part 5. how not to name a brand : strategic issue - what is an ice cream product?

“smart” was used as a name for a cell phone service provider positioned as giving “best value for money”. at the time of launch of smart, there were three players - globe (GSM), piltel (analogue) and extelcom (GSM). smart intended to use analogue as its less expensive operational cost allowed them to under cut competition’s prices and quickly gain market share.

the choice of “smart” as the brand name was strategic, to uphold its “best value for money” brand positioning and to communicate that users who chose the brand were being smart about it. smart has in fact upheld their positioning even when they moved to GSM but not necessarily through undercutting competition through lower pricing but through industry leading value added services that resulted to the same best value brand image.

that is to show how a brand’s positioning is carried through to naming a brand. strategic thinking was applied through all components of the marketing mix, including the naming of the product.

a look at names of international ice cream brands tell you that they tend to be flavor oriented. that makes a lot of sense as in truth an ice cream is an ice cream is an ice cream. all of them are cold, most are sweet and creamy but the main differentiator is the flavor. there can be variances in texture through additional things like nuts and raisins but even in products like these, they still anchor the differentiator in the flavor.

nestle’s new ice cream product’s core reason for being is the three fruit flavors of melon, watermelon and orange. this is shown in what appears to be a tv comercial when you go to the website, but it is not mentioned in the product description, we can assume the flavors will not be mixed together (sure a bad tasting product id done!) but separated in the tub. we can also assume the product will have three colors (not mentioned in the porduct description but shown in the tv commercial) to signal the three fruit flavors. the three flavors then is the core strategic consideration for the product (not a “promo”!). this differentiates the product from others. the name should deliver.

it is this reason that the name submission “triple delight” (and others that use the idea of “three”) works very well. it highlights the core essence of the product and talks about appetite appeal (”delight”) without being too laborious and boring about it. its a complex product design, with the three flavors, and putting these in the name is just too cumbersome and impractical, if we were to follow what the international ice cream brands did. the tv commercial shown in the website mentions "tres marias" as a copy line, a suggestion for the name. "scramble" and "karambola ni lolo" were the other "suggested names, talking about the three unique flavors. the suggested names mentioned in the commercial clearly implies "three" or "triple" flavors is the core reason for being for the product.

when “triple delight” got a lot of votes, other copycat names were submitted using the concept of “three” or “triple”. but the authors submitted those only because they were riding on the popularity of the idea behind “three”, not necessarily because of an appreciation of strategic thinking.

now, we have basically two sets of names in the list of finalists - one along the concept of “summer” and the other on “triple”. that is the nature of a popularity contest like this thats posted in the internet where there are no cut-off dates for submission.
will this product have a name that will uphold the brand’s positioning the same way as “smart” did?

to be continued….

nestle : http://www.givemeaname.ph/