Top Of The Pops: (probably not the) final word
Branding expert Mark Ritson in Marketing magazine this week, in his article on the “Ten Branding Lessons” to be learned from ToTP’s demise.
Brand naming is always more important later, rather than sooner. Yes, Top Of The Pops was a swinging name in 1964, but if only it had consulted a brand-consulting company before rushing into things. Clearly, a name such as Musica or Poporato would have better served the brand over the long haul.
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FT's Pete Baran on August 3rd, 2006
Surely the point holding on to a name like Top Of The Pops is that it is almost branding proof. It existed “pre-branding” and therefore is not seen as uncool because of its name. Yr Granny is uncool not because she is called Hortense, she’s uncool cos she’s yr granny. Poporato!!!!
You say poporato and I say Poporaaato.
FT's Tom on August 3rd, 2006
Also what is the “long haul” in TV branding terms if 40 yrs isn’t!!?
FT's Steve Mannion on August 3rd, 2006
This Mark Ritson guy probably gets paid over 60k a year to come up with this sort of nonsensical argument and words like Poporato*. And he is sleeping with all our wives and girlfriends.
*only good it it’s pronounced ‘po po rah tow’
FT's Tom on August 3rd, 2006
Mark Ritson writes the weekly branding expertise column in Marketing and I’m sure earns well over that. His articles are actually often pretty good but when he’s wrong he’s very wrong, and he’s very emphatic about being very wrong. Also there are a series of pictures of him in ‘casual yet businesslike’ mode which illustrate the column each week: when the finger-pointing Ritson appears you KNOW a brand’s gonna be in trouble.
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 3rd, 2006
don’t forget our boyfriends the big bi bastard!!
so is there actual written down “marketing wisdom” on pseudo-latinate and/or foreign-”style” branding names: they ALWAYS annoy me but i have a classical background and am clearly bein territorial in a way that can only possibly apply to a TINY market segment
given that TotP lasted 40 years, and that “branding” as such did not exist in 1964, surely this fellow is in fact making a joke here?
FT's Tom on August 3rd, 2006
re. “joke” I am honestly not sure. The rest of the article reads not at all tongue in cheek but this section is so evidently ridiculous that yes, there’s a good chance he is having a giggle here.
FT's Tom on August 3rd, 2006
re. “wisdom” - yes somewhere! It annoys me too and many another - viz squabbles over “Consignia”.
Also Branding did exist in ‘64 - the naming/branding/talking about branding area of marketing dates from the 50s (and ‘brands’ predate then obv.)
Ward Fowler on August 3rd, 2006
if only Melody Maker had been ‘branded’ Melodico it would still be with us today
lockedintheattic on August 3rd, 2006
The reason so many companies these days go for those pseudo-latin names is (1) most of the good words are already trademarked and (2) they all want to be global brands so need something that is not going to end up sounding like poo in swahili.
They are still bloody annoying though.
FT's alext on August 3rd, 2006
I was hoping the poncey names were just a fad and would go away.
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 3rd, 2006
i understand not wanting to sound like poo in swahili — haha BUM crisps eg — but how does being pseudo-latin avoid this?
lockedintheattic on August 3rd, 2006
Ironically though TV ‘brands’ have gone in the opposite direction - it’s so hard to catch viewers’ attention when there are so many channels and programmes, they tend to go for the Ronseal approach and have very literal titles that describe exactly what the programme is going to show…which is exactly what Top of the Pops did.
FT's Tom on August 3rd, 2006
Bumico
I think Ritson - if he’s being serious - is objecting to “Pops” as a dated word.
lockedintheattic on August 3rd, 2006
They obviously research it to depth to avoid the poo issue; but I think the reason they go for psuedo-latin rather than any other made-up language is they think it’ll make them sound grander (and it’s general big corporations who go for that, rather than new products - and therefore they think it gives them the required stature)
FT's Steve Mannion on August 3rd, 2006
“have very literal titles that describe exactly what the programme is going to show…which is exactly what Top of the Pops did.”
Tops Of The Pop: new show in which the father of Andi Peters showcases his collection of woolly jumpers.
FT's Alan on August 3rd, 2006
Another thing about pseudo names is that they are easier to google as the right thing. Could be apocryphal, but i heard that the name Kodak was coined to be a distinctive new word, and that works even more so now.
FT's Tom on August 3rd, 2006
speaking of which, “google”.
lockedintheattic on August 3rd, 2006
But google is based on a real word - googol, which means 10 the power 100. Which obviously refers to the fact that site was intended to search huge numbers of pages. Wikipedia claims that they had intended to actually call themselves googol but someone mispelt it early on.
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 3rd, 2006
i like totally made-up new names! dub of the dobs!!
and the BEST EVAH POP PROG EVAH was called “lift-off with ayesha”
FT's Pete Baran on August 3rd, 2006
Also, interestingly, the only four common letters in every alphabet using roman script are the letters g o l and e (even Vietnamese has them) - hence for a large amount of the word it needs no respelling or accenting!
lockedintheattic on August 3rd, 2006
I wonder if that was by luck or by design?
FT's Alan on August 3rd, 2006
Or just a rubbish lie
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 3rd, 2006
baranlie alert: vietnamese doesn’t use the roman script!
FT's Steve Mannion on August 3rd, 2006
Goleo!
FT's tracerhand on August 3rd, 2006
my uncle said once that the honda integra should have had a sister car called the “corrupta”
FT's Magnus on August 4th, 2006
It was seeing this that made me laugh out loud, even before reading the post:
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Posted by Tom in Pop | 25 Comments »
FT's anatol_merklich on August 4th, 2006
“They obviously research it to depth to avoid the poo issue;”
You’d think, but only five years ago Honda (them again!) were about to launch the Honda Fitta, which in Norwegian means Honda The Cunt… (It’s now Honda Fit in some places and Honda Jazz in others.)
FT's mark c on August 4th, 2006
jazz ha ha as in jazz mag. poor honda
Pete on August 4th, 2006
Actually Mark, the Vietnamese do use an accented roman script, as implemented by their French overlords. It causes no end of trouble in Vietnam as Westerners (not used to the accents), suckered into being able to read the words, try to pronounce the words as they would sound in their own language, invariably meaning they insult their host regarding genetalia. Or say Top Of The Poo’s instead of Top Of The Pops.
More in Vietnamese: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language
FT's Alan on August 4th, 2006
I have a load of VN accented fonts here as proof of that bit. but the original claim still sounds dubious.
Pete on August 4th, 2006
Oh, the original claim is complete bollocks obviously, but always temper your lies with farfetched truth.
Mark Ritson on August 5th, 2006
Er..I am the guy who made the quote that started this post (about TOTP needing a better brand name). In my defence I would just like to point out that:
a) Yes, I was taking the piss and
b) I make waaaaaaay more than 60k a year
FT's Alan on August 5th, 2006
More importantly, are you sleeping with our wives and girlfriends?
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 5th, 2006
AND BOYFRIENDS!!?
(i ask bcz i wz the one who wz right abt the joke thing)
Steve (the father in law) on August 7th, 2006
Who were you sleeping with ????
FT's Steve Mannion on August 7th, 2006
i feel terrible about the 60k thing - how insulting!
FT's Tim Hopkins on August 7th, 2006
I feel it is my duty to note that a couple of Freaky Triggerists (i.e. me and Dave B) know Mark R of old, from the mid 90s when we all lived in Lancaster.
Helo Mark! As someone who doesn’t regularly read Marketing, I was surprised and pleased to recognise you in the copy of the magazine Tom was handing around on Friday.
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 7th, 2006
is “helo” the rebranded “hello”? i don’t like it as much
FT's Tim Hopkins on August 7th, 2006
Typo is the rebranded Tim, though you probably won’t notice the difference.
FT's alext on August 7th, 2006
And hello has been rebranded as ’salve’ (long e).
Dan on August 8th, 2006
I conducted a survey and found on average 8.3 out of 10 people agreed with that statement. So there, it’s official…or something. My psychometric test also found that they were all lying imbeciles who were generally untrustworthy. And the genetic finger printing found they were all bastards when their relatedness was compared using 14 primers. Yay!
FT's Alan on August 8th, 2006
Yer what?
Martin on August 14th, 2006
I feel that this debate isn’t so much as opening a can of worms but more like a plane full of snakes