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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…

How to name a startup

You don’t have to be a high tech guru to understand the importance of building something right the first time. The same thing applies to finding a name for your company. If you’re running a startup, chances are you have a lot on your mind. You need to hire smart people. You need investors to…

The shame of living with a storm name

The only thing worse than a storm that wants to destroy humanity, is a storm that wants to destroy humanity that’s named after you. Call up any random Katrina in the phone book and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Before you can say “FEMA,” they’ll regale you with stories of how they run into…

Trek Bicycles blows lawsuit against tiny winery

I love David and Goliath stories, and they’re even better when the little guy comes out on top. Trek Bicycles filed a trademark infringement suit against a tiny California winery in the U.S. District Court in Madison, Wisconsin. The suit alleged that Trek Wines willfully infringed Trek Bicycle’s trademark. They of course demanded that (little)…

These bimbos mean business

Where were you at the end of 2008, when Mexican food giant Grupo Bimbo sealed a $2.4 billion deal with Weston Foods, acquiring Weston’s entire lineup of American brands and making Grupo Bimbo the largest bakery in the U.S.? Operating in the U.S. as Bimbo U.S.A., these stealthy Mexican blondes now sell almost every carbohydrate…

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…

Ariva tobacco candy up for FDA review

  • About: Naming

I was elated to hear that tobacco now comes in candy form because I was a big fan of candy cigarettes when I was a kid. Wintergreen-flavored Ariva is already available in some drug and convenience stores, but you may not want to try it just yet. It turns out that along with the nicotine,…

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