I don't understand the thinking that goes into naming a product something that might raise red flags in people's minds. For example, any product that is a play on words for another product immediately makes me recognize that the product is generic (just look at any store brand breakfast foods). Another example is any place of business whose name ends in "o-rama."
A final example is something that has stuck out to me a lot lately. I kan not stand kute spellings of words in product names, like replacing a "c" with a "k." A few days ago I pulled up behind a Mercedes Kompressor and Mrs Dust kommented that she hadn't noticed that brand of kar before. I had only noticed it a kouple of times before that. If I were in the market for such a kar, why would I want to spend the $30 grand if I kan't stand the kutesy spelling. I would probably khoose a different vehicle. I understand it probably looks better in the kontext of the German language, but I don't speak German.
Another "k" product that I used recently was to klear the drain in my bathroom tub. Not surprisingly, the product name was Kleer Drain. It does indeed describe what the product does, but I was tempted not to pick it up due to the fact that, not only does it have the kheesy "k" at the beginning of the name, it also replaces the "ea" with the "ee." Are the makers of this product krazy enough to think this will make me want to buy their product even more?
What I want to know is what is the motivation here. Were marketing people bad spellers in school? Do they really think that misspellings are kreative? Do more people actually buy the misspelled product? Who would be such an easily manipulated pawn? On another note, I kould really go for a Krispy Kreme doughnut right now.
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6 comments:
Oh no....you did not just compare the Marketer with bad spelling!! This Marketing grad has a great appreciation for spelling and proper grammar. =D Instead, you can shift the blame to the Executives in their big offices, Starbucks, AND Krispy Kremes...J/K!
I like K's I named my daughter with a K and almost picked a K name for my son. Other names I liked were Kelsey and "Kenzie" short for MaKenzie. HOWEVER, My sister-in-law has really stiffled my appreciation for K's with naming her boys Kaleb and Kody. Kody I can get but come on everybody knows Kaleb is spelled with a C and somethings should not be messed with!
A marketing thing that always got me was the restaurant/bistro trend to add a brief description of their establishment starting with the letter "A"... such as "Tony Roma's: A Place for Ribs" or "McDougal's: A Place to Drink"... I like "Krispy Kreme: A Place for Kroissants"
to painful to read...
The use of "Kleer Drain" was probably due to trademark application issues. Most other countries don't allow "functional descriptions" in a product trademark.
We truly appreciate your feedback and have submitted your comments to our executives. The name notwithstanding, it is quite a fun product to use for a rather dirty job, and we invite you to read what others have to say about the product on our blog.
Were these comments really submitted to executives?
Please note that this was a tongue-in-cheek illustration of marketing techniques. I believe they work, so even though I make fun of the Kleer Drain name, I don't know that it would make business sense to ever change it. While I may occasionally deride some marketing tricks of the trade (or at least make fun of them), I can still appreciate the necessity to use them.
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