MARKETING SPECIAL.............. The 8 Principles Of Product Naming

MARKETING SPECIAL The 8 Principles Of Product Naming

Even at the best of times, naming is a contentious and emotional business. Whether you're naming your baby, your boat, or your brand, the process can breed nearly endless deliberation. Keep these principles in mind as you scout the perfect name.

MAKE IT MEMORABLE 

The search engine has changed everything. Instead of worrying about your spot in the phone book, you need a name that’s relevant and truly compelling. The key to any name--simple or complex, abstract or descriptive--is grabbing attention and staying memorable.

Example: Yummy Tummy Koalas

Intriguing, irreverent, distinctly Australian: Yummy Tummy Koalas instantly conveys the fun factor of this brand. 

FILL IT WITH MEANING

Choose a name that tells your brand’s story. Over time, you can expand the meaning of your name and add layers of depth to make it even more powerful--a visual identity, a color, a sound. The more significance your name carries, the more work it will do for you.

Example: Visa

From a word that initially meant only a stamp on a passport, Visa has surrounded its name with a host of associations--travel, access, opportunities, identity, official status--that allow it to tell the right story at the right time.

SAY IT OUT LOUD 

The best names are the ones that people can’t wait to tell their friends about. Names that roll off the tongue invite customers to become your viral marketing agency. Say, shout, and even sing names you’re considering to see which one will echo for years to come.

Example: Schweppes

Happy coincidence? In 1783, Johann Jacob Schweppe opted to name his bubbly, effervescent soft drinks after himself. More than 200 years later, consumers still love calling out his name.

DON’T WAIT TO FALL IN LOVE

Even the best name may not seem terrific the first time you hear it. As your name evolves into a brand, it will acquire more and richer associations. Give the names you’re considering a chance to grow on you--and try to imagine what they might stand for five or 10 years down the road.

Example: Google

Originally a variant of googol, the numeral one followed by 100 zeros, Google has come to represent a playful and innovative culture that delivers everything from email to operating systems.

LISTEN TO YOUR FEAR 

Great names grab your attention by breaking the rules--but a name that defies your expectations may also appear scary. Look past the fear and you’ll find  energy and possibility. That buzz of surprise could be telling you that you’ve found a name that stands out.

Example: BlackBerry

ProMail, an early name candidate for what we know today as the BlackBerry, probably would have been an easier sell in RIM’s executive suite. But once users got their hands on the perfectly sized device, it became obvious which name was the perfect fit.

STAND OUT IN A CROWD 

If you are different, you want to sound different. Use your name to focus on what makes your brand special. Look at your category and where it’s headed. What do customers expect? How can your name signal something new?

Example: W Hotels

In a market dominated by the prosaic names of people and places--Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and Radisson--W had the nerve to sound young, energetic, and stylish. Today, it’s the premier destination for business travelers who want to balance style with substance.

TOO MUCH IS NEVER ENOUGH

The first hundred names you think of are likely to be the same ones your competitors tossed around. Use naming specialists to develop thousands of alternatives. To arrive at a name that meets all your objectives, you need a list that’s both broad and deep. 

Example: Accenture

Thousands of names were created, hundreds were screened, and scores were considered. One name rose to the top, and now countless conversations center around this brand’s "Accent on the future."

EXPECT ITS STORY TO EVOLVE

There are always reasons to dislike a name, but you can’t make the right decision if you never make any decision at all. Remember that names are just one part of your brand, and they’re elastic--you can stretch them to mean what you want. 

Example: Virgin

As a word, “virgin” brings to mind anything from wool and olive oil to Mary and The Material Girl. But as a brand name, Virgin has come to stand for a provocative attitude that can sell everything from prepaid mobile phones to vacations in orbit.

By: Matt Gordon and Nick Foleyhttp://www.fastcompany.com/1819418/8-principles-product-naming

MANAGEMENT SPECIAL...... Toyota’s Stretch Goals

Toyota’s Stretch Goals

No one at Toyota was shocked when company president Katsuaki Watanabe announced to Wall Street and the rest of the world in the latter part of 2005 that he had ordered his research chief, Masatami Takimoto, to find a way to cut in half the price difference between Toyota’s hybrid cars and similar gasoline models without compromising any of the current quality standards, features, or performance. Watanabe’s comment: “I assume Mr. Takimoto must be racking his brains about how to do that.” Toyota has for decades strategically set ambitious objectives in just this way — deliberately pitting seemingly incompatible goals against each other. Why? Because these competing targets cannot all be met without innovative thinking. The artful setting of opposing “stretch goals” builds a creative tension that fuels innovation by requiring a harmonious resolution. For example, when Lexus Chief Engineer Ichiro Suzuki announced in 1987 that the secret vehicle under development for the U.S. luxury market must best, not match, the iconic BMW 735i in every rated performance category — speed, weight, styling, acceleration, noise, handling, comfort, and fuel efficiency — the army of more than 5,000 designers, engineers, and technicians reacted unanimously: impossible! Greater speed and acceleration conflicted directly with fuel efficiency, noise, and weight, because higher speed and acceleration required a more powerful engine, which in turn is bigger and heavier, thus making more noise and consuming more fuel. A smooth, quiet ride (associated with heavier weight) conflicted directly with better handling at high speed. And at the time, luxury styling didn’t have today’s streamlined look, so refinement and high-speed stability conflicted directly with aerodynamic drag. In short, the targets were thought to be individually attainable, but collectively unachievable. Yet when the Lexus LS400 made its debut in 1989, it was five decibels quieter, 120 pounds lighter, and 17 miles per hour faster (according to Car and Driver) than its designated rival. It also got four-plus more miles to the gallon, and had better handling, acceleration, and comfort, while retailing for $30,000 less. Suzuki’s willingness to maintain tension among various competing targets, combined with his refusal to compromise, had made a difference. Similarly, when Toyota began to develop a futuristic gas–electric hybrid vehicle in the early 1990s, senior leaders employed a new and unique internal design strategy: Pit Toyota’s various design centers against one another in a competition for the best design. The winner, as judged by a panel, would be awarded the project. That winner, the Prius, eventually made its production debut at the 1997 Kyoto conference on global warming. The strategy proved so successful in generating an innovative product that today Toyota’s three major design facilities — located in Tokyo; Newport Beach, Calif. (near Los Angeles); and Brussels — compete to design every new model. Kevin Hunter, who currently heads the Newport Beach–based design studio, a subsidiary called Calty Design Research Inc., confirms the value of the competition: “It sets up a competitive edge. There’s much more of an intense focus and awareness when you know that nothing is being handed to you, that you have to win the business. You have to do your most excellent work. You have no choice: You have to deliver a perfect proposal.” This stretch goal approach contains its own inherent challenges. In 2005, Toyota recalled more vehicles than the 2+ million it sold in the U.S., a factor attributed to its product development strategy. Because Toyota’s component subsystems are used across many models, when a glitch occurs, it affects multiple products at once. The rush to beat other design centers has apparently led to some of these glitches. Toyota is now developing ways to balance its stretch goal system with its own deliberate and distinctive quality consciousness. Matthew May is a former senior advisor to Toyota University, the author of The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation (Free Press, 2006), and the director of the innovation firm Aevitas.

PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY SPECIAL ............ CAFFEINE BOOST

CAFFEINE BOOST 

BEAN THERAPY The hum of a coffee shop can boost your creativity. Now, this is just a click away

Pulling up a seat at your favourite coffee shop may be the most efficient way to write a paper or finish a work project. And now a new website lets you bring the coffee shop to your cubicle.

The site, called Coffitivity, was inspired by recent research showing that the whoosh of espresso machines and caffeinated chatter typical of most coffee shops creates just the right level of background noise to stimulate creativity. The website, which is free, plays an ambient coffee shop soundtrack that, according to researchers, helps people concentrate.

In a series of experiments that looked at the effects of noise on creative thinking, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had participants brainstorm ideas for new products while they were exposed to varying levels of background noise. Their results, published in The Journal of Consumer Research, found that a level of ambient noise typical of a bustling coffee shop or a television playing in a living room, about 70 decibels, enhanced performance compared with the relative quiet of 50 decibels.

A higher level of noise, however, about 85 decibels, roughly the noise level generated by a blender or a garbage disposal, was too distracting, the researchers found.

Ravi Mehta, an assistant professor of business administration at the university who led the research, said that extreme quiet tends to sharpen your focus, which can prevent you from thinking in the abstract.

“This is why if you’re too focused on a problem and you’re not able to solve it,” Dr Mehta said, “you leave it for some time and then come back to it and you get the solution.”

But moderate levels can distract people just enough so that they think more broadly. “It helps you think outside the box,” he said.

The benefits of moderate noise, however, apply only to creative tasks. Projects that require paying close attention to detail, like proofreading a paper or doing your taxes, Dr Mehta said, are performed better in quiet environments.

In other studies, he and his colleagues have found that exposure to certain colours can play a role as well. Switching the colour of your computer’s background screen to blue enhances performance on creative tasks, for example, while making it red helps with detailoriented tasks. Large, open rooms with high ceilings may also promote creative thinking, they found.

The creators of the Coffitivity site struck upon their idea after brainstorming on an unrelated start-up in the Richmond, Virginia area.

“We had been in and out of coffee shops, and we were getting really good work done,” said ACe Callwood, a founder of the site and the coordinator for entrepreneurship at the Virginia Commonwealth University business school.

One member of the team, Justin Kauszler, noticed that when he returned to his regular work space, in a subdued and sterile office, his productivity took a nose-dive. When Kauszler’s boss shot down his request to leave the office and work from a coffee shop, he and his colleagues decided that they would bring their favourite coffee houses to their computers.

With some borrowed audio equipment in hand, they eventually hit on a spot with the ideal noise level, a place called Harrison Street Cafe.

“It had just the right mix of everything,” Callwood said. “You could get the coffee machine, and you had people talking and eating. It has two levels, and we got the vibe upstairs and downstairs.”

Coffitivity started on March 4, and that day it got about 120 page views. “I think our moms looked at it a hundred times,” Callwood joked. Since then, traffic has “exploded,” he said. “Seoul, Korea, is our top user city. New York City is second, followed by London, LA and Chicago.”

Callwood and his colleagues at Coffitivity say they are now in the process of creating an app and adding new coffee shop soundtracks tailored to specific countries.

• Anahad O’Connor THE NEW YORK TIMES