Names Should Be Blank Slates

In previous entries I've harped on the counter-intuitive point that the best product names frequently don't have anything to do with the product or what it does. For example, I stated in one entry:

"Often the best brand names are those having no pre-existing meaning and no relation to what the product does."

Now Seth Godin writes in a recent entry:

"It seems as though the abstract quality of a name or a logo (both blank slates) is not as important as what you do with it. This advice doesn't hold for non-abstract names or images, naturally. But those are worth less, in my humble opinion."

Yep.

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