A friend of a friend put together a hilarious and clever site called Rename the Swine Flu. Looks like my blog post earlier this week was no match for Zach’s fun site. I think his site’s popularity is all because of his logo. How cute is that?! (Well, okay there’s a lot more going on than just the cute logo!)

Here are just a few of the submissions that I give my professional namer’s official stamp of approval:

Mad Sow Disease
The Baconic Plague
Porky’s Revenge
SowMenella
Swinus infection
Snout Gout
Pigpendemic

Tags: health naming, healthcare naming, naming contest, renaming, swine flu, virus naming
Posted in Fun stuff | 2 Comments

I spoke with a reporter from the Dallas Morning News last week. He wrote a fantastic column on the surge of marketing directed at combating the swine flu pandemic.

There’s a quote from me about resisting the temptation to be trendy. Naming consultants above all need to be wary of this temptation. Any new brand name that keys on a temporary trend risks becoming obsolete as soon as that trend fades away. This is particularly true in technology, where things can change in a heartbeat. But whatever the category, brand names need to have the flexibility to grow with your company (or product) over time.

Tags: health names, healthcare naming, naming, naming fads, swine flu, trendy names
Posted in Brand Naming, Company Naming, In-the-News, Product Naming | No Comments

The folks here at Catchword have been demonstrating varied levels of concern over the Swine Flu pandemic. I think the following quote from a friend of mine, sums up my position on the matter:

“So I’m not in the least bit worried about this Swine Flu (aka H1N1). The question is does that make me crazy, or the last remaining sane person on earth

I vote for “last remaining sane person…”

That being said, I’ve been having some fun with the pandemic’s name. Apparently the pork industry has been squealing about the name of this flu. “It’s gutting our swine sales,” they claim.

Then I got word from a friend that the Swine flu is henceforth known as Pig Pox. Another friend chimed in, that in fact it was now to be called Bacon Lung. That got me thinking… This is proper level of attention to give the pandemic. Here are some of our new names. What are your suggestions?

Pig Pox
• Bacon Lung
• Carnitas-itis
• Hamhocks
• Pigachoo (like Pikachu from Pokemon and “achoo”)
• Heiney (H1N1 in L33T sounds like heiney aka butt. – Gives a whole new meaning to the prhase “I’m so sick I feel like ass!”

So, bring it on. What names will you bestow upon this deadly piggy virus?

And, just for fun, here’s cute little diddy we heard in the Twitterverse yesterday:

“It was once said that a black man would be president “when pigs fly”. Indeed 100 days into Obama’s presidency: Airborne Piggies (aka Swine flu).”

UPDATE: Friends from all across the blogosphere, Twitterverse, and Facebooklandia are adding their two cents:

Tu-pork-ulosis
Hog snot fever
Little piggy sniffles
When pigs die
Oinkfluenza
Treyfitis
Influenza Manteca
The aporkalypse
The pink plague
Mu shu flu
Trough-cough
Porkinson’s disease
Swill kill
Hamthrax
Snoutbreak (via the Daily Show)
Multiple Porkulosis (when it mutates, it becomes)
Monoporkulosis (when teenagers have it)

Tags: H1N1, health naming, naming fun, swine flu, virus naming
Posted in Fun stuff, Language use | 5 Comments