Archive for the ‘Pharma’ Category

As a professional name developer, I am often amused by the decisions companies make when naming products. Here are just a few of the naming faux pas I have observed.

1. Poor Visual Communication – Naming is an emotional decision and you often get caught up amongst the trees instead of seeing the whole forest. Sometimes you just need some perspective before you commit to a name. Of course using a professional name developer helps provide that outside perspective! But sometimes all you need to do is take a step back and ask yourself, “What is wrong with this name?”

As an example, the owners of this business probably think they have a terrific name for their consignment store: “Kids Exchange.” It isn’t a bad name, but I bet they get a lot of jokes about people wanting to swap their kids for some other kids. But the “What Were They Thinking?” award goes to the owner who approved their logo/signage. This picture is worth a thousand words!

Why didn’t they put a space between the words “Kids” and “Exchange”? Proper capitalization would have been helpful as well. Not sure why this is a problem? Look at it a bit more closely. These 12 letters could just as easily spell…Kid Sex Change. It’s obvious that not only the name, but also the logo and signage could have benefited from professional help.

2. Poor Audio Communication – Sometimes I wonder if companies make decisions based on how something looks on a piece of paper, versus how it sounds. A classic example is AcipHex, an excellent medicine for relief of acid reflux symptoms such as heartburn. By its nature, AcipHex is a classic pharmaceutical name…it uses the “Aci-“ from acid (the problem), the “pH” represents the change in stomach pH by using this product (the solution), and the “-ex” is a classic pharmaceutical drug suffix. Text book naming for an Rx drug!

Now pronounce the name. Yes, it really does sound like “ass effects.” I used to work in the heartburn category, and I cannot tell you how many times people asked me whether that really was the name of the drug because they thought I was kidding.

The website mentions the following potential side effects:

“In adolescents, the most common side effects with ACIPHEX include headache, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In adults, the most common side effects with ACIPHEX include pain, sore throat, gas, infection, and constipation.”

So I guess there could be “ass effects” after all, huh? No false advertising there.

3. Failure to Check International Communication – Assitalia is one of the biggest insurance companies in Italy. I am sure the company developed its name without thinking about international considerations. In Italy, the name is probably fine. But if they ever wanted to expand to an English-speaking country…well, let’s just say there might be a problem.

Most of my naming clients will conduct international name verification to ensure that the names I develop have no problematic connotations in the major foreign languages. Clearly, Assitalia never thought of that!

4. Failure to Properly Check Common Law Usage – Checking with a trademark attorney is critically important, and most people do this before they start using a name (or they pay a steep price to change things if a conflict occurs). But sometimes people fail to conduct a deep dive into common law usage to see how their proposed name is being used outside of the trademark system.

My favorite “What Were They Thinking” observation in this area comes from the UK. Directgov, the sector of the government in charge of educating the public about the government, launched a site to explain Britain’s government to small children. It was called "Buster's World," and it featured a cute dog named Buster who leads the site's patrons through a plethora of games, videos, and cartoons with the goal of giving children a basic understanding of how the British government works. Unfortunately, when the words "Buster's World" were entered into a search engine, the top result was not a friendly dog educating you about the government, but rather a gay porn site. Needless to say, Directgov has since changed the name of their website.

Obviously, hiring a professional naming service would have nipped most of these problems in the bud.

Anyone have stories about similar “Naming Faux Pas?”

How David Can Beat Goliath in Naming OTC Medicines

After 25+ years in the highly competitive world of OTC medicines, I’ve learned some things about naming products.  One thing I’ve learned is you have to understand the “Goliaths” of the category and zig when they zag.

Many OTC categories are dominated by brands that have been building equity for 50+ years.  Brands like TUMS® (75+ years) and Bayer® Aspirin (100+ years) are Goliaths because they are well positioned, satisfy consumer needs, and have had consistent marketing support.  Should you study these historical successes?  You bet.  People buy these brands for a reason.  Find it.  Exploit it if you can with a name of your own.

Another Goliath is the constant influx of new Rx-To-OTC switches.  Brands like Advil® (introduced 1984), Claritin® (1993) and Prilosec® OTC (2003) are “switch Goliaths” that turned categories upside down. 

Sometimes the switch carries the prescription name into the OTC market (e.g., Claritin) and sometimes it does not (e.g., Advil for the generic ibuprofen).  If the entire Rx franchise is switching (as in Claritin), then the Rx name is usable…and who would walk away from the years of Rx equity building by changing the name?  Sometimes a portion of the Rx brand will remain Rx which means the OTC version must have a different name or carry a suffix to differentiate the OTC brand from the Rx brand (e.g., Prilosec® OTC).  Sometimes a product is launched through a licensing deal where the manufacturer wants to retain the Rx name or perhaps the Rx name has “baggage” associated with it that the new company wants to avoid (as was the case for alli® instead of Xenical® the Rx name).  The FDA will still have its say on the name, but the company has more flexibility to name the product.

“Switch Goliaths” have extremely deep pockets and intensely loyal customers.  The switch brings new users into the category from the Rx franchise and they do not pass GO…they go straight to the ingredient/brand that they know and love.  This process short circuits the decision-making process and really gives unfair advantage from a naming perspective. 

A final Goliath is the huge investment that pharmaceutical companies make in the consumer marketplace for their Rx products.  Prilosec® (the Rx product) outspent the entire OTC stomach remedy category by 2 to 1.  These 900 pound Goliaths are dancing on a daily basis, and you’ve got to be aware of their dance steps lest you get squashed like a bug.

How can David beat Goliath?  You really have to understand the market dynamics in your particular category and formulate a naming strategy based on what you learn.

If your category has strong historical brands, you can leverage this and make your new brand look like the next generation.  The best example of this was the introduction of Advil, who used a timeline to show that first there was aspirin, then Tylenol®, and now there is Advil, Advanced Medicine for Pain™.  A modern, contemporary name might be the ticket to success.

If you are competing against numerous Rx products in your category, you cannot out gun them, but you can emulate them.  I once developed the name “Provia” for an OTC GI product.  It sounded so much like a product with an Rx heritage that many consumers swore the product was already on the market and it was a terrific product because it used to be Rx.  It was memorable because it had strong Rx cues.

OTC medicines are a difficult naming category with numerous Goliaths.  You can win by remembering that “when underdogs choose not to play by Goliath’s rules, they win” according to political scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft, who concluded that Davids beat Goliaths 71.5% of the time, as noted  by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker last month (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell). 

- Mark Prus (mark.prus@nameflash.info), NameFlashSM (www.nameflash.info)