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Greener Grass
- About: Naming
Unsightly Staines? U.K. Town Needs an Ali G Remover
The British town of Staines has a problem with its name. But it’s not quite what you would expect. About 15 miles southwest of London, on the banks of the river Thames, lies a place that sounds like it manufactures soiled britches. But the funny thing about the people of Staines is that they’re actually…
Naming Your Startup Business Idea
- About: Naming
When you’ve got a great business idea and you’re trying to get it off the ground, there are a million things on your mind. You have to raise capital, find an office, build prototypes, start a website, and do a seemingly infinite number of other things. So it’s not a surprise that some things slip…
Scotland Yard’s Vice Squad Succumbs to the PC Police
- About: Branding, Naming, Positioning, Renaming
by Jeffery Racheff London’s Vice Squad is starting to sound more like the Nice Squad. The special Scotland Yard division tasked with battling prostitution and various underworld activities in the Greater London area will now officially be called Serious Crime Directorate 9: Human Exploitation and Organized Crime Command, or SCD9 for short. And…
Hippies with AK-47s: Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
- About: Branding, Naming, Positioning
Maui Wowie. Albino Rhino. Cat Piss. Alaskan Thunderf**k. No, these are not rock bands or energy drinks. They’re the colorfully bizarre names of marijuana strains. And with Proposition 19 on the ballot in the upcoming midterm election, Californians will have the chance to make their state the first place where it is legal to smoke…
The Hard Rock Hotel, Den of Evil
- About: Branding, Naming, Positioning, Renaming
by Jeffery Racheff Imagine this scenario: It’s family dinner night, and you and the hubby and the kids decide to go out for a nice wholesome meal at the Hard Rock Cafe. But as you step through the shiny big doors, instead of classic guitar solos and famous leather jackets, you’re greeted by half-naked women, drug-dealers…
Let’s All Go to The United States… of Mexico?
by Jeffery Racheff Mexico is not who you think it is. For the last 185 years, our neighbor to the south has been posing under a pseudonym. Despite what Americans (and many Mexicans) have long taken for granted, the country’s formal name is not Mexico — it’s The United States of Mexico. Strange, right? Well,…
100M invited to talk about naming on CBS Sunday Morning
- About: Naming
From CBS: “The Corn Refiners Association petitioned the FDA this week for permission to re-label “high fructose corn syrup” as “corn sugar,” which got Mitch Butler and Josh Landis of “The Fast Draw” to thinking, what’s in a name?” You can see the whole video at CBS here.
Crashing the World’s Biggest Wine and Cheese Party
by Jeffery Racheff Cheese-makers, prepare to curd your enthusiasm. The European Union is cracking down on producers who name their products after places of geographical significance — Camembert, Champagne, etcetera, in an effort to pasteurize fakers and keep the famous brands solely within the continent. Basically, if your Burgundy isn’t flying a French flag, the EU…
Jennifer Aniston: victim of a classic ‘Baste & Switch’
by Jeff Racheff There are innumerable reasons why a movie might bomb in Hollywood today. Maybe the studio forgot to promote it. Maybe what started out as a family film scared away audiences after it received an NC-17 rating. Or maybe it just had a forgettable name. Take The Switch for example. Jennifer Aniston’s latest…