« Sucky Sunday | Main | Kuching Also Got Handphone Sex Scandal »
22 February 2006
Short Talk:
I timed myself today - I can walk one kilometre in 6 minutes comfortably. Now, all I gotta do is repeat that 42 times in 2 weeks.
Product Naming for Dummies
Marketing people sucks.
Every now and then these people sit in their comfy offices scratching their balls thinking of new ways to infiltrate their latest "marketing buzzwords" into our vernacular.
That's not the sad part. The sad part is when these products become popular, every other marketing managers and their dogs begin coming up with similar product names hoping to cash in on their popularity. Problem is, a lot of these product names making little or no sense at all.
I can almost visualise their marketing departments' thought process in Dilbert-style comics.
Here's top 3 marketing monikers I find most annoying.
The -360° Suffix
Made famous by: Microsoft
Originally used to mean: A new revolution
Shameless abused by: Yahoo
Examples: Microsoft's Xbox 360°; Yahoo's Yahoo 360°.
Name you'll never hear: MRT 360° - Going Right Back To Where You Started.
The Cyber- Prefix
Made famous by: Cybernetics
Originally used to mean: Through the use of a computer.
Shameless abused by: Cyberjaya - a white elephant trying too hard to be that futuristic world class "intelligent city" it initially set out to be.
Examples: Cyberspace, Cybercafe, Cybersex, Cybercrime, Cyberlaw.
Phrase you'll never hear: "Kanina Chow Cyber!" - Cuss words coming out from the mouths of Multimedia University students when they failed a major assignment.
The i- Prefix
Made famous by: Apple
Originally used to denote: Connectivity to the Internet, replacing the ubiquitous "e-" prefix during the dotcom boom in the mid 90s.
Shameless abused by: Osim
Examples: Apple's iPod, iMac, iBook; Osim's iSymphonic, iDesire, iGallop.
Product you'll never see: Osim iSuck - The New Vacuum Cleaner From Osim.
That's just the beginning. I have a feeling that the world isn't about to move away from the whole "lower-case single character prefix" craze anytime soon.
And it's getting real iRRitating.
:: Posted by Kenny at 5:41 AM | Link | Facebook It
:: Categorised as 'Thoughts & Musings'
80 Comments:
why not you start with
iKenny??
Posted by: yothemans.com at 22 February 2006 5:45 AM | Link to comment
How about 360Lancau and iChee Bye?
Posted by: Alienadi at 22 February 2006 5:56 AM | Link to comment
How true is that. =_=
...
Why don't you promote yourself with Limited Edition iCoconut CyberBalls 360?
Heh.
Posted by: Mich at 22 February 2006 6:02 AM | Link to comment
hey guess what, i'm a marketing + advertisement freak myself and found this really interesting:
Electrolux, Sucks! [for their vacumm cleaner]
seriously!
Posted by: vss3t at 22 February 2006 6:30 AM | Link to comment
Haha, that's a good one :D
Posted by: Jon at 22 February 2006 7:02 AM | Link to comment
hahaha so true... u always make me laugh kenny =) lol iSuck ...
Posted by: lisa at 22 February 2006 7:18 AM | Link to comment
Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, has a blog too.
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/
Posted by: Andrew Lim at 22 February 2006 7:23 AM | Link to comment
wat about the iRiver mp3 player...iGallop looks like a useless piece of junk,the tv ad's really ridiculous
Posted by: gila at 22 February 2006 7:33 AM | Link to comment
Ew...the isuck pic looks horrible.... =S
But you are really observant I must say to even notice the connection between all these product names~!
Cheers~! =)
Posted by: Xia-mi-mi at 22 February 2006 8:09 AM | Link to comment
hey kenny!
u're damn funny lah. i really love the iSuck vacuum cleaner.lol.
Posted by: frust at 22 February 2006 8:18 AM | Link to comment
ohhh dun forget McDonalds....
Posted by: JerkOff at 22 February 2006 8:32 AM | Link to comment
lolz im multimedia uni student n we do scold cyber like tat sometimes...*_*
Posted by: feNnLyn at 22 February 2006 9:09 AM | Link to comment
iSuck is ingenious! Bravo!
Posted by: Frederick at 22 February 2006 9:13 AM | Link to comment
good choice kenny....u bought the IBM eSeries server !!
Posted by: alvin lam at 22 February 2006 9:21 AM | Link to comment
i wonder if drug dealers will change thier "product" name into iCoke, iWeed, iCracka. And ho's into cyber-prost.
Posted by: adrian at 22 February 2006 9:25 AM | Link to comment
HEY,iFCUKING LAUGH iASS OFF KENNY! iKENNY VERY FUNNY MAN....iHA iHA iHA.....
CHEERS
DAVID
Posted by: HADANYMEXICAN at 22 February 2006 9:27 AM | Link to comment
LoL.. brilliant, how you could think of such great idea.
kanina chao cy-ber
Posted by: BoycottBN at 22 February 2006 9:31 AM | Link to comment
Isuck looks good. How much? :P
Posted by: n305er at 22 February 2006 9:35 AM | Link to comment
heh, about the i- prefix, actually it started on the iPaq (2000 - compare with iPod in 2001) and was pretty successful there. but no doubt Apple was much better with their marketing and today anything with an i- in front is thought to have copied from Apple =)
iLike your blog360
Posted by: ruykava ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.kennysia.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at 22 February 2006
9:39 AM | Link to comment
im an mmu student..
*frowns at kenny*
Posted by: reenz at 22 February 2006 9:41 AM | Link to comment
hey Kenny..you've just pin point a fact what's going on in the world now...they COPY! that's the only thought pple have in their minds now..can't blame them~
Seriously, i really luv your iSucks ad but too bad we're never gonna see it in public. How sad~
Erm..you might want to consider starting another blog with ikennysia dot com..
Posted by: IsUcKs at 22 February 2006 9:42 AM | Link to comment
hahaha. great one kenny.
didn't the whole 'i' thing start with the 'e' thing with the internet? like ur 'eServer' and 'eMail' and 'eCommerce'?
maybe were going by vowels.. next one should be 'o'. oPod. oRiver. hmm.. maybe skip 'o' and just go straight to 'u' so that the next generation 'iSuck' is 'uSuck'
Posted by: Will at 22 February 2006 9:59 AM | Link to comment
Ijane Utarzan 2gether Vpower...
I guess the 'i' is a metaphor for something personal and individualistic, making it more applicable for the customers. the 'i' in i-suck could possibly an acronym for something. (i)ncredible?(i)ngenious?(i)nappropriate?
Posted by: strawbeareez at 22 February 2006 10:01 AM | Link to comment
yeah that i-shit pisses me off!
Posted by: vidar lund at 22 February 2006 10:02 AM | Link to comment
Omygosh.
Thats hilarious yet its TRUE..
I am loving u...
Posted by: call me chicken at 22 February 2006 10:08 AM | Link to comment
Well done!
I glad we did't name our site Facetags 360... *sigh*
Posted by: Josh at 22 February 2006 10:14 AM | Link to comment
hahahaha. :D
you got me laughing so hard on the iSuck ad. chun-ted ad!!
i like this post. :)
Posted by: su ann at 22 February 2006 10:35 AM | Link to comment
Serves the fact that the marketing think-tanks of this world have all run out of their creative juices.
They quit being creative and just wait for something unique to pop up and jump on that bandwagon.
I vote for Kenny to be da King of marketing think-tanks. The rest shall follow. =)
Posted by: frostee at 22 February 2006 10:54 AM | Link to comment
Ya, and the 'i' prefix thing is trademark-ed. My fren wanna open a graphic designing shop called 'iStudio'and she's not allowed... need to find another name when she registers for her company.
Posted by: bobdogz at 22 February 2006 11:53 AM | Link to comment
You're right pal. Those who can't lead follow in the rear ;p
Posted by: Michael Chua at 22 February 2006 11:55 AM | Link to comment
muahahaha...the last picture of ISuck...blardy hilarious, man!
Posted by: Jeremy C at 22 February 2006 12:08 PM | Link to comment
You might like to use the distort tool in ps to make the 'MRT 360' more realistic. Nice post. Cant help laughing.
Posted by: des at 22 February 2006 12:33 PM | Link to comment
i recently saw an ad for car-window film called 'iKool'...not to be confused with 'iUnoriginalbecausewe'retoolazythinkofabettername'
Posted by: neckbone at 22 February 2006 12:48 PM | Link to comment
U make famous by 1U... Uparkson.. :D
Posted by: crazysocket at 22 February 2006 1:29 PM | Link to comment
Over here we have, on CNN, "Anderson Cooper 360." Yeeesh.
Posted by: Curtis G. (aka Su Ku Kia) at 22 February 2006 1:37 PM | Link to comment
...so, looking at your time, you should be doing the marathon thing in 4.2 hrs?
Good Luck!
Posted by: suertes at 22 February 2006 1:50 PM | Link to comment
Eh Kenny... the chimp/human crossbreed at the end is really freaky ler!
Posted by: luxferi at 22 February 2006 1:57 PM | Link to comment
kenny,
u know what is iSex?
scroll down,,,,,,
IT'S GOOD OLD ,,MASTURBATION!!!!!!
kenny i know u do the iSex thingy lah,,,
Posted by: JOO at 22 February 2006 2:07 PM | Link to comment
the man/girl in the ISuck at is SO ugly! Furong Jie Jie can make it a hot ad, i bet.
Posted by: cheng sim at 22 February 2006 2:14 PM | Link to comment
You heard of Gbuy from Google? hahahaha....
Posted by: DK at 22 February 2006 2:15 PM | Link to comment
HILARIOUS!!!
Obviously, u have a flair for contributing your stories for "thoughts and musings".
so, continue to 'dish out' such true-yet-so-funny stories!
PS. Do u have any plans 2 publish a book?
Posted by: =D at 22 February 2006 2:44 PM | Link to comment
I suck
You suck
We suck
They suck
He sucks
She sucks
It sucks
Marketing people = they
Therefore, "Marketing people sucks" = wrong
Correction, "Marketing people suck" = right
This message was brought to you by the Grammar Police.
Posted by: Grammar Police at 22 February 2006 3:25 PM | Link to comment
Great post Kenny. It's a saddening fact, but it's just hilarious!
Posted by: Christina at 22 February 2006 4:20 PM | Link to comment
MRT360° was the orginal name for the Circle Line
Posted by: Button at 22 February 2006 4:37 PM | Link to comment
As a marketing staff I find this entry extremely offensive and distasteful. Remove this entry, goddamnit!
Posted by: Bill at 22 February 2006 4:55 PM | Link to comment
iLie -> new internet lie cheking website
iCheat -> cheating system
iSteal -> new alarm system
iLie, iCheat, iSteal!!
Posted by: JBL at 22 February 2006 6:15 PM | Link to comment
And now we have iReport in Singapore: http://160.96.185.83/ESvcController?system=spanp&module=internet
Posted by: I'm A Chicken With No Name. BWAK BWAK BWAK! at 22 February 2006 6:16 PM | Link to comment
eKennysia360.com?
Posted by: Celebrity Vivids at 22 February 2006 6:49 PM | Link to comment
the ugly blogger reveals.
Posted by: BoycottBN at 22 February 2006 7:34 PM | Link to comment
*sweats* I'll never say that even when i failed my major assignments. And yea, I'm from MMU btw but in Mlk ^^;
Posted by: Cholic at 22 February 2006 9:36 PM | Link to comment
i wonder now if in the near future people would actually give their children names start with some prefix like that... hehe...
oh btw,answering to ur question whether is it nice or not to have a carbon copy partner? well,for saggy,yeah it is nice..bcs i am one(saggy),and i have one =P and it is so far a really very adventurous and fun relationship,i might say...;)
Posted by: Nikita at 22 February 2006 10:14 PM | Link to comment
* my partner also saggy..our age difference is 5 years and 3 days =D
Posted by: Nikita at 22 February 2006 10:17 PM | Link to comment
lol......the iSuck(doens't sound rite here tho) and cuss words of MMU students.......man where lah u get all these ideas?? damn funny wei...
Posted by: blue-panda at 22 February 2006 10:23 PM | Link to comment
lol......the iSuck(doens't sound rite here tho) and cuss words of MMU students.......man where lah u get all these ideas?? damn funny wei...
Posted by: blue-panda at 22 February 2006 10:24 PM | Link to comment
iDUNNO
Posted by: Kenny Lee at 22 February 2006 10:29 PM | Link to comment
lol the 'iSuck' thing is funny!
Posted by: desmond!! at 22 February 2006 11:29 PM | Link to comment
oui... to be fair to the mrt line, it is called the circle line because it REALLY IS CIRCULAR, u deek!
=)
Posted by: singaporean at 23 February 2006 12:31 AM | Link to comment
I'll neither say that too when i failed my major assignments. And i do from MMU, Cyberjaya. So wat?
Posted by: trinity at 23 February 2006 3:16 AM | Link to comment
Ipod Imac Ibook....Whats wrong with it? I think Mac's smart for using the consitency of the 'i'. It markets well and its straight to the point. In the future mac wont have to use some lame add for its product. Just one poster with an "I" on it. You have other companies trying to manipulate and duplicate it but sorreh mate. The "i" is hogged by mac.
Call it the macult. iLove my mac!
Posted by: Bambino at 23 February 2006 5:18 AM | Link to comment
All the best for your marathon! =)
Posted by: shawn at 23 February 2006 7:24 AM | Link to comment
It is indeed going by the vowel trend. From @(a) to e to i now. O and u will follow next.
Posted by: ah fatt's fan at 23 February 2006 8:52 AM | Link to comment
AHAHHAHAHHAHAHA
I really really really liked the dilbert text you made, it's so dilbert :P
Posted by: Lainie at 23 February 2006 12:22 PM | Link to comment
..enough about suck already.
What about iBlow??
Posted by: suertes at 23 February 2006 1:49 PM | Link to comment
What about i-Berhad, the name of a listed company?
Posted by: bayi at 23 February 2006 2:14 PM | Link to comment
Hey dude, did u manage to get Scott Adams to do the graphics specially 4u or is it cut n paste?
Posted by: lawless at 23 February 2006 5:12 PM | Link to comment
Hey kenny, u forgot ur favourite osim's marion caunter product...Uzap!!
Posted by: SueY at 23 February 2006 5:21 PM | Link to comment
You are, without a doubt, one of the funniest people I've read at a blog. Never quit bitching. You're great!
Posted by: Hagfish at 23 February 2006 6:36 PM | Link to comment
if phone sex is like wat you say... better dont try!!!!
Posted by: SLeeK@ER at 23 February 2006 8:09 PM | Link to comment
Everybody who read this post suck for saying iSuck.....
Posted by: Arthur akal at 23 February 2006 10:16 PM | Link to comment
That is sooooo funny! You ARE good..
Posted by: Sara at 23 February 2006 11:24 PM | Link to comment
erm. i had an iNad before.
Posted by: nadnut at 24 February 2006 12:51 AM | Link to comment
lol, that entry is freaking funny and good for destressing after a long day. Thanks man!
Posted by: jason at 24 February 2006 1:11 AM | Link to comment
You forget Nike Air Max 360! :P
Posted by: yw[2k] at 24 February 2006 10:26 AM | Link to comment
There is vacuum cleaner press ad out there, it's got the caption "It sucks." >.
Posted by: julianME at 24 February 2006 12:19 PM | Link to comment
hey man i agree with ya on the osin sucks thingy. that vaccum cleaner really sucks. i own one and its never proven its worth. much like the osin staff. bunch of lazy, sweet talking, worthless, protcting their ass ppl. go trash osim, i'm behind you all the way
Posted by: jwee at 25 February 2006 11:37 AM | Link to comment
Eeeeeee that really is a horrible photo at the end! I can bare to look at it for more than a second.
Posted by: dez at 25 February 2006 1:08 PM | Link to comment
classic kenny again... lol the vaccum cleaner rocks!
Posted by: waiwah at 25 February 2006 4:16 PM | Link to comment
How about iKan? Good name for a high-powered vibrator.
Posted by: huattk at 13 March 2006 12:17 AM | Link to comment
Dear Kenny,
Hi.. I know this might sound odd to you ( well for one thing, you don't know me.. ) but I need a favor from you.
You see, I saw your UZAP poster like 2 years ago and yeah, I thought that it was really interesting, funny and creative. Emm.. something else actually caught my attention as well. The original UZAP poster ( not the one with Marion on it ).. I have been looking for the one with some few girls on it telling all the positive remarks on that product..
Beleive it or not, I even went to several Osim outlets just to have a look again at that particular poster but, they no longer keep the poster.
Is there a way that I can get hold of it?
Do you have it with you or something?
Odd?
Yeah, I know..
Thanks anyway...
Posted by: myra at 22 February 2007 3:57 PM | Link to comment
hey I heard that they now have igrip or ugrip. Seriously. Osim. I'm not kidding!
Posted by: rn at 06 May 2008 4:40 PM | Link to comment
com
