CapsuleBlog

A branding lesson: Don't mess with an Australian icon

As an Aussie living in the US, I try my best to keep up with the Australian news and happenings. I heard about the freakish giant dust storm that swept over Sydney (straight from "the outback") last week from the Sydney Morning Herald. My friend in Perth told me about the weakening real estate market... the twenty shark attacks last week (ha! kidding)... the plague of giant, bird-eating spiders (also kidding). But one thing that slipped my radar until just now has me quite stunned.

Chances are you've heard of Vegemite (and unless you're Australian, you probably haven't heard good things). You're missing out on something, people of America! I don't even know how to describe it but dang, seriously, it's the most comforting of comfort foods on crappy white bread toast, with lots of butter. It's black. It's salty. It's full of vitamin B. It's been around since the 1920s. That's about all I can tell you.

So when Kraft bought the brand a few years back, the Aussies weren't too happy about it. Just like how "our Nic" (Nicole Kidman) up and married a dude from Nashville, I guess. Kind of.

Imagine the furor when Kraft recently announced a new variation on the icon in the form of a cream cheese/Vegemite hybrid (mmmm) to be named... iSnack 2.0

That, people, is a bad name.

From The Australian

While denying the name is merely an attention-grabbing stunt, just two days after it was unveiled Kraft executives are refusing to say whether they will stick with the brand.

Kraft spokesman Simon Talbot said the company had expected debate about the new name, but admitted it had been caught off guard by the ferocity of the reaction.

"It's definitely not a stunt, you have my word on that," Mr Talbot told The Australian yesterday. "But we got a stronger public reaction than we thought we'd get.

"We are currently monitoring the social networks - the product is embedded, but I couldn't comment on the name."

Don't mess with the best, Kraft!

Want to know some of our naming secrets?

Check out Aaron's excellent post over at the Dieline (only the world's #1 package design blog).

Capsule names new Herman Miller chair

Capsule is very proud to announce that we were asked to name the latest chair released by the iconic and innovative leader of furniture design: Herman Miller.

Named one of Fortune’s Most Admired companies, Herman Miller designs to improve the human experience wherever people work, heal, learn and live.

The pressure was on for this one. The new chair follows some of the most successful chairs ever made: the Aeron, the Embody, the Eames Lounge… there was no room for error. According to the wonderful world of Google, we also discovered that every man and his dog has designed and named a chair.

“Naming is one of the most challenging components of our work at Capsule,” said Aaron Keller, Managing Principal. “The volume of names considered and rejected would surprise many inside the business of naming and shock those who haven’t named. It’s an honor to say that Capsule named the newest Herman Miller chair.”

Upon receiving the prototype of the nameless design in our office, we were immediately impressed by the incredibly unique spine and inspired to explore the concept of unrestricted movement.

We delved deep into a range of cultures and philosophies to find out more. In Hindi, the word for bridge is Setu. A bridge allows you to move freely, connects you, and takes you to a place never before possible.

Setu. Simple, visually strong and intriguing. A perfect moniker for an amazing chair.

More on naming

For nearly a decade, Capsule's branding expertise has helped many companies reduce the risk involved with bringing new offerings to market. When a division of Fiserv Insurance Solutions approached us to design their new spin-off brand from the ten billion dollar parent, we jumped at the opportunity. The team and process involved had to be highly inclusive and overtly collaborative. Capsule had the answer they were seeking.

Starting with Capsule's patented Foundations process, all senior executives and the marketing team were asked to journal about their existing brand and their vision for this future brand. Results were analyzed by our research team and were presented along with qualitative findings from online research conducted simultaneously.

With the fundamental brand elements defined (promise, personality, features, benefits, emotional rewards and visual language) the Capsule team began brainstorming a new name. This was no easy task, given the number of international trademarks we had to clear. Through a process of collaboration and discussion, the name StoneRiver was able to achieve consensus and deliver on the brand elements. From here, the Capsule team designed an identity and helped further define the visual language of this new brand.

All stakeholders connected to the process met the brand launch with fanfare and accolades. Fiserv Insurance Solutions is now StoneRiver. And we're proud to say we helped this billion-dollar brand come to life.

Is naming a billion dollar entity different than a million dollar one?

Capsule recently helped name an international spin-off from Fiserv (a $10 billion business), now called StoneRiver and comprising one billion dollars in revenue. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to compare that process with our experience naming a million dollar business in the promotions category: Sidecar. Now that both projects are successfully completed, we can certainly say the difference is clear.

Hop on over to the Duets blog to read the rest of Aaron Keller's insight...

Naming you is hard to do...

I have a confession to make: Naming is one of the key parts of what we do at Capsule, yet I struggle with it. Product, company or program, it's all the same.

Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love analyzing a brand, searching through its attributes for clues, digging into metaphors and semiotics - it's a lot like being a brand archeologist of sorts. The process of getting at a brand's essence, and figuring out an original, effective and striking way of conveying its story and its promise through a name really is absolutely fascinating.

There are two downers, though, and they're pretty significant.

The most obvious is that of protectability. Chances are, for every idea that I think is brilliant, someone else out there has already thought of it. And they've most probably trademarked it (or, if they haven't, they're actively using it and therefore rendering it unusable for everyone else).

The other roadblock can be the client themselves, particularly when you are renaming a company. This can become necessary for a multitude of reasons: mergers, buy outs, or simply discovering that the name a client has been using is not protectable, not appropriate anymore, or just... not good.

This is when we have to meld into the role of the therapist, coaching the client through the process of change and making it as painless and even pleasant as possible. Conducting market research can most certainly provide the ammunition needed to convince the client that the change is needed. For some, it really is as sensitive and personal an issue as deciding what to name your own baby would be.

Often people fall into the trap of believing that the PERFECT name is out there just waiting to be plucked from somebody’s brain - a name that succinctly references everything the company ever was, is, hopes to be. Not possible, people. You just can't expect a mere name to perform too much. A name never exists in a vacuum - it will live out there in the world, always in a context of some kind. It's up to you to build the brand and the name will take on a life of its own.

Our philosophy when naming is to strike the perfect balance between suggestion, intrigue, descriptiveness and the "X factor". One of my favorite success stories is Prairiestone.

Byerly’s and Lunds were making a big push to have pharmacies in all twenty-six Lunds and Byerly’s locations. Their current partner was not interested in making the investment, but they found three risk takers who were more than willing. Each founder represented a leg of the stool required to support the retail business they were looking to build. One is a pharmacist, one a business manager and the third a marketing manager, all three core skills required.

Capsule was asked to help define the brand these three founders were intending to create, name it, design an identity and then help them sell it to the Lund Food Holdings management team. The timeline was extraordinarily tight with the first objective to have the business up, running and working profitable in 4 months.

“What we have been repeatedly impressed by is just how well they brought our many brand intentions together into a name that resonates with a wide array of customers, employees and business partners. Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn’t say, “What a perfect name...”

We were recently giving a tour to business people from out of town and they commented on how well we had done our brand work. From a name that reflected our Midwestern values, to an identity that appealed to our audiences, to a beautiful mix of passion and intellectual depth telling the customer that we offered something new and exciting.”

[Lew Zeidner, PrairieStone Pharmacy Founding Partner]

Excuse me, your name stinks

Metaphors make for good friends and great names.

Metaphors are essential to our language. We use them in nearly every conversation without even noticing. We use them to connect ourselves with others and share our stories. Our conversations connect us and help us grow strong friendships. The better our metaphors, the better our conversations.

Consider buzzwords for instance. The conversation you just had with the “buzzword” guy, how did you feel walking away from the conversation? A bit icky? Buzzwords are just overused metaphors that are starting to decompose... hence the smell. Use better metaphors and you’ll make better friends, and of course smell better as you do.

Now, how does this apply to names? Not a big stretch in Twister: you place one hand on the idea that a brand is built inside and within the conversations we have everyday. Become a part of the conversation and you can become a powerful brand. Name your brand with an old metaphor or buzzword and people might start thinking you have gingivitis whenever you say your brand name.

Start with the right metaphors to end with a better name.

-- Aaron Keller

* For the lawyers in the crowd, we're not saying Listerine is a bad name. It's a perfectly fine name. We're merely referencing the metaphors used above for buzzwords.

Naming a Restaurant

Restaurant name. Hmmm, Capsule's official comment on the name is, "no comment." But, the music's not bad. Not bad at all.

Love Him

A Chinese couple gets creative in trying to name their child "@." What does the Chinese governent think? No word yet on whether or not Chinese police, who arbitrate names, granted the couple the new name. More. But a name utilizing only characters isn't completely unique.

Check out !!!.

Go ahead, name your kid a symbol. But expect to encounter some challenges along the way. After all, only a #@! parent would $@&ing do that.

Name Analysis the Kalabarian Way

Kalabarian philosophy is NOT the same as Kabbalah - given more attention due to Madonna's involvement in the religion. But interestingly enough, the Kalabarian process for name analysis is pretty accurate in regard to the Material Girl.

The chicken or the egg? We can't say for sure. Kalabarian Name Analysis , whether or not it's accurate, is fun to play with. Give it a whirl.