I'm not actually posting this because of the numbers. What struck me this morning watching my weekend wonks is that 10 years ago if ANY news organization put up polling data from a company called "Survey Monkey" they would have been ridiculed into non-existence regardless of accuracy or validity.I find it fascinating the ways in which we shift our perceptions over time. Company names themselves have changed over time. Seriously just think about some of these company names.
Zillow
iTunes (i-anything from Apple really)
Yahoo
Bing
Currently if you want your company to be taken as serious, current, in the know, with your marketing finger on the pulse of the consumer, you literally have to make up a word. This tends to happen more often with new technology and services versus established services. Take Automotive repair. generally speaking you would be hard pressed to find a "iFixit Auto" but it would be far easier to find an example like "Granthom and Sons Auto". While this sort of older branding works well with physical products and services, it absolutely will not work as a convincing name for an internet company unless you are directly marketing to an older audience. Even now as I typed that list, several of those business names were NOT flagged as misspelled words, but were accepted as default in our lexicon. That would not have been the case 10 years ago.
This Brand Name, this complete and total identity is a key to success and can be formed a few different ways depending on your company, and your marketing strategy.
Let's take Pinterest for example. This is a mashed together word, basically "Pin up your Interests to this website the same way you put things on a cork board". Holy hell that is a rather complex concept to mash down into a single word, but Pinterest managed do to it. Even if you have never heard of the site before, you might be able to discern roughly what the site is just based off of this made up word.
Now lets take a look at Google. "What the fuck is a Google?" You ask? Google is a play on the word "googol" which is a mathematical term that means "1 followed by 100 Zeros". The company was trying to portray the idea of organizing data into a seemingly endless list of possibility, but unless you are a math nerd you probably wouldn't know that. And for a while Google caught some flack for a seemingly silly sounding name that had little meaning to people outside of the math community. But now Google is a word all on it's own. Most anyone who uses the internet knows what Google is, even if they prefer another engine for their searches.
Netflix. This word blows my mind. Interconnected Networks gets shortened to Internet, gets shortened to Net, and squished together with an alternative spelling of "Flicks" which is a shortened version of "Flicker-show" which is a nickname for "Moving Pictures" or films. Netflix. Both Internet and Flicks are less than 100 years old, and were fashioned from other words. Talk about branding craftsmanship.
But is this just going to be an Internet thing? I've noticed some companies around town doing the same thing. There is a local Vape Store called Vapology. They are trying to get you to understand that if you want an expert, someone who studies the art and science of Vaping, come here. This is another example of a new word being used to create a new word. "Vape" didnt even exist as a word 10 years ago!!! Vape is in fact a shortened word for Vaporizer, so Vapology is taking an already newly made word and giving it legitimacy by adding the greek "ology" to it. They are literally trying to make themselves established, reliable, historic with a word that was forged just over the last 5 years.
"That's great! It means that their name works as a brand for them, success!" you say? Not quite. Over time, brand recognition turns into brand ubiquity. "Hand me a Kleenex" means "Hand me whatever brand of facial tissue might be available". The trouble with making up a word for your company is that is has the chance of becoming so common place that it can be exchanged for your competition's product. "Google it" now really means "Look it Up". It is becoming less and less a brand and more like a generic verb.
But... There is one example that I can think of readily that is the precise opposite in its tactic and success. Boise has a small independent movie theater called "The Flicks". They took a commonplace nickname that was already given to their type of establishment, and they made it unique. They did not change it in the slightest, but rather embraced the n"old-timey" and "independent" feeling that "The Flicks" elicits. Around here, if you happen to say the phrase "Let's go to The Flicks" there is absolutely no branding ubiquity. "The Flicks" is a specific business in town and is not normally confused with just any movie theater.
What if, at some point in the future this squishy "new word" trend becomes so common that to stand out a company has to go back to using people's last names or simple declarative titles? What if "Granthom and Sons" or "The Flicks" becomes the new "iWhatever". Is this going to be a circular trend or will it break into something completely new? Will it even matter in the future to brand a product? Have I watched too much Twilight Zone lately?
I have answers to none of these questions, but it is going to be fascinating seeing which made up words keep their brand identity and which get molded into new generic terminology. I have to wonder whether or not "Netflix and Chill" will someday simply mean "Let's watch whatever streaming service we subscribe to."
Look, all of this was a really drawn out way of simply saying "Check out those sweet Bernie numbers, yo!!!!FEEL THE BERN!!!!" XD j/k lol but no seriously random stuff fascinates me. And now you know a bit more about how my brain works.
Nomi
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