Who Might Your Product Name Offend?

International Product Name Game

Kia is launching a new concept car called the Provo. They intended that the car would be provocative with its design and gave it a name that is short form for that.

But they seemed to overlook the point that before you name a product for the International market you first check International interpretations of that name.

Ask folks in the UK what the word “Provo” means to them and they’ll likely tell you that it is short form for the Provisional Irish Republican Army – a terrorist group also known as the IRA, or Provos that killed nearly 1,800 people in its 27 year battle against the British rule in Northern Ireland.

That’s probably not the emotions that car dealers want to evoke.

The folks at KIA needed to expand their research of the word Provo past the first page of Google results.

They also could have run the name by people in the UK and USA – two possible major markets for Kia.

I wonder,  might the folks at Kia consider other variations of the word proactive? Here are a few suggestions

• Provac
• Provok
• Prorito (Latin for Provoke)

But certainly not Prozak!

That third suggestion might be worth investigating further because Latin is a dead language and many European languages have Latin roots.

Names do matter – especially when they trigger emotional reactions.

There have been plenty of examples of poorly named cars over the decades. The Chevy Nova was one of the famous ones. Nova means “no go” in Spanish.

With all the possible positive emotional names possible when will we see cars named any of the following?

• Love
• Amour
• Respect
• Ambition
• Hope
• Joy

George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing  
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Weight Watchers marketing mistake - the momentum plan

Weight Watchers: The Momentum Plan

What a dumb name.

Weight Watchers has a program called “The Momentum Plan”.

Why is that a dumb name?
Because as any high school physics student knows, momentum is equal to mass times velocity. That means you can increase momentum by increasing your mass (weight) or velocity (speed) or both.

In layman’s thinking momentum is usually associated with continuously moving forward. Ships come to mind. A super tanker has much more momentum than a tug boat even if they are both moving at the same speed – because the super tanker has more bulk. More bulk (even if that bulk is dead weight) means more momentum. For that reason the super tanker takes more time and distance to steer. Inflexible companies are often compared to the super tanker. Momentum is not necessarily desirable.

Picture Fat Albert, of The Bill Cosby Kids Cartoon show, striding slowly down the street. Now imagine Jughead, of Archie Comics, walking beside him at the same speed. If Fat Albert weighs in at 300 lbs and Jughead tips the scales at 100 lbs – Fat Albert has three times the momentum of Jughead.

Fat Albert has more momentum because he weights more than Jughead. Now imagine them both sitting in a chair. Velocity is zero. Fat Albert has more momentum than Jughead because it is more difficult to push him out of the chair than it is to move Fat Albert. Is that the picture that Weight Watchers is trying to paint?

One of the rules of modern marketing is to put the benefits in the headline. For example, SlimFast is a better headline that Weight Watchers. People want to be slim. They don’t want to watch their weight.

You might ask, “Why has Weight Watchers been so successful as a business?” Because they were one of, if not the first in the “weight loss” business. And when you are the first in your market you tend to be the market leader until you mess up a lot. The first in any field enjoys a head start on the competition. But that might not be enough.

Make enough mistakes and you get bypassed by smarter runners. Look at how Toyota bypassed General Motors and Hyundai is sprinting through the pack. General Motors still has more momentum because it has more bulk – more assets, more employees and more debt than the leaner car companies. And when GM crashes the momentum it has will leave a huge crater of destruction. Is that the image that Weight Watchers is trying to create in the minds of its prospects?

What is Weight Watchers suggesting with their “The Momentum Plan”? Are they saying that you will have more momentum with this plan? You just keep moving at the same pace and keep adding mass so that you have more momentum just like Fat Albert (Hey, hey hey!).

Do the customers of Weight Watchers really want more momentum?

George Torok
Marketing Speaker
Marketing Expert

Be a Name Dropper

Be a Name Dropper

What's in a name? Could be millions. If you were a movie producer and you wanted a "name" to help you reap millions - you would pay $10 to $20 million for Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Jim Carrey or Arnold (when he returns to Hollywood…he said he'd be back). You know the money has no relation to their "acting" ability. It is the name that is valuable - the name that sells.

Imagine if you had the power of these names promoting your business: Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Lance Armstrong, Venus Williams, William Shatner or Celine Dion. Some companies paid millions to associate their products with these names. Why? Because there is something special in a name. A name conveys credibility, acceptance and emotional hunger. I want to be like him or her. It is like a zombie trance - "Tiger Woods wears Nike - I must have Nike".

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
Bill Cosby.... read the rest of Be a Name Dropper.


George Torok
Personal Marketing
Power Marketing

George Torok the priest

George Torok the priest

No, that's not me. But apparently there is a priest named George Torok - same name as me. It's not often that I run into a Torok. It's an unusual name. The origin is Hungarian if you are wondering.

But to hear of another George Torok - now that is extremely rare. I'm the only George in my family. I was named after a George on my mother's side.

So imagine my surpirse to hear of another George Torok. Imagine my further surprise to learn that this George Torok is a Catholic priest. My grandmother would have been so delighted.

I guess that most of us hear of or run into name doubles - especially if your name is Smith or Jones. Occasionaly the antics of your name double can cause you credit or publicity troubles. These days it might get you on a "no-fly list".

Lucky me. This George Torok sounds like a good person with an impressive background. He is recently in the news because he is celebrating 50 years of religious service.

Well, my congrats to George. I'm pleased to share the same name. I hope that you don't mind having the same name as a marketing expert. Actually, I guess that we are both in marketing because marketing is about sending a consistent message with the purpose of influencing people.

Enjoy this clip from The Journal News of New York's Lower Hudson Valley.

---------------------

June 20, 2008
Tappan priest celebrates 50 years of religious service
Hannan Adely
The Journal News

TAPPAN - During five decades as a priest, the Rev. George Torok has traveled the world on Catholic missions, produced documentary and educational films, and served New York parishes.
In 2006, he became a pastor for the first time, taking the helm of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church in Tappan.

On Sunday, the congregation will celebrate Torok's rich life and service to the Roman Catholic Church during Mass and at a picnic marking the 50th anniversary of his ordination. As that day approaches, Torok said he wanted to focus on the diversity of the parish and the spirit of friendship.

"I want everyone in this community to feel at home and to feel welcome," he said.
The path to priesthood was not easy for Torok, who grew up in Slovakia and was placed in one of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's concentration camps because of his faith. That had a profound impact on him, instilling in him a desire for freedom and democracy.

"When you're persecuted, you begin to pay for your faith and then it comes to you as something very, very precious that you treasure," he said.

At age 19, he escaped by plunging into the frigid Moravia River and fleeing to Austria. He eventually crossed the Alps into Italy, where he studied for the priesthood. He was ordained in a small village in Italy in 1958.

Over the years, Torok has taken on a number of spiritual and professional roles. He was chaplain to an Italian army group that trained to fight in the Alps.

"I celebrated my first Masses on the most beautiful peaks of the Italian Alps, he said. "Snow-covered, it was such a cathedral."

He earned a doctorate in theology and canon law and was an adviser to a bishop of Slovakia when the bishop visited the Vatican. He also participated in the Second Vatican Council, which he called the most exciting and important time in his life.

Torok first came to the United States in 1968, visiting a Slovakian parish in New York City where he joined as a priest later that year. He stayed there until 1982.

While serving that parish, he traveled the world on Catholic relief missions producing and filming documentaries and taking photographs. Through his film work in India, Torok developed a friendship with Mother Teresa.

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Read the rest of the article here.

No question, my grandmother would have been delighted.

So if you see news about Rev George Torok - that's not me - that's the other guy.

How did I learn of this other guy? Another benefit of Google Alerts.


George Torok - the unholy one
Marketing Speaker - for your convention or conference
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JYSK ??

JYSK

Dumb name.

When I first saw the name "JYSK" on the store marquee I wondered what they sold and quickly forgot the name, "J... something?"

I wondered what they sold but not enough to go in the store.

I drove and walked past the JYSK store more times. Each time I wondered what they sold. And I wondered what was the correct way to say the name. I even tired to remember the name to Google it - but always forgot.

Then one time I noticed the subtitle on the sign – Bed, bath, home.

Ah – you mean like Home Sense?

Now there's a good name.


George Torok

Marketing Speaker

Business Speaker

Your Name can make or break you

Your Name can make or break you

Do you know the song by Johnny Cash titled, “A Boy Named Sue”

The song starts out like this:

“My daddy left home when I was three

And he didn't leave much to ma and me

Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.

Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid

But the meanest thing that he ever did

Was before he left, he went and named me ‘Sue.’”


It’s a catchy tune with an “ah shucks” theme.

The song points out the influence a name might have on a person. The logic for the absent father in naming his son Sue was explained in this verse:


“And he said: ‘Son, this world is rough

And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough

And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along.

So I give ya that name and I said goodbye

I knew you'd have to get tough or die

And it's the name that helped to make you strong.’”


Most parents study books of names to find the right sound and meaning for their child. If they had more than first and last name they might even write down the initials to check that it doesn’t form some inappropriate acronym.

Don’t ask me how and why Frank Zappa named his children; Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuuhka Rodan and Diva Thin. I imagine there was more than one day when those kids wished they were named Sue – even the boys. Even his albums had better names.

I’m lucky. My parents called me George and I am quite happy with that.

If only business owners invested more thinking in how they pick their company names.

Law firms have the worst names. The names sound boring, unimaginative and unmemorable. Most of them sound the same. It’s all a variation of Smith, Smithwicks and Smithers. Don’t they realize that people can generally only remember one name? Cleary, Cher and Madonna understand that.

There is the horde of entrepreneurs like Bob Smith, (imaginary person) who name their company BS Enterprises, (because they don’t know what they will sell and don’t want their customers to know either; BS and Associates, (because they want to sound bigger and might have associates one day) or BS Services (because they think that keeps their options open and they heard that the service sector was growing).

Let’s look at company and product names in future posts. The topics that come to mind are good and bad examples, the criteria in picking a name and the challenges.

Here is an interesting and helpful website on the topic of business names. The company is named Strategic Name Development. A good name because it tells you what they do. Their website has some helpful articles and background on language and words.

Their blog is named Name Wire – another good name because it is easy to remember and fits nicely with what they do.


George Torok
Marketing Specialist
Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Host of Business in Motion

What’s in a name? Call it what it’s not

Imagine an image of Greenland. What do you see? If you see green fields and green trees that would be normal. The reality is that Greenland is nearly 2/3 covered with a glacier that is two miles thick.

Surprise, surprise, surprise! So why the name – Greenland? It seems that the explorer who discovered Greenland was marketing savvy. He realized that there would be no glory in finding “Iceland” so he named this ice covered island Greenland.

Where do we see this ancient explorer’s wisdom repeated today?

Life insurance. Come on, its death insurance. It is insurance against dying – not against living. Yet those companies market life insurance. It just sounds a lot better.

Beauty cream is not for people who are beautiful. It is for ugly people who want to think they can be beautiful. But who would buy ugly cream?

Have you noticed that diet programs never mention anything about fat people? But that is who it is for. Instead they have names like “Slim fast”.

Dog training is not about training the dog. It is about training the dog owner. But what dog owner wants to admit that he is dumber than his dog? But that is the reality. The training is for the dog owner. You take the dog just to make you look good.

What does this mean to you?

If you are selling ugly pills – think of a beautiful name for them. You will sell more that way.

George Torok

Power Marketing

Headline Writer Pro