Over the weekend, Seth Godin shared some wisdom that resonated, In or out:
Often overlooked is how uncomfortable it is to sit on a fence.
Get in or get out. Wasting time sitting on the fence wastes far more time and emotion than you’d expend committing to something.
I’d add to that sentiment, when
Never is supposed to last forever. Forever is never supposed to come to an end. Neither are possible to measure in time, for as long as they continue to be true.
The wait for either to fail, can last for an infinite period of time, until they collide. We have witnessed such a collision during
Last week, we saw the latest installment in the “trademark bullying” saga. But this time was different. Instead of lawyers fighting amongst themselves, DuetsBlog brought out the big gun: Seth Godin. You can read the entire piece here. I like Seth Godin, and so do lots of other people (hence, the
At DuetsBlog, we never shy away from sharing our opinion. It’s part of what makes us not Dr. No. For over ten years, this has included opinions about interesting trademarks, non-traditional trademarks, boring trademarks, and controversial trademarks, and those are just from me, as well as our opinions on the opinions
– Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash
In a recent article in The New York Times, John Williams discussed the evolution of our language through the “vowel dropping” trend.
He mentions the use of vowel dropping in naming tech companies, as tech companies like Tumblr and Flickr dropped vowels “…both for distinctiveness and because the altered
–James Mahoney, Razor’s Edge Communications
Back in the ’70s, National Geographic ran a story on Boston firefighters.
The writer mentioned a barb that a fireman tossed his way. “Ya gonna do another silver jets piece, huh?” Adding sarcastically, “Ya know: silver jets of water piercing the dark sky as they bravely battle the inferno…”
I
–James Mahoney, Razor’s Edge Communications
I try to focus my commentary on good creative work. Otherwise, I’d be posting multiple times a day because there’s so much mediocre or outright poor work.
But today, I can’t resist
Moen’s running full-page ads for its new Flo product. On a field of irregularly scattered, different-size circles filled
– Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash
Mastercard has become the latest company to shift to a “no name” approach to branding.
Of course, they aren’t the first to do this (see Nike, Starbucks, Apple, Target, etc.). We are living in an image-driven world (e.g., Instagram) so this trend is not surprising.
A Mastercard spokesperson said: “As
Trademark owners should beware of a scam involving the Amazon Brand Registry. There have been several reports of rogue users exploiting the Amazon Brand Registry through the unauthorized modification of trademark registration records at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). These scammers are submitting fraudulent requests to change the email addresses for trademark registrants, and thereafter, updating the brand ownership records with the Amazon Brand Registry.
Continue Reading Watch Out: Unauthorized Changes in USPTO and Amazon Brand Records
–James Mahoney, Razor’s Edge Communications
Every now and then, I find pearls floating in the tide of print advertising. These two, for example.
First is the Kiton ad, one of a series the company is running. I liked the whole look and feel of it right away, but didn’t know anything about the company.
I