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Merriam Associates names almost a hundred companies and products a year. Our naming project work crosses categories, from consumer to B2B, from billion dollar companies to start-ups you haven’t heard of (yet). Our innovative approach creates strategically valuable names with impact. Several projects demonstrate the depth and breadth of our work: Kore Sportswear Kore Sportswear, …
BP’s new Chief Executive Robert Dudley has a long “to do” list. One thing that should not be on that list: Repairing the BP brand. Yes, the BP brand is wounded and they need a strong brand to succeed. Any effort to fix the brand today will fail. BP’s over-focus on its image has been …
Repairing BP Brand Should NOT Top New CEO’s To-Do List Read More »
Move over BARF dog food–there’s another unintentionally funny brand name out there. Have you heard of Putzmeister? This German company markets machines for pouring and placing concrete, but the name suggests something else. A quick peek in my beloved Joys of Yiddish book explains “putz” rhymes with nuts and is a vulgar slang term for …
Merriam Associates doesn’t often cover politics, but when we found ourselves in Washington DC during the Glenn Beck Restore Honor rally, we couldn’t resist asking participants why they came, what they stand for and what they hope will happen next. We discovered the “Glenn Beck brand” of politics is different than portrayed and is broader …
Glenn Beck Brand of Politics at the Restore Honor Rally Read More »
Merriam Associate’s client Geomentum is in the news with a new president, Lisa Bradner. Merriam Associates created the Geomentum name a year ago when Interpublic consolidated several large local media-buying and marketing services units including newspaper buying agency NSA Media, Wahlstrom, a specialist in Yellow Pages and local search, and out-of-home expert Outdoor Services. Geomentum …
Splitting Motorola into two companies should have been a great branding opportunity—a chance to create two distinctive, focused, world leading brand names. Unfortunately, the brains breaking up the Motorola brand missed the opportunity. Trying to spread the Motorola brand equity across two companies destroys the brand for both. Breaking up the company makes business sense: …
Green–it’s the new blue in logo redesigns. As an overused boring corporate color, blue is losing ground to green. Corporations everywhere have been jumping on the “green” bandwagon, whether they are hotels that wash towels less frequently, moving companies that reuse boxes, or retailers that recycle plastic bags. The green washing trend is even spreading …
Scott Neuman of NPR asked me about the possible boycotts of the BP brand. I explained that brand is not a driver for people buying gas. Location is most important. People will literally not drive across a median to reach a gas station on the other side of the street if there is one conveniently …
BP can’t seem to tweet. BP social media efforts hurt the brand BP Doubles Down on Damage My previous post discussed how the oil spill killed BP’s environmental brand positioning. BP’s response to the spill has done even more damage. While the company is focused on the disaster, surely their marketing people aren’t out personally …
The oil spewing from the destroyed drilling-rig off the coast of Louisiana is devastating the environment; it also damages the BP brand. No matter that the oil rig in question is actually owned and operated by Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor. No matter that nine of the eleven victims are Transocean employees. The …