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Nicknames = Brand Love 4 Reasons to Embrace a Nickname Today!
A brand starts as a name. And, as every good trademark attorney will tell you, it’s best to follow the rules about treating your brand with respect lest you puncture the trademark protection or even worse- turn it into a common name thereby “committing genericide.” But sometimes adopting a nickname works for 4 key reasons:
1. Nicknames Boosts Recall
Whether you’re talking JLo (Jennifer Lopez), King James (LeBron James), or The Lightning Bolt (Usain Bolt), these celebrities have morphed into brands. And, if branding is about flawless recall, nicknames are a shortcut to getting there.
2. Nicknames Demonstrate Love
Virtually every time your clients create a nickname for you, they are showering you with love. Embrace it and savor it.
General Motors looked foolish in July 2010 by officially declaring that their car should only be referred to as a Chevrolet, not a Chevy. What someone forgot to tell GM is that you can’t regulate speech. If songwriter Don McLean wants to “drive his Chevy to a levy,” he can! And, if you want to shop at Bloomies (Bloomingdales), Nordies (Nordstrom), or BevMo (Beverages & More), please knock yourself out!
3. Nicknames Fit into a Shorter-is-Better World
t seems as if our multi-tasking society has brought us all to the brink of attention deficit disorder. Shorter is better. Federal Express has morphed into FedEx, Dunkin’ Donuts dropped the Donuts, The Huffington Post changed to the HuffPost, and Barnes & Noble is simply BN.
4. Nicknames Demonstrate Personality
It seems as if every brand holder is trying to find its DNA, but if your customers have created a nickname for you, the personality is right in front of you! When Target customers started calling it Tar-zhe, it signified that the brand had reaches a pinnacle: its merchandise had such cache, it was worthy of a high-class moniker. Wow!
Next time a client or customer turns a phrase with your brand, tune in. They may just be creating a brand-worthy nickname.