Drinking the Pepsi Kool-Aid

I’m not a big fan of naming rights for sports stadiums. From a branding perspective, the name of the venue ought to be about the team, or at least the community. It ought not be about which corporation ponied up the most money so that its brand can intrude on...

My Own Private .idaho

Some good news out of Paris last week. Internet regulators convened to discuss opening up top-level domains to companies, organizations and governments who can afford to buy them. For a price tag ranging from about $40,000 to $400,000, you can buy your very own...

Love Hurts

The reliably clear-thinking Laura Ries goes off on a tear in her blog today over the positioning and naming blunders of the company that makes her favorite athletic shoe. MBT shoes are a classic example of a marketing myopia. It’s a condition found in clients...

Gr8 Baby Names? UGTBK!

The UK’s Daily Mail reports “More parents using txt language to make their child’s name gr8.” Abbreviated versions of traditional Christian names are appearing on birth certificates along with “original” ways of spelling which even...