On Brands and their Brand Names

During the early years of Rickenbacker, the pioneer of the electric guitar industry and the oldest guitar manufacturer in the world, it was clear to Sir George D. Beauchamp that his last name was not a perfect brand name for his products. He knew that his first chosen names for his company—Ro-Pat-In Corporation and Electro String—had no appeal to American guitar consumers. He was certain that a famous name like Rickenbacker, his trade partner Adolph’s surname, was grand enough to carry their then struggling business. And he was correct. The name he had chosen eighty years ago is now a name of class, ingenious musicality, and artistic royalty.

Brand name makes a difference

Who would think that a brand that etched an unreachable grandeur, highness, and superiority into its name would collapse and found itself waning in the market? Goldstar, the second largest South Korean conglomerate company that focused on making less expensive yet quality home appliances, declined in sales during the Asian financial crisis in 1995 due to several revenue losses over other local low-end products that offered better quality and prices. Despite the downfall, the South Korean appliance giant regrouped and rebranded, renamed itself into a classier, shorter LG, the abbreviation of “Lucky Goldstar”, and found its place on the International business scene. But their rebranding wasn’t solely to bounce back and regain its name; the rebranding move was actually their initial step to join the pool of Asian players on the Western market, which was undeniably successful.

Aiming to get “Brandverbed”

Brandverbing, the personification of brand or simply using a brand name as verb and part of daily communication, was highly rejected by brand and marketing experts several decades back. It was unaccepted by many for vague reasons, yet more and more marketers have rejected the idea as well. But the truth is, the practice of brandverbing doesn’t come from the marketers but from its users and consumers. People nowadays are more accustomed to saying “Lennonized it” than “sing it in a rockabilly and rock and roll way”, or “Skype me” instead of “Video call me”.

Every brand today is aiming to get brandverbed by their customers. It’s now part of marketing analysis, wherein brand experts are choosing short and catchy names hoping to get the public’s attention and be part of the modern slang. Just last year, search engine runner-up Bing paid an American crime show to include their brandverbed name in its action-packed script. But it was all failure. The attempt made no change to public’s daily use of “Google it” than “search it on search engine”.

Brandverbing and word of mouth marketing

Brandverbing is a product of a powerful utilization of word of mouth marketing, a marketing strategy that remains the cheapest and the most powerful form of promoting, and advertising Therefore, to get brandverbed, brand experts always consider names that are easy to remember, resounding, attractive, and most importantly, short and appealing. As years go by, “brandverbing” and “word of mouth marketing” have become two inseparable marketing strategies.

Humor in brand names

But not everyone depends on the “once in a blue moon” effect of brandverbing; some, on the other hand, choose to risk on inflicting humor their name for one sole and same reason: to get the consumer’s attention. In California alone, 60 existing brands use “humor” to advertise their brands. Alongside the ever-famous Taqueria/restaurant Juan More Taco, Escape from New York Pizza, Leaven and Earth, and 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, has successfully incorporated humor in their brands, for they are remarkably popular among California locals.