Branding
179 pieces
State of the industry: Spring 2026 edition
One of the joys of this role is getting a glimpse into a whole slew of industries and wearing a different hat every week. One week we’re learning about the nuances of LLM context windows and the future of AGI, and the next week we’re channeling our inner tweens for potato chip inspiration. This kind
Brand archetypes and where they come from
A lot of branding people like to employ archetypes as a way to model and build brands. Nike is often referred to as a “Warrior” brand. Harley Davidson is an “Outlaw” brand. So what are brand archetypes? Where did they come from? Most importantly–are they useful? What are archetypes? Archetypes are models or symbols. Hercules
Branding in late stage capitalism
Branding is supposed to represent what a company believes in and how they see the world. It’s a series of signals to customers and potential customers showing what’s valued. But most brands have competing interests. If a brand isn’t making money, it probably isn’t going to be a brand for too much longer. So while
Hypefeast: Safe names are bland
For the brave souls who have decided to launch a consumer packaged goods brand in the past few years, brand naming was likely as important as their proprietary blend of herbs and spices. In the increasingly diverse and thoughtfully branded consumer goods world, standouts no longer whisper. They leap off the shelf, label forward, with
Introduction to Poetry (And Naming)
In 1988 poet Billy Collins wrote Introduction to Poetry which was included in his collection of poems titled The Apple that Astonished Paris. It goes: I ask them to take a poemand hold it up to the lightlike a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a
The name you want is taken. Here’s why that’s a good thing.
Let’s say you’re founding an AI company or launching an AI product. You’re going to change how people work, think, and create. And you know exactly what you want for your name: “short, memorable, punchy.” Ideally a real word. “Think Apple,” you say. “Think Stripe.” I get it. I really do. I’ve lived versions of
Why is it so hard to hype AI at launch?
Credentialed crowds. Cinematic intros. Surprise celebrity cameos. Awkward live demos. By now we all know the hallmarks of a major tech launch event, like the “Made by Google” hardware showcase, the Meta Connect developer conference, Apple’s annual iPhone release, or Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked. As namers with one foot in the tech industry, we treat these
Branding for the Head and the Heart: An Interview with Made of Millions’ Esther Fernandez
Passion projects are a hot topic around here. We often daydream about which companies or products we would be enthusiastic to name from minor league sports teams to hammocks. Even though we mostly concern ourselves with working with kind and communicative folk, we all individually hope that our one dream project comes in the door….
What your merch says about you
In this role, few things are quite as satisfying as seeing a newly-launched name in the physical world—whether that’s on product packaging, a billboard, or a business card. Suddenly the intangible has become tangible, part of an environment where it can be observed, manipulated, and, hopefully, remembered. After recently being asked to evaluate names based
What happens when every brand on the shelf is designed to be different?
That’s the question raised by Pop Up Grocer, a curated retail experience in NYC described as “all the buzziest brands on Instagram under one roof” and “playland for packaging nerds.” It also asks, what if the inside of your pantry was edited by Dieline? Sandwiched between Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and SoHo neighborhoods, Pop Up Grocer
More brand, less celebrity
Brands that could survive without big name backings There’s a special kind of paradox at the intersection of celebrity and branding. Fame, especially when wielded as an endorsement, is a shortcut: a fast-track to relevance, a built-in audience, a persistent spotlight that attracts attention before it might be justified. Brand building, on the other hand,
Our brand could be your life: A look at why some brands dominate people’s lives
Credit to Michael Azerrad and Mike Watt of Minutemen for the title of this blog, a nod to Azzerad’s book “Our band could be your life” and the opening line of “History Lesson – Part II”, a song written by Mike Watt of Minutemen. What is it about some brands that seem to take over
We play well with others
We’re lucky to have some talented friends and partners in the branding world—design studios, strategists, consultants, freelance designers—who think of us when their clients have naming needs. Typically, this means working together to figure out how to seamlessly incorporate naming into the rest of their branding work. This is our jam. Working with a longtime
Brand equity: a river in reverse
Understanding the flow of brand equity within an ecosystem We have a saying at A Hundred Monkeys that “brand equity flows upstream.” It’s something we remind ourselves whenever we work on naming ecosystem projects. Essentially it means that any sub-brand or branded element (feature, service, tool, etc.) that doesn’t get a name sends the brand
Is “Lifestyle” A Four Letter Word?
As the saying goes, there are two types of people in the world: those who think lifestyle is a four-letter word and those who don’t. I find myself squarely in the second camp but have never really asked myself why? Perhaps it’s because when I first heard the term lifestyle in the early 2000s, brands
E-volution: Vehicle naming in the all-electric age
As the hottest summer ever recorded comes to an end, it’s logical to focus our attention more intently on the climate crisis. For many people in wealthier nations that means redressing everything from recreational habits (air travel and gas consumption) to purchasing decisions on appliances, consumer goods, and vehicles. In response to the growing global
Percentage-wise: Meditating on the 10% Happier Brand
Dan Harris would like a minute of your time. In fact, he would like any amount of time you would be willing to dedicate to the age-old contemplative practice of mindfulness meditation. If you’re using his 10% Happier app, even better. The ABC news anchor turned meditation evangelist has been on a crusade to convince
Brand chameleons: how ever-changing brands might operate
Hear me out—I have an oddball question: why don’t some brands make a point to change their name, and their brand, regularly? As in, their name (and visual identity) change often to the point of transformation being core to who they are. Newness is the consistency. I recognize this concept won’t work for most brands
New word, who dis?
What happens when we see words that are unfamiliar to us — in naming and beyond Ingredients, technologies, viral strains, street names, animal breeds. We see new words constantly—so much so that we don’t always notice when it’s happening. Our brains become accustomed to new words quickly after a bit of language processing, which of
Brand architecture is a delusional fantasy
As I, a branding professional, understand it, Brand Architecture is the relationship between all of the branded elements within an organization. This could be subsidiaries, sub-brands, products, features, services—really anything branded within an organization. So if we take Nike as an example, they have owned subsidiaries like Hurley and Converse. They have sub-brands like Nike
Ingredients to run with
Taking a closer look at running shoe ingredient branding There is a vast world of running shoe ingredient brands. What started with Nike Air and Asics Gel has exploded into a supernova of running technologies™️. While these running companies are busy churning out new innovations, what are they actually communicating to their customers? Do runners
We’ve Got Your Number: Brand Names that Use Numbers
At A Hundred Monkeys we know that names are made up of interesting stuff. Sometimes there are rich stories, curious histories, or interesting etymologies baked in. Other times brands include unexpected “characters” like letters from ancient alphabets, mathematical symbols, or numbers. I was curious to explore the latter of these three types of names and
Brewing Good Humor: An Interview with Alex Zobel of Armistice Brewing Company
At A Hundred Monkeys we believe that employing humor in company and product naming is a good way into people’s hearts and minds. A jocular name can stand out in a crowded competitive landscape and communicate an intriguing story with levity or a wink. With nearly 9,000 craft breweries in the US, it’s an industry
Once, Twice, Three Times Creative: How to enjoy an effective extra round of creative work
Creative endeavors can sometimes produce an environment where a client is curious to see as many options as possible. In the case of our naming business we call this a third round. For reference, we typically develop company and product names across two rounds—a third is rare, but sometimes helpful. We’ve built our naming process around
The good, the bad, and the bubbly: Naming premixed cocktails
I first became aware of premixed cocktails a few years back via a client project at A Hundred Monkeys. This modern beverage invention — a can, bottle, or ball containing an alcoholic mixture — takes a novel approach to drink-making by putting alcohol in a vessel along with traditional cocktail ingredients and sealing it shut. Premixed cocktails, for the
The Proof is in the…: Why Feats of Service Make an Impact
A few months back I needed to have the oil changed for my car — a nearby auto shop happened to be the best reviewed so I drove over. The mechanics were polite and gingerly set to work on the request. A few minutes later one of them beckoned me back over to the car….
30 years of A Hundred Monkeys in 30 minutes
I interview my dad, A Hundred Monkeys founder Danny Altman, on the early days of the company and the evolution of naming. We try not to dwell on the the past too much around here but every once in a while it’s nice to take a look around and ask, “how did we get here?”
Table fellowship: Talking passion and Sonoma County with winemaker Carl Formaker
Carl Formaker, Assistant Winemaker at Three Sticks Wines, was raised a stone’s throw from Sonoma County’s Russian River. Many winters heavy rains cause the river to crest over its banks and flood parts of the Russian River Valley, leaving behind silt and fertile topsoil. That cycle helps create perfect conditions for growing wine grapes and
Getting by with a little help with your words
Sometimes knowing your brand means knowing when to get creative help. It’s hard to talk about yourself. How much time is spent crafting dating profiles or resumes, or finding the best anecdote to tell on Jeopardy? We all want to make a good impression and usually end up overthinking every word. But how many of us
« Nombres en México »
This spring I traveled to Mexico to take in the sights, sounds, and names of La Ciudad de los Palacios and the Oaxaca Coast. I found the names of shops, restaurants, bakeries, products, and even creative agencies were at times nuanced, mirthful, and clever — and other times mucho menos. « Romance de la lengua extranjera » Some of
Naming Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur
This past autumn, I decided to take a look at the startup landscape for our annual Burning Ears event—an exploration of the best and worst in company and product names with the A Hundred Monkeys team. This year we decided to focus our collective energy on specific industries, and I elected to look at startups. In
Mary Joe Brand
These are confusing times for cannabis branding. Where is it coming from? Where is it going? What does it look and sound like? We wanted to learn a bit more about what exactly is going on in this space so we reached out to the owners of Mary Joe, a CBD-infused cold brew coffee company
You’re Doing it Wrong
“Naming a company or a product isn’t like naming anything else,” writes Eli Altman in his book, Don’t Call it That. What he means is it’s not like naming a child, a pet, an avatar in a video game, a fantasy football league, an Instagram handle, or anything of the like. As a result, most
Deconstruct: 365 by Whole Foods
Deconstruct is a propaganda venture from A Hundred Monkeys in which we perform close readings of new names belonging to companies with large legal teams. Last week, Whole Foods announced the launch of a new chain of grocery stores. Described as “a smaller-store concept where value meets quality,” the new chain is intended as a
Branding E-Cigs
Brand Death It’s been a long, dismal downhill for tobacco branding. First came the ban on TV and radio ads in 1970. Since then, tobacco companies have been banned from sponsoring sports and cultural events, advertising on billboards in 46 states, and printing their logos on tshirts. Over time, regulatory incursions have made their way
What’s a ButFor?
Have you heard of Spoonrocket? It’s like Uber but for food. Have you heard of YPlan? It’s like Uber but for events. Have you heard of Wolfpack? It’s like Tinder but for friendless straight dudes. Have you heard of Coffee? It’s like Tinder but for job networking and self-loathing. Yes, these are all real things….
Emoji Brands: Taking Names at Face Value
Doubters beware: emoji are here to stay. Their Western invasion (or welcomed arrival, depending on your point of view) began in earnest in 2010, when Unicode, the computer industry text standard, released Unicode Standard 6.0. At Google and Apple’s behest, that character set included 722 new symbols that would come to redefine the way we
Football brands deserve more fitting sponsors
Let’s start with something really obvious: football (“soccer” for the Americans and Australians) is the most popular sport in the world. Unlike the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB, most professional football leagues allow for sponsorship on their uniforms. Considering all the interest, these sponsorships go for big bucks. Manchester United’s current deal with Chevy is
Empty Vessel Company Names: The Fortune 500’s Secret Weapon
Cigna, Avnet, and Alcoa are all Fortune 500 companies. Each has what we call an “empty vessel” name—a moniker with little meaning for a given audience. Empty vessels are extraordinarily popular with large companies in most industries. Names are an opportunity to tell the world who you are. Why, then, would anyone choose an empty
Show and Tell
Let’s translate a few common phrases: “You can trust me” means “Don’t trust me.” “This is going to be fun” means “This will definitely suck.” “We care” means “You are a number to us.” Say these, and you’re sending a message that’s the opposite of your intent. Sometimes, saying it outright isn’t enough. You have
How to Find a URL
So you found a name you love. Then you tried to find a URL. You wanted nameyoulove.com, but the person who parked it is MIA. Now you’re banging your head on the keyboard, digging for a random group of letters and numbers that’s also an available domain. Stop. Save yourself a headache—let us help you figure
Don’t Click That: The Clickbait Virus
On a bad day, the website Upworthy attracts some 1.5 million unique visitors. Good days see 5 million visits. That’s a hell of a lot of ad revenue without much overhead—the site just writes a bit of copy and hosts other people’s content. So, you know, good for them. They’re making money. Because Upworthy gets
Branding is Just Like Life: First Date Edition
How would your brand do on a first date? When we say that we build human brands, we aren’t spouting corporo-speak. We imagine brands as people. Even better, we imagine brands as people doing what people do: hanging out at the park, figuring out which trash bin to use, or—in this case—meeting someone on a
Don’t Call Them Wearables
Technology is easy to recognize. One glance at a coffee shop laptop and you know it’s a Macbook Air – doesn’t matter if it has 12 stickers on it. This is generally applauded as good product design. If you can recognize a laptop in the wild with a sideways glance, the product can practically market
Brand Attributes: Your Words Are Meaningless
In most pursuits, the fastest way between two points is a direct path. However, when dealing with people, this isn’t the case. For example, saying “Those glasses look really good on you” might be the fastest way to get out of the DMV. It will definitely work better than walking up to the counter and
The Rise of the Blank and Blank
Opening a restaurant is risky: a quarter fail in their first year, and nearly two-thirds are gone by the third. The desire to minimize risk causes many restaurateurs to pick names that appear safe. They aren’t. Consider this list of Bay Area bars and restaurants, ordered by opening date: 2005: Squat & Gobble, Fish &
Cicero is Holding You Back
One of the oldest things on your computer—and it’s definitely on your computer—is a garbled, 2100 year-old text written by Cicero: Lorem ipsum dolor sit , consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea
What can you learn from Dumb Starbucks?
What can you learn about branding from a business consultant who advises a gas station owner to offer a giant rebate that can only be redeemed on a remote mountaintop? Actually quite a bit. Nathan Fielder, the star of Nathan for You on Comedy Central, recently opened Dumb Starbucks, a parody version of Starbucks in
Stupidest Product of the Year (and it’s only January 3rd)
On the way into work this morning, I was listening to Marc Maron interview Artie Lange. One of the things I love about Maron is the way he hawks his sponsors like stamps.com and Adam and Eve in fine old time radio style. You’re rooting for him to pull it off but you know the only
Naming and Branding 101: An Infographic
Competing Against Big Companies: No One is Going to Save You.
In the Mission District, San Francisco, local merchants are banding together to try and prevent Jack Spade from selling tote bags and oxford shirts near them. The same thing happened with American Apparel a few years ago. In Berkeley on Telegraph Avenue, Mokka Coffee’s windows are plastered with “SAVE MOKKA”. (A Starbucks is opening down
What to Expect from a Brand Consultant
So you’ve decided to work with a brand consultant. That’s the first step. Of course, now that you know you are doing it, you have to hire a brand consultant, and there are a lot of people out there offering their services. Since the reason you decided to hire a brand consultant in the first
Embarking on Brand Building Ventures
Embarking on a brand building venture is an exciting and sometimes unnerving experience. The brand you build will, in many ways, determine the success of your company. It’s exciting to create concrete ways to express the vision and values of your company to your prospective customer audience, but there can be a lot of pressure
Developing Brand Building Strategy
The task of building a successful brand can sound daunting, but if you approach it with a well-defined brand building strategy, it becomes much easier. Brand building is a complicated concept that begins with getting your brand noticed. But it can’t just stop there. Successful brand building means getting the people who notice you to
The Difficulties of Brand Building Online
These days, a strong online presence is essential to establishing any kind of successful brand. Whether you’re starting a fresh new business venture or rebranding a company that for whatever reason needs an image makeover, brand building online is hard work and doesn’t happen overnight. There are many elements to brand building online, ranging from
A Hundred Monkey’s Brand Building Process
There are as many different approaches to branding as there are individuals and businesses. At A Hundred Monkeys, however, we think our brand building process is something special that truly gets results. That’s because the most fundamental aspect of our brand building process is taking a human approach. No matter what your industry is, a
Brand Building 101
In today’s world, you can’t succeed without having an effective brand. With the Internet, everyone is connected to everyone else all the time. With so many other people competing for your audience’s attention, you have to stand out dramatically, because it’s all too easy to click the other way. You can hire a brand building
What Birds Names Can Tell You about Brand Naming
You can learn a lot about branding from the animal kingdom. In the animal world, survival is all about passing on your genetics. The key to being successful is to attract as many mates as possible. When you think about it, this is pretty similar to what you’re trying to accomplish when you’re building a
Branding is just like life: Give more than you get
There are certain rules in life that make the difference between living like you’re in Lord of the Flies or in the suburbs of Minneapolis. One of these rules is give more than you get — think of it as your meta brand promise. The concept is that if you’re only willing to go halfway
Brand building – an exercise in asymmetry
Do you have any idea how many brands are vying for your attention every day? It’s disgusting. Try this, check out that, Like this, Follow that, 20% more, satisfaction guaranteed! So to cope with this media swarm, people naturally employ some quick mental triage in order to decide what to pay attention to and what to
Branding is just like life: Better to live it than overthink it
I just read an interview with Miuccia Prada by Scottish novelist Andrew O’Hagen. At one point in the conversation, O’Hagen notices that everything Prada is wearing is her own creation. He tells her that if he were in her shoes, he’d sometimes be desperate to get away from the brand. Her answer: “I’m never in
Be human – our social media brand guidelines
Most brands can’t keep their legs shut. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and Tumblr and Instagram and Google Plus. Pin us on Pinterest. They’re like the guy at the bar who will go home with any girl that has a pulse. In the past ten years the number of media outlets has
Branding is just like life: Play a little hard to get
If people were like companies, we’d all be drunken sailors–telling our stories to anyone who would lend us an ear, and probably a lot of people who aren’t even paying attention. Companies are so eager to make friends that they violate the most basic rule of human engagement, which is: make sure the other person
Lean startups need lean branding
If you talk to people starting companies, you’ll notice a four letter word that’s rocketing its way to ubiquity. That word is “lean.” This is primarily because of Eric Ries’ New York Times and Amazon bestseller “The Lean Startup.” The book has been lauded by everyone from Mitch Kapor to Tim O’Reilly to Dustin Moskovitz….
What is Branding?
Ever wonder: what is branding? The truth is you already have an intuitive sense of what branding is, because it’s actually something that comes quite naturally. See, branding is just like life. In life, as a human being, your brand as an individual is the clothes you wear, how you talk, who you associate with,
Rebranding: Companies that Succeeded
There are many things to consider when rebranding companies. A rebrand might simply consist of a new logo, or even just updated colors. Or it could be a new company name and an entire visual makeover. Truly successful rebranding means understanding your company’s situation well enough to judge what level of rebranding is right for
Branding is Just Like Life: The power of “I don’t know”
Do you know anybody who has to be right all the time? If so, you probably don’t make a habit out of spending a lot of time with them. Being wrong is part of being alive. If you can’t make mistakes, how can you learn? If you can’t say, “I don’t know, I’ve been wondering
The future is always in motion
Everybody wants to see the next best thing. They want to be there for genesis. Which is why car companies build concept cars — as an opportunity to electrify their audience and show off their most radical thinking. If the car is a winner, some or all of it will make it to production. If
Creating Taglines That Stick
The poet David Clewell jokes that the greatest line of poetry in the 20th Century is “Raid kills bugs dead,” the tagline for the popular insecticide. Considering the line’s ability to implant itself in your memory, and its staccato sound that makes it fun to repeat, some marketing consultants would most likely agree with him….
Rebranding process: Don’t let the crowd scare you
Let’s get the aphorisms out of the way: Change is hard, change is inevitable, and change is constant. When it comes to designing a smarter rebranding process, one that keeps these fundamental truths in mind, companies still have a lot to learn. Because people are more engaged with brands than ever before. And if they
Branding is Just Like Life: Don’t squeeze the bloody life out of it
I grew up in a little beachfront enclave called Sea Gate, which was at the entrance to New York harbor. My mother would take me in the stroller down to Nathan’s Hot Dogs in Coney Island. The hot dog was probably for her because I was still breast feeding. She told me later that she
Building a brand: Virgin America
I have heard the interiors of Virgin America planes described as everything from “swanky” to a “strip club in the sky.” While it might not be everyone’s style, it’s certainly better than your other options. Unless you prefer the Reagan-era textiles mottled with burnt coffee you might find on Delta. What’s great about how Virgin
Branding is Just Like Life: Somebody has to own the brand
When you are creating a brand, the first thing you need to be true to is yourself. Do not share the ownership of your brand with anyone else. This does not mean that your corporate brand is your private property. This does not mean you have to be a brand Nazi. It is more like
Building your brand for women
Are you building your brand for a female audience? Some companies see this as a straightforward question with a formulaic answer. There’s even a term for female-focused brand strategy that might be one of the worst phrases in the English language. Build your brand in two easy steps! Just “shrink it and pink it.” Shrink
Branding is Just Like Life: Only don’t make it up as you go along
There are a lot of obnoxious stories out there about personal branding. This is not intended to be one of them. My own belief is that life is commercial enough without dragging branding into your personal life. But, allow me to borrow that idea for a moment to make a really useful distinction. Your personal
Branding is Just Like Life: Just let them be upset
There is a big difference between caring about what people think and worrying what people will think. In the case of Louis CK, he doesn’t care about either one. When asked if comedians should apologize for remarks that offend people, he said “If the heat gets hot, just let them get mad. Let them be
Oh the HuManatee!
Target is looking to expand its clothing footprint with a foray into aquatic mammal fashion. That’s not just the setup to a weird and tasteless fat joke — it’s what Target actually called the color of some of their plus-sized clothes. The company was put on the defensive last week after calling the color of
Adventures in bias: Why focus groups will kill your brand
“Apple is famous for not engaging in the focus-grouping that defines most business product and marketing strategy. Which is partly why Apple’s products and advertising are so insanely great. They have the courage of their own convictions, instead of the opinions of everyone else’s whims.” — Dan Pallota, “Real Leaders Don’t Do Focus Groups” In
Branding is Just Like Life: Beginners only
There is a wonderful book called Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki which lays out this thesis much more elegantly than I can. My thesis is that you know more about branding than the experts. The book begins with these words: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s there are
Have it our way: Customization and censorship in branding
For $150, NikeiD lets you customize a pair of shoes with anything you want. Well, almost anything. The company has an official list of personalizations that it strictly prohibits. These include anything that “may seem objectionable” like profanity, inappropriate slang, potential trademark violations, celebrity names, certain color combinations, or just any material “that we do
Branding is Just Like Life: Brand-speak not spoken here
Branding is just like life. Most marketing people put everything they know about branding into one bucket. And everything they know about people into another bucket. This is a serious mistake. If you look at branding as a pseudo-academic discipline, you’re totally missing the point. This is like the person who reads all the self help manuals
Simile, but different
Analogies can be useful for bringing clarity into the world, but they can also get in their own way. Leading someone from A closer to B has a time and place, but comparisons can also turn into gross oversimplifications. I recently overheard someone describe a work as Picasso-esque. Really? I’m skeptical. Picasso lived a long
Cult followers: the Twitter numbers game
No one likes a kiss-ass. Mostly because it works. Like other places in life, Twitter is full of kiss-asses. There’s always someone begging for new followers or praying that their favorite popstar smiles down and retweets confirmation of their puny mortal existence. For the most part, it’s all a numbers game. Modern life on the
Attention young adult: Buy this automobile
Car commercials have been a staple of television advertising for as long as I can remember. The new coupe racing around alpine turns, mom taking the kids to soccer practice, slicked down pavement (or easily surmountable rock formations), definitely no other cars in sight. If you put two and two together, these cliched scenes tell
Covert action at the Oxford English Dictionary
You may have missed it. There’s been a lot going on this holiday season. But news has emerged of foul play at one of the English speaking world’s most hallowed institutions: The Oxford English Dictionary. Linguist Sarah Ogilvie charges in a new book that Dr. Robert Burchfield, former OED chief editor, covertly deleted thousands of
Pink gold and plasmaclusters: What Japanese women want in a car
The Japanese auto market is all about specificity, where products are tailored towards discrete niche markets. With a UV coating on the windshield to prevent premature skin aging, a “Plasmacluster” air filtration system to improve skin quality, and a pink gold paint job, Honda’s “Fit She’s” is a car made for the female motorist. Honda
‘Tis the season: A short history of holiday branding
Now that the first of this season’s feasts is behind us, let’s take a look back at the origins of the frenzy that follows. In 1939, FDR moved the official day of Thanksgiving from the last Thursday of the month to the fourth Thursday to boost holiday retail sales during the final years of the
Snakes On A Plane: The hilarious horrors of SkyMall Magazine
SkyMall magazine is where bad ideas go to die … and then crawl back to feed on the brains of innocent air travelers. A criminal line-up of infomercials, the magazine takes mankind’s worst ideas and puts them in your seat-back compartment. In a pressure-sealed cabin. At 30,000 feet. At home you can change the channel
It surely wins: Kit Kat’s supremacy in Japan
Go to the corner store. You’ll find some Kit Kat bars populating the middle shelves below the Watermelon Bubblicious and above the Sour Punch Straws. Maybe you’ll chance on a box of King Size, or if the stars are aligned: Big Kat and White Chocolate. Ok, your work here is done. Now go to Japan….
The NFL and the color pink
If you’ve watched any professional football in October you might have noticed large swaths of a color that usually doesn’t make it onto the gridiron – pink. See, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The NFL and the American Cancer Society teamed up on a campaign called A Crucial Catch to raise money for breast
There’s nothing wrong with making your brand a little more human
There’s got to be some lessons in the fall from grace of heroes like Lance Armstrong. One is that we seem to like our heroes imperfect. You could argue that the higher you go the bigger the fall, but somehow it doesn’t seem to work that way when you are a little bigger than life….
Foreign National: why the best Americana comes from overseas
It pisses me off to no end that American heritage brands are doing much cooler stuff overseas. Filson has Red Label in Japan, Carhartt has Work In Progress in Europe. Red Wing and Converse have imprints in Japan that are doing much nicer stuff than their American motherships. Now, it’s a familiar story for foreign
Are you for real?
I have car insurance. I bought it from a man who we’ll call ‘Bill’ in Oakland, because my uncle said he was a swell guy. Recently I needed Bill’s phone number so I looked him up online. I was greeted with his striking good looks and some strange achievements: Crystal Excellence Agency Golden Triangle Agency
Conspiracy theory: J.D. Power and Associates is way more powerful than we think
I got a really interesting piece of junk mail. No, I didn’t win a chance to win a million dollars. I’m not pre-qualified for a limited-time offer. I wasn’t even entered for a chance to set sail for luxury on a Celebrity cruise. I received a piece of junkmail addressed to me by myself. It’s
Am I tasting dirt?
Oenophiles are people who know a lot about wine. They can recognize flavors like gooseberry, lychee, and dirt. They rely on their discerning palates to judge wines. But that’s not always the whole story. Sometimes they lead themselves to believe that a wine is extra delicious just because it has a foreign or unusual name….
Facebook ads: Print edition
Every day, at varying times with varying degrees of friendliness, someone in a blue uniform comes into our office to deliver a stack of papers, which we invariably put directly into the recycling bin. When I’m trying to forget how wasteful this whole system is, I pretend like I am feeding a hungry recycling bin
We’re all driving the same car. Sort of.
It takes a great deal of effort to design and build a car. The Japanese get it done in about three years and the Americans in seven. So one way manufacturers reduce the amount of labor is by selling the same car twice, albeit slightly altered. This practice is called “badge engineering” and no,
Sara Lee wants more meat
Sara Lee is trading in her bag of flour for a bottle of barbecue sauce. The company — once known for its homely breads and microwaveable cheesecakes — announced today that it is changing its name to Hillshire Brands Co., part of a larger move toward its Hillshire Farms brand of hotdogs, sausages and packaged
Corn syrup tries to get sweet with the FDA
The FDA’s mighty gavel has swung, and manufacturers of corn-based sweeteners are left with a bitter taste in their mouths. The health agency has officially denied a petition by the Corn Refiner’s Association that sought to change the name of high fructose corn syrup — that controversial sweet stuff used in everything from soda and
What Haitian bus drivers can teach us about branding
Buying stuff just ain’t what it used to be. More than ever, personality and genuineness feel like secondary values, and that influences the quality of the things we have to buy. Whatever is left of a beautiful idea once it emerges from the mass-marketing wringer is often a mere shell of its original self. Real art,
Pedicures and PUNishment
There’s a scourge coursing through our nation’s beauty parlors. Like an infectious Jehri curl, the trend has spread its tackiness to the windows and neon signs of salons everywhere, trying to sell us cheap nail care with a cheeky attitude: Curl Up & Dye. Hairchitecture. Shear Hostility. Bangs For The Memories. Hand Job. Yes, the
California — cool since 1510
As far as state names go, California is the black sheep of America. Rather than some stale, obligatory honor to a founding father, a lazy attempt to replicate somewhere in England or a halfhearted remembrance of a decimated Indian nation, “California” is a dream. It represents not what was found or what died here, but
Glory Holes, and other terrible names to give your donut shop
Bad names are everywhere. From the corner store to the corner office, people find themselves giving terrible names to the things they love, and no one seems to be able to stop them from doing it. Well, um, stop it. We’re tired of seeing neat things with lame names. That’s why we’ve set up an
9 Hilarious Amazon Product Reviews
Product reviews: They can be an endorsement of something extra special, or they can offer an entertaining way to rubberneck at the carnage along the highway of online shopping. The standard application of the product review is pretty self-evident. It’s the medium by which you can rave about a favorite new juice processor or rant
Startups: If we only had a brand
When you’re out to change the world, things are happening fast. Between raising money, finding good people, building a product, and dodging bullets, there’s not a lot of time to think about branding. By the time you finish reading this, you will start making the time. Because how well you tell your story in a
McDonald’s, McRibs and McIndigestion: Why we eat crap in a bun
There are only a handful of American traditions that people will dare to truly question: Why should I have to pay taxes? Is everything really bigger in Texas? How can you be too old for American Idol? Yet the question that prompts the most soul searching, the most gut-wrenching existential doubt in the heart of
Lost in translation — why having a pronounceable and spell-able name matters less than you think
Everyone wants the perfect name. They want it to be edgy, imaginative, and inimitable, but only so long as it’s also easy to spell, easy to say, and impossible to forget. The only trouble being, easy and evocative are natural enemies. And nothing is so sure to slip between the ears undetected as the word that requires no effort
Tiny woman trapped in iPhone sues local man
Attorneys representing a woman who lives in a local man’s iPhone 4S have filed a lawsuit against him, claiming he keeps her trapped in his smart phone, expects her to instantly know how to get to places she’s never heard of and frequently asks her bizarre questions. Worst of all, she says she doesn’t get
I’ll bet you’re a marketing genius
Marketing is a good idea. Except for the way most of the world does it. Most marketing starts with the premise that people are total idiots so you need to pound stuff into their heads with a 2×4. They still don’t get it? Buy more CPMs and pound some more. 3% clicked and 1% bought?
Flattening the Like Button: why Facebook’s omnipresent thumb sticks in the eye
Welcome to the age of the Like. Whether it’s the way in which we, like, speak to each other or the currently fashionable post-Siskel approach to film review — “Did you like Real Steel? I liked it, because, you know, it was really good.” — the word itself has taken total control over how we
Return of the Return of the Return of the Jedi: George Lucas abuses The Force again
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas decided he was going to milk the Star Wars franchise for everything it had. What used to be pop culture’s sacred cow, a cinematic fantasy that nourished the geek in all of us for decades, has now become an emaciated cheese-machine in an
Why your brand sucks
Brands are pretty hard to build. And while some heroic efforts have yielded brands that really do make the world a more interesting, beautiful place, let’s face it, the vast majority of the brands out there suck. If you have to ask yourself which category you fall into, it’s most likely the latter, and
Burning Man: The 10 million dollar anti-brand
Three days from now, 40,000+ people will leave their homes, families, and rational identities behind to join a city of their own making in which all normal societal rules are cast aside: Burning Man. And despite what sounds like a good idea the first time you hear it, I’ve come to dread even the idea
Tried and true brands
While standing in line at my local 7-11 store today, I saw an unexpected gum option: Bazooka Joe. I guess I knew they were still making the stuff, but I hadn’t seen it in years and I couldn’t believe how unchanged it was. The packaging, colors, even the dismally written comics were just where the
Does this Nutrient Density Index make me look fat?
Any recent trip into Whole Foods Market would have introduced you to the newest in food rating systems: The ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) and its meat-minded sibling, the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating. The basic premise of the ANDI system is this: Nutrients divided by calories = how good it is for you. And while
Parlez-Vous Facebook? Not anymore
Facebook and France just unfriended each other. The land of liberté has officially banned radio and television broadcasters from mentioning Facebook and Twitter on air, dooming newscasters to henceforth describe the popular social media sites in the most cliched way possible — as “popular social media sites.” So what does France have against les tweets?
Mozzarella: This is a test
When I was a kid, we used to eat at this great Italian place where our favorite dish was the Four-cheese Pizza. The menu didn’t say which cheeses, and no one asked, we just trusted the good folks of Casa de Pasta to pick the four good ones. Times have changed, and to be sure,
DirecTV shows you how to be your own scapegoat
So I was watching the NBA Finals at a bar last night because I refuse to pay Comcast for cable. I had a good seat, the Mavs were winning–all was well. That is, until the signal cut out in the middle of the 3rd quarter. What happens as soon as the signal cuts out? A
Anthropologie’s naming scheme to make you wear paisley and take your money.
Anthropologie is a great store. Nothing makes me want to spend 300 bucks on a tank top like seeing them nestled in the mouth of some giant papier-mâché narwhal suspended from the ceiling by human hair crochet. And usually I end up buying some getup that could really only be worn well while canoeing in
Top 5 ideas for Disney’s ‘Seal Team 6’ trademark
With only a hand grenade, a prayer, and a single round left in the chamber, lone Navy Seal Lt. Mickey Mouse is outnumbered and outgunned. Yet he is still Osama Bin Laden’s worst nightmare. Hey, it could happen. The Walt Disney Co. has applied for a trademark on Seal Team 6, the name of the
Zyrtec, Allegra and Benadryl: the bizarre world of allergy med names
Allergieth thuck. Itchy eyeth, runny nothe, non-thtop thneething — they’re your bodieth way of gibbing you the finger while cocooning itthelf from the world. Unfortunately, there is no cure for allergies. But if you want to at least keep those springtime sniffles at bay, you have two realistic options: move to Antarctica, or drug it
Manhattan Bagels: full of steam
Manhattan Bagels has more than 65 locations nation wide- the one place they’re not welcome? Manhattan. And that’s because New Yorkers can smell their own. Manhattan Bagels is from Jersey, which, despite its proximity is about as far from Empire living as you can get. And you know what that means, their co-companies Noah’s and
Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Razzie: the origins of award names
People love to congratulate each other. Whether it’s for eating lots of hot dogs, writing a catchy song or being able to play make-believe for millions of dollars, awards are our way of saying you’ve done something better than anyone else. Like height, eye color or the preference of boxers over briefs, the desire to
“Captain America Who?” the shielded one gets a name change in Russia
Captain America? More like Captain Planet. The comic book golden boy, the tireless defender of freedom and patriotism and cool fighting skills, can bring down the Third Reich with a twitch of his shield. Yet somehow he’s no match for an international marketing blitz. Apparently some of the Cap’s international audiences have forced him to
How Much of Your Business Startup Allowance Should Go to Branding
When you’ve had a great idea and fully committed yourself to making it a reality, it’s easy to focus solely on development. It’s easy to focus all of your funds on development, too. After all, when you’re immersed in a project, you can feel like everyone else will see it the way that you do….
The Dos and Don’ts of Startup Branding
If you’ve read our blog, you know how often we emphasize that good branding, or lack thereof, can make or break any startup. No matter how good your business starting ideas are on their own, you have to get people to notice, and then you have to get them to care. These are some of
Scotland Yard’s Vice Squad Succumbs to the PC Police
by Jeffery Racheff London’s Vice Squad is starting to sound more like the Nice Squad. The special Scotland Yard division tasked with battling prostitution and various underworld activities in the Greater London area will now officially be called Serious Crime Directorate 9: Human Exploitation and Organized Crime Command, or SCD9 for short. And
Hippies with AK-47s: Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Maui Wowie. Albino Rhino. Cat Piss. Alaskan Thunderf**k. No, these are not rock bands or energy drinks. They’re the colorfully bizarre names of marijuana strains. And with Proposition 19 on the ballot in the upcoming midterm election, Californians will have the chance to make their state the first place where it is legal to smoke
The Hard Rock Hotel, Den of Evil
by Jeffery Racheff Imagine this scenario: It’s family dinner night, and you and the hubby and the kids decide to go out for a nice wholesome meal at the Hard Rock Cafe. But as you step through the shiny big doors, instead of classic guitar solos and famous leather jackets, you’re greeted by half-naked women, drug-dealers
How Branding Can Affect Your Business Startup Capital
“Spend money to make money.” If you’re a startup, the old adage certainly applies to development and hiring. But what about using capital for branding? Working with startups, we hear a lot about the ongoing tensions between branding and capital that go on during the early phase of starting a company. Most startups are focused
Business Startup Exhibition: How Branding Makes You Stand Out
A business startup exhibition is an opportunity to learn more about brand positioning strategy. Whether you’re planning a trip to a business startup exhibition or looking to apply the information that you learned at one, it helps to think about the startups that you remember. Why did they stick in your head? It’s important to
How A Hundred Monkeys Can Help Business Startups
When you create business startups for a living, you know the long odds that any new venture has to overcome. The faith you have in the value of your ideas keeps you going. That means you spend most of the time making the idea a reality. At the same time, you need to make smart
Business Startup Ideas: Where to Draw Inspiration for Branding
When entrepreneurs are developing their business startup ideas, the topic of branding inevitably comes up. It often gets pushed to the side. Startup owners worry about budgets, or think they should fully develop the product before they start on the branding. Sometimes, however, these concerns are just excuses made by entrepreneurs who are secure in
Business Startup Checklist for Branding
At A Hundred Monkeys, we talk a lot about what branding is. Because it’s a broad concept, our clients often ask us to break brands down into bite-sized pieces. “What are the building blocks of a brand?” or even “Where should I start building my brand?” are common questions in our early interactions with startups….
Pork: formerly known as the other white meat
by Jeffery Racheff Get ready for a whole new shade of lipstick on your honey baked ham. The National Pork Board (yes, it really exists) announced this week that it will be dropping the iconic slogan “Pork. The Other White Meat” as part of a new effort to revamp the meat’s image. Known officially as
Budweiser brews beer fear at 2010 World Cup
by Jeffery Racheff The World Cup is coming to South Africa this summer, and that can only mean one thing — lots and lots of beer. Okay, two things — lots and lots of beer and soccer. Yet while there is sure to be enough soccer, an ominous possibility has been brewing in the hearts
Word wars: the Scrabble scramble
by Jeffery Racheff If the word “tile” makes you think of vowels or consonants and not your bathroom floor, you might be a Scrabble junkie. If you know a two-letter word that begins with Q, you might be a Scrabble junkie. And if you are a Scrabble junkie, your world was nearly flipped upside down
A tale of two Vancouvers
by Jeffery Racheff As far as most of the world is concerned, there is only one Vancouver. It’s in British Columbia, it hosted this year’s Winter Olympics, and it’s Canada’s third largest city. But hold on to your maps — another Vancouver exists. Just 300 miles to the south, making up the second half of
Maalox Total Relief: works so well it will make you sick
By Jeffery Racheff If there’s one place you don’t want to confuse names, it’s probably in the world of medicine and drugs. Take Maalox Total Relief for instance. Folks looking for deliverance from diarrhea flocked to the over-the-counter medicine, assuming it would alleviate their belly pains. Instead they found themselves much worse off. What they
Lindsay Lohan, destroyer of brands
by Jeffery Racheff Is there really no such thing as bad publicity? The old saying holds that any chance to get your name in the paper (or on people’s blogs) is worth the flack you might take for scandal or distastefulness. In the long run, so it goes, the potential for brand awareness outweighs temporary
Who took the cardboard out of my Domino’s?
by Danny Altman Some things you don’t mess with. Don’t take the growth hormone out of my milk. I’m short enough as it is. Don’t stick an electric outlet on my car. I like the smell of fresh gasoline. Don’t give me cheese on a knife. I like it straight out of the can. And
Chanel wants to tattoo you, temporarily
By Jeffery Racheff Nothing says rock ‘n’ roll like a good face tattoo. Just look at Mike Tyson. Unfortunately, not everyone can be like Mike. Rock ‘n’ roll (and, in Mike’s case, mild insanity) is only fun in short bursts, because afterward most of us have to return to the real world where tattoos, even
Falling brands latch on to rising stars
by Barry Silverstein Singing sensation Lady Gaga recently signed on to be “creative director” of a line of products with the Polaroid brand name. And actor Hugh Jackman, the badass from X-Men Origins and Swordfish, will be the new worldwide spokesman for Lipton Ice Tea. I’m not making this up. You remember Polaroid – the
Chocolate chip cookies: half-baked branding idea?
As a former chocolate chip cookie junkie, I was amused to read a long story in The New York Times yesterday about two companies that have figured out how to make their customers actually salivate prior to entering the premises. And neither one of them is in the cookie business. The first is Doubletree hotels,
Bowled over: the changing names of college bowl games
by Barry Silverstein Another college football bowl game season comes to a close tonight. Each year, it seems, the controversy surrounding the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) heats up because of the selection process for the national championship. But there’s another controversy that’s becoming equally heated: Is commercialism polluting college football? Of this year’s 34 bowl
Gläce Luxury Ice balls: the latest in high-class drinking
For some people, the brand of booze you drink is just as much of a status symbol as the car you drive. Mercedes, Lamborghini, Geo Metro… Grey Goose, Crystal, Colt 45. Like the wheels you sport, the liquor in your glass shows everyone else what sort of spender you are. Unfortunately, no one besides the bartender can tell what you’re
Tiger Woods and the sponsor spiral
Tiger Woods has fallen, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to get up anytime soon. Ever since word came out about his scandalous off-course activities, the world’s most respected golfer has been stuck in the rough. Gossip rags and humor sites hang on news of every revealed mistress, he’s the butt of countless jokes
On the warpath with Native American mascots
by Jeffery Racheff Neon headdresses. Gleaming tomahawk axes. Half-naked men covered in war paint – these are not the sights of a Native American war dance. No, they’re staples of American sporting events. Indian images, mascots and logos are ubiquitous at football and baseball games, and there are countless teams throughout the country that use
Oasis of the Seas: the Titanic times five
In many ways, a cruise is the ultimate vacation. You get to travel, relax in the sun, watch live shows, dance and drink, all within a few steps of your own room. It’s like Vegas on the high seas. And if cruise ships are like hotel-casinos with rudders, then the MS Oasis of the Seas
Home Business Ideas: How Branding Gets them Off the Ground
Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a home business, branding is extremely important to creating and maintaining success. But while a Fortune 500 company already has an established corporate identity, home business ideas depend on initial brand building to get off the ground. No company is too small to build an effective brand (although
Hollister finds adventure in fiction
If someone told you they were born in 1922, how would you respond? Would you offer to play backgammon, maybe ask them if they have any World War II stories? Or would you ask to see their ID because they look a little too young for Seniors Eat Free Brunch? That’s what the British government
Best Western, Worst Western
by Mars Riley Best Western has an identity problem that has been 60 years in the making. Simply put, each of their hotels is an independently owned and operated franchise—each one unique. Considering they have 4,000 hotels in 80 countries, that may be too much uniqueness. It is impossible to predict what
Paying the Extra Dollar for Branding in San Francisco | Why It’s Worth It
The startup market in San Francisco is extremely crowded and competitive. That’s why it’s essential to go the extra mile to make your business stand out from the competition. Especially if you’re working in a similar market as other San Francisco businesses, you need to differentiate yourself and ensure that your company is the one
The house that Bob Marley built
by Mars Riley It may have taken 18 years, but the family of Bob Marley is now getting serious about the use of his name and image. This is not going to be an easy task. As anyone who has been to a street fair, beach boardwalk, or head shop can tell you – bootlegged
What your Halloween candy says about you
by Jeffery Racheff Halloween is a magical time of year, especially if you’re a kid. It’s the one time when you can act like a blood-crazed zombie ninja without someone prescribing you Ritalin for the rest of your youth. Most importantly, however, it’s when you get to eat buckets of candy. Sweet treats are the
The Olsen Twins go Olsenboye
by Mars Riley Some things you should know about me: I am not a teenage girl. I rarely wear branded clothing. I do not shop at J.C. Penney. I dislike cupcakes. And I am not a fan of the Olsen Twins (Although, I do think one of them is kind of cute, but I’m not
When designer jeans are your True Religion
by Jeffery Racheff There are two ways to define a pair of denim jeans. The first says they are nothing more than sturdy lifestyle-and-work pants, made from reasonably cheap material, that go just as well with Motörhead t-shirts as they do with bow ties. But the second definition takes a different approach. This angle sees
The Blue Angels want YOU for the U.S. Navy
by Jeffery Racheff Screaming across the sky at over 1,000 miles an hour, the Blue Angels are the world’s oldest and most famous flying aerobatic team. Since their debut in 1946 they have performed for almost half a billion people all over the world, thrilling ground folk with their death-defying tricks. But what most spectators
Generic cigarettes: coming to a smoker near you
by Jeffery Racheff Lungs aside, smokers tend to be a resilient bunch. You can take away their advertising, raise sales taxes 400% and ban cigarettes from being within three miles of the nearest doorway, but if a die-hard smoker wants a drag, there is little outside of Armageddon that will keep him from getting one….
Freshjive flushes its identity down the toilet
by Eli Altman Rick Klotz thinks branding is bullshit. Yeah, sure, lot’s of people think and say that branding is BS, but Rick is actually doing something about it. After 20 years of running Freshjive apparel, he recently decided to drop the name and logo from everything the company makes. In 2010, he’s also pulling
Searching for the perfect name, robotically
by Danny Altman Last week I reported on my journey into the world of robotic naming, where names are untouched by human hands. They come out pure, often in staggering numbers like some species that is desperately trying to perpetuate itself. I was looking for a name for my new business, which is an ice
Will Harvard be the new Hollister?
by Mars Riley After 373 years, Harvard University has started to actively brand its name. One would think the world’s most famous university wouldn’t need to differentiate itself from the other institutions of higher learning; yet they are going through great lengths to do so. The reason: money (isn’t it always?). Although Harvard has the
Jordan adds fuel to the fire
by Mars Riley On Friday, Michael Jordan was accepted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. In many ways it felt like a final farewell to the playing career of the sport’s greatest. After a few comebacks, this was an exclamation point for a basketball player who had no parallel. After six titles,
Disney and Marvel, sitting in a tree…
by Jeffery Racheff If you’re anywhere between the ages of 5 and 80, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve been affected by a Disney cartoon or a Marvel comic book character. Most of us were raised by Wolverine’s claws and/or spent our youths obsessed with the Little Mermaid’s efforts to grow legs. So when Disney
The Beatles don’t sing Bon Jovi
by Mars Riley All of us want to be rock stars. This is a proven fact. If you were born between 1956 and 2005, you have stood in front of the mirror, air guitar in hand, imagining yourself in front of an enraptured crowd. Maybe you were yourself, but just as likely you were Jimi
Owning Lizzie Borden
by Mars Riley In 1892, on a hot August morning, the town of Fall River, Massachusetts would change forever. Before that day it had been the leading manufacturer of textiles in the U.S., afterward it was known as the home of Lizzie “took an ax, gave her mother forty whacks, when she saw what she
Take your cheese to the bank
What’s the difference between Kraft Parmesan cheese and Parmigiano-Reggiano? Well, aside from the taste, and the fact that they’ve been making it in Italy since 1200, you can take the real stuff to the bank. Here’s the difference between a commodity brand and something people really want to get their hands on. When Italian cheese
Light beer is selling itself short
As far as I can tell, there are two reasons why Americans drink light beer: Either you’re trying to cut down on calories, or you’re planning on getting plastered and don’t want to get full before you’ve had your fill. Both of these reasons have made light beer the de-facto sponsor of the college experience….
Tip of the Hat: VitaminWater
Today I want to give a Tip of the Hat to VitaminWater. Since the first flavors were introduced by Glacéau in 2000, VitaminWater has built a strong and clear brand that continues to grow year after year. Here are a few things that they have done particularly well: Functions not flavors: VitaminWater was one of
Can Athleta make waves? Gap introduces a new brand.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Gap’s newest brand: Athleta— a yoga/surf/adventure line of women’s clothing that Gap is throwing into the mix. Before we get ahead of ourselves, I’m not sure how to pronounce it. Is it athlete-a, or ath-let-a? Either way, this is not a good first question for people
Tip of the hat: Trader Joe’s
The idea of Trader Joe’s is an island market where some wily trader scours the world for tasty bargains and passes the savings along to you. Shopping there was supposed to feel like a treasure hunt, and amazingly enough, after all these years, it still does. Like Costco, it’s a crossover experience: a store where
To form a more perfect union: The MLS names its Philadelphia expansion team.
Major League Soccer has a new team: the Philadelphia Union. On Monday, the name and identity of the league’s 16th team were unveiled. While it may sound more like a newspaper than a soccer team, the Union definitely works on a few levels. It clearly relates to the history of Philadelphia. It has some class
Indigenous branding: Whiskey Heaven
by Danny Altman and Pons Maar It isn’t created by branding companies, design firms, or ad agencies. Indigenous branding is something that is found off the beaten path, on dusty roads, in small towns and funky neighborhoods. It speaks to us because it is so far off the corporate track that passersby are completely disarmed
Your face here: you can be an instant global brand
by Pons Maar and Danny Altman Have you ever wanted to be a recognized-around-the world iconographic image? Why go to all the trouble of creating your own icon when you can ride on the back of one that’s already out there? Revolutionaries have always had the best branding. Now you can follow in their legendary
Brands that might not make it through the year
A report came out a few days ago that assessed the likelihood that some familiar household brands wouldn’t survive the year. On the watch list was Eddie Bauer, Chrysler, Old Navy, Esquire Magazine, Crocs, Saturn, Budget Rent-a-Car and Borders. It’s tough out there. Lots of people are making difficult decisions. While some are facing new
Branding is just like life
I would like to write about branding in a way that has not been attempted so far. After many years of helping companies create and breathe life into their brands, I have a confession to make. I don’t get it either. My brain has a block against abstract concepts, and branding is one of those
For some brands there is life after death
In a New York Times story called Brand Names Live On After the Stores are Closed, we find out what happens when brands survive the companies that gave birth to them. A case in point, a familiar retailer that started in San Francisco. Nothing quite exemplified the American male’s attraction to bright, shiny objects like
Try not caring.
There’s a certain amount of foolishness about the way we go about constructing brands. Actor Jason Segal helps us understand that you never know exactly when or how you will hit the emotional core, but when you do, just have the sense to get out of the way.
What’s wrong with innovation? (How much time do you have?)
What’s wrong with “innovation?” Naming and branding suffer from the same drive to quantify and predict results. The result: over-engineered names.