Seth Godin Asked for It: Here Ya Go

Danny Sullivan of Daggle.com and SearchEngineLand.com (interestingly enough!) posted about a Seth Godin blog entry about the dangers of using generic company names like “Jewelry Central”, “Party Land”, “Computer World”, etc. He said it was a bad branding strategy, likely limited your success and made trademarking a nightmare.

Mr. Godin ended his blog entry with a challenge to name companies who have been successful with this type of branding. Mr. Sullivan brought up Disneyland as a good example (yes, I realize “Disney” is the unique part of this name, but it is a “land” name, regardless). I’d like to add Disney World, Sea World to the mix (VERY generic). Let’s also consider Circuit City and a Canadian counterpart of Future Shop that’s doing okay for itself. I’m sure there are many more, but that’ll do for now. Post your own below. :-)

More:

- The Pannekoek House (a local franchise)
- House of Blues
- Electronic Boutique
- Playland (a local long-time amusement park)
- Fitness World (local fitness chain)
- XXXX Zoo – Add your city to that name.

Disclaimer:

Although, I agree with the general sentiments of Seth’s post…I don’t think he can make the blanket statement that companies just don’t succeed with this naming strategy.

6 Responses to “Seth Godin Asked for It: Here Ya Go”

  • Shoe Carnival
    Carpet World
    Flooring America
    General Motors
    American Motors Corporation
    National Bank of Detroit.

    With the last 3, the abbreviation became the name: GM, AMC, NBD. The abbreviations, I’d argue, make the name unique.

    Very thoughtful post. Good form!

  • Angela
    Twitter: AngelaWills
    :

    Dairy Queen
    Taco Bell
    Burger King (hehe I must be hungry)
    Home Depot
    Wal-Mart
    Toys’R'Us
    Dollarama
    Payless Shoesource
    Linens ‘N’ Things
    Rent a Center
    Children’s Place

  • I can see the possible Trademark issues, but at least you can (almost always) tell what they’re about…what they’re selling, etc.

    The ones that truly irk me are when one uses “enterprises” in the name because it sounds cool.

    9 x outa 10, you have no idea what’s behind the door before you open it. This is bad.

  • Here are a few more:
    Airline names (such as “Air Canada”)
    Bank names (such as “Bank of Montreal”)
    Magazine names (such as “Vogue,” “People,” “In Style”)
    Discount Car and Truck Rentals
    Radio Shack

    He wrote: “you can’t even remember one over the other.”

    I don’t believe that many people would have a hard time differentiating between Air Canada, Air India, and Air China.

  • Off the top of my head, here are some:

    Body Shop

    General Electric

    Pizza Hut

    International Business Machines (IBM)

    Digital Equipment Corporation

    Apple (Computer)

    = = = =

    There are surely many more. :)

    All success
    Dr.Mani

  • Debbie:

    Corporations like Playboy Enterprises and
    organizations like Thunder From Down Under
    and Lover Boys USA

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