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That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. Shakespeare is a wonderful poet and playwright; unfortunately, he’s not a marketer.

Apple may have taken Shakespeare’s advice a bit too seriously. Apple launched the new iPad yesterday, which left me wondering if they forgot to invite women to the marketing meeting?

When it comes to branding it can be a real challenge if your business name or that of your product has negative connotations or is similar to something that doesn’t fit your image. You want to make sure to get several outsiders’ opinions when naming your business or new product line. Think about the implication of the words you choose not only for the name, but for slogans and taglines as well. Are there any other brands with similar logos or color schemes? Will they interfere with the brand image that you are trying to build? Make sure to look at it from all the angles and perspectives – not to mention languages. Throughout the years there have been many name blunders that have impacted the success of a business or product  - remember the Nova, who names a car the “no go.” I’m not sure that the iPad is quite as terrible, but it is definitely not the best name Apple could have chosen – iTab perhaps?

So far the buzz has deemed the iPad an iPhone on steroids. Yet I will admit, after getting past the name and the negative hype, I decided to check out what Apple had to say and found myself impressed. The iPad promises new technology and more capabilities than the iPhone or iPod Touch. If the product lives up to these promises and is as wonderfully capable as Apple makes it out to be, success may not be tarnished by a name. Only time will tell if iPad will smell as sweet, regardless of its name.

Mary Grimborg