Their ads seem to be at once apologetic, then defensive. Some talk about company heritage, while others feature customers touting their unwavering loyalty. On the same day Toyota officials challenged reports that its fail safe systems could be overridden, another Prius made headlines for speeding out of control. So is the company apologetic? Proud? Humbled? Defensive? Resolved? Toyota seems to be a bit all over the place, and understandably so, given the whirlwind of media coverage. But it’s important for the brand that they deliver a consistent company message — perhaps something more customer centric than company centric.

With no definitive answers in sight, “Moving Forward” seems oddly out of step. Perhaps it’s time to put that tag line in “park.”

Is Toyota’s “Brand Insulation Effect” Protecting Its Sales?

March 9, 2010

In a recent study released by Rice University, of the Toyota faithful, “Toyota owners maintained a more positive view of the company than their counterparts.” Furthermore the survey found that…

“When Toyota owners were asked to rate on the same 0-to-10 scale whether they would consider Toyota if they were to buy a new vehicle today, their ratings averaged an 8, whereas other automobile owners’ ratings averaged a 4.”

The study’s author, Vikas Mittal, the J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing at Rice, and co-authors Rajan Sambandam, chief research officer at TRC, and Utpal Dholakia, associate professor of marketing at Rice, termed this a “brand insulation effect” built upon previous positive customer experience with the company.

If this is true, (and it remains to see if future customer actions support their stated intentions,) then it bodes well for companies that perform consistently over the long haul. Tylenol faced a similar challenge when they recalled millions of dollars of products off store shelves from a product tampering incident. Tylenol’s share reportedly dropped from 35% down to 8%, but quickly rebounded within a year. Consumers came back to Tylenol due in large part to their proactive response and proven history.

It will be interesting to watch Toyota and see if their brand image withstands this withering assault of news reports. What are your thoughts? Is there a “brand insulation effect?” Will it work for Toyota, or is this a case of too little, too late?

Has the Brand Bubble Finally Burst?

March 2, 2010

Traditional thinking is that consumers will pay a premium for a brand name vs. an unbranded or store brand product. That thinking has faced a stiff challenge in the face of the recent economic downturn and changes in consumer sentiment. This is especially true of luxury brands. Witness the recent demise of Hummer, a once iconic symbol of status and wealth — now the object of derision and the poster child of conspicuous consumption.

In this “new economy”, a brand name must deliver more than familiarity, more than fame, more than fancy packaging. These tried and true methods have worked in better times, based in part of the theory that a known evil is better than an unknown evil. In other words, most people are reluctant to try something different and unproven. And that’s part of the problem. Big brands have banked on this comfortable “I-know-you, you-know-me” relationship. But with pressure on the wallet, consumers are reaching out for less expensive choices. Wal-Mart, for example, recently took Hefty and Glad bags off the shelves in favor of its own store brands. To add to the sticky mess, well-established brands have created “brand children” or brand extensions, which have only added to the crowded clutter on the shelves. Just how many varieties of Cheerios can the consumer stomach? Frosted? Mulit-grain? Honey Nut? All this in an attempt to increase market share.

What has been lost in all of this is the basics of branding, which involves creating a unique marketing position, a point of differentiation. Brands need to get back to the basics of being better, not just famous. Apple has done a great job of this with their iPod. Imagine giving your kid a knock off mp3 player for a birthday present. They have invested in their industrial design, intuitive use, and ease of the iTunes interface. There are any number of mp3 players with more memory and perhaps even more functionality, but it’s not enough to unseat the iPod.

But this differentiation requires an investment. It means understanding what your products and services really deliver to your customers, benefits they don’t get from competitive products. Do you know the answer to that question? Are there any real differences? Or are you relying on name recognition alone to carry the day? It might even require rolling up the sleeves and creating something “new and improved!”

The easy ride is over, and probably will be for some time. Good. It means getting back to what great brands should have been doing all along… improving, innovating and enhancing the customer experience.