My sort of gym

My sharp-eyed sister Kate has sent me this shot of a bizarre and hilarious bit of corporate naming. What were they thinking?

As names go, this is a stinker.

This is the new name for an American pool-cleaning product. Seriously. Can you believe it?

It's memorable, I'll give it that.

(Via Snark Hunting.)

Woo slice huge KES

I have a new client: Woo. (That's their name, not my rousing cry of new business excitement.) And I went to see them for the first time yesterday. Looking at the list of other companies in the Engine group, I found it a bit difficult to suppress a giggle. It's getting so difficult to find distinctive names these days, this is where we're now at. Still, they're doing very nicely out of it.

Love the water, hate the name

Hate's a bit strong, really. But 'This Water' doesn't seem to me to have any of the charm, personality or, well, innocence of Innocent, its parent brand. ('Juicy Water' was much nicer, I thought.)

It probably hasn't, but it feels like this name has been through the branding mill, briefed out to earnest consultants with complex theories about the democratisation of information in a Web 2.0 multiverse.

It feels achingly 'now': at once informal and apparently friendly, while also being oblique and modish enough to make one feel one isn't quite in on the joke. It feels, to me, like a brand consultant's brand, not a consumer's brand.

It's a bit unfair to compare it with Innocent, of course. (Especially as I complain about everybody comparing everything to Innocent.) The whole point of the name change is to distinguish it from its illustrious parent. It needs to have its own voice.

But the Innocent name has succeeded, I think, because it links to the product in a direct, almost functional way, as well as being charming, human and original. By comparison, 'This Water' seems rather vague, and perhaps just an excuse to do labels that say things like 'There are 88 cranberries in THIS WATER...', etc.

Having tasted it, I can report that the water itself is delicious. I'll buy it for that reason. (And because they also contribute to Water Aid.) But for me, there won't be that added enjoyment of the brand and its language that you get with an Innocent smoothie.