The Improbable Histories of Famous Brands
Today's New York Times features an expose of brands with fictional or highly embellished histories--what Yale linguist Laurence R. Horn aptly calls "etymythologies." Among the culprits: Keds' "sneakers," Hershey's Kisses and Cracker Jack. Missing from the story is one...
“Scent of the Missing” Finds Early Success
Sales are brisk for Pollywog-named Scent of the Missing, a new memoir by Susannah Charleson, named by Pollywog and released this month by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Scent of the Missing chronicles the author's adventures with her golden retriever as members of a...
Pollywog to Present at Business Marketing Association
Brand Naming for the Digital Age Forget everything you know about naming for B2B—the rules are changing. Five converging trends are having a profound effect on how well brand names perform. Will your brand have the power to compete in the coming years? How will you...
Apple Goes with the Flow
Much has been written about Apple's clumsy introduction of the iPad. But the hook to this story is not that a big company made a naming mistake. This happens, sometimes in large, visible cases. Nor is the story about alleged sexism at Apple. While it may be true that...
Best and Worst Brand Names of 2009
BEST 1. Ghost Who would give a new product a name that reminds people of haunting, horror and death? Rolls-Royce bravely did when it introduced the 2009 Ghost. Though the name is likely a nod to the British automaker's 1906 “Silver Ghost,” it still carries a host of...
AOL: New Logo, Same Irrelevant Positioning
The branding world is abuzz today with reactions to AOL's advanced look at a rebranding campaign, the cornerstone of which is a revamped logo. AOL said in a press release: AOL today previewed its new brand identity for its future as an independent company committed to...
Typecasting on “Madmen”
If you're a fan of the AMC series "Madmen," as I am--and especially if you enjoy wallowing in the retro branding, advertising and design details, as I do--you'll want to check out Madmen Props, an analysis of the show's (sometimes anachronistic) typefaces, on the Mark...
Introducing Ground Control™ Self-Raising Wind Towers
Pollywog recently worked with American Resource & Energy to position and name its flagship product for the small wind industry: Ground Control™ self-raising towers. Ground Control towers are the only nonhydraulic wind tower that can be raised and lowered by just...
Stunt or Stupidity?
Kraft's most embarrassing and painful new product introduction is now complete. In what has been dubbed an epic Vegefail, its new Vegemite + cheese spread will henceforth be known as "Vegemite Cheesybite." More than 30,000 people voted for a winning name by way of...
The Snack Spread That Would Not Die
Turns out the product will remain in Kraft's Vegemite line, but will be renamed. That's reasonable. However, Kraft says that it has culled a short list from names submitted during the contest and will--wait for it--conduct a survey and choose whatever the public tells...
iSnack 2.0 — The World’s Shortest Shelf Life
Kraft announced today that it is discontinuing its new iSnack 2.0 product. A line extension to Kraft's venerable Vegemite spread--which has enjoyed decades-long popularity in Australia--iSnack 2.0 had a sad, short life characterized by a one-day fanfare followed by a...
Where there’s smoke, there’s a lot of great names (and one stinker)
I heard some discussion on a radio show yesterday about the heroes who fight wildfires. Very interesting stuff, and what these "wildland firefighters" do is truly amazing. But I was pleasantly surprised to hear some of the fantastic names that are used for the various...
The Barbecue Summer that Wasn’t
When can a powerful name work against you? When you don't deliver on its promise. Take this example: Back in April, Britain's official weather forecasting service predicted beautiful weather for the upcoming summer season. But instead of using typical language and...
An Open Letter to General Motors
Dear General Motors: I read in The Wall Street Journal that you want to attract a younger audience to your Buick brand. As an American taxpayer, I own 62% of your corporation, so it pains me to say that this strategy is doomed. The Buick brand is imprinted as a car...
Saturn’s New Orbit
GM has announced that it is selling its Saturn division to racing icon Roger Penske. The $1.3 billion Penske Automotive Group has a number of auto-related businesses, including exclusive distribution of the Smart Car in the U.S. and a collection of dealerships...
Bing: Equally Meaningless in Every Language
Looks like I was giving Microsoft too much credit when I wondered if "Bing" was a shortened form of "bada-bing" and might refer to the ease of finding what you want with its new search engine. Cnet reports that in addition to branding the search engine, Microsoft is...
It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That (Bada)-Bing.
Rumor has it that Microsoft's new search engine--previously known as Live Search, then temporarily renamed to Kumo--will now be launched as "Bing." Admittedly, we have been tough on Microsoft for its lackluster naming. But when a company has the budget of a Microsoft,...
Branders with Blinders
Communication is a two-way street. What's sent isn't always what's received. So when you find out that what you're sending is being horribly misinterpreted--to the point of angering people and potentially damaging your business--you'd change what you're communicating,...
When Taglines Go Bad
Today P. Scott Cunningham of the Miami New Times imagines the bureaucratic comedy of errors resulting in this:
Pollywog on the Ed Schultz Show
Last week, Devon Thomas Treadwell, Principal of Pollywog, was interviewed by Ed Schultz on his nationally radio syndicated show. Listen here:
Rolls-Royce Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost
Yesterday's announcement by Rolls-Royce that it will call its newest model the "Ghost" reminds us of the power of names that have both positive and negative connotations. The name "Ghost" is a slimmed-down version of "Silver Ghost," the legendary model that...
“Outer Space” is the New Black
Colourlovers.com provides a handy list of all 120 current Crayola crayon colors (along with their hex and RGB values). And while we're in the crayon box, check out this full list of crayon colors and the years they were added or deleted. I can remember the thrill of...
When Stepping Backward is the Right Direction
The Brand New blog (well worth adding to your blogreader, BTW) offers a critique on the rebranding of Canadian retailer, Hudson's Bay Company. I don't know this brand's history, but its previous identity appears to have been an attempt to "modernize" this 339-year-old...
The Sci Fi Channel Fraks Up Its Brand
The New York Times today reports that the Sci Fi Channel has changed its name--or more accurately, its spelling. The successful cable network will now be known as Syfy, pronounced exactly the same as its previous incarnation. Why the shapeshift? True, there are...
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