http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/?utm_source=rss Ad and marketing creatives Copyright 2009, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/?utm_source=rss Search for a word in the Visual Thesaurus word http://www.visualthesaurus.com Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1886?utm_source=rss Microsoft's new search engine may not vanquish Google, but it certainly has captured a huge share of attention among everyone interested in brand names. In case you missed the news reports or the relentless ads (http://youtube.com/bing), Microsoft launched Bing (http://www.bing.com/) at the end of May. Almost immediately, there was speculation about what the name was intended to mean or evoke. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1886 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1884?utm_source=rss On July 7, 2009, NBC Universal's Sci Fi Channel — the network responsible for the hit series "Battlestar Galactica" and such original movies as "Ice Spiders," "Android Apocalypse" and "Mansquito" — will complete a radical rebranding process. When it emerges from the laboratory, it will offer a retooled programming menu and a new name: Syfy (http://www.SyFy.com). Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1884 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1854?utm_source=rss Apparently, "impactful" is a word (and by this I mean it's recognized by a handful of reasonably reputable sources). I choose not to use it, however. I think it sounds horrible, like an impacted wisdom tooth or, heaven forefend, an impacted bowel. Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1854 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1851?utm_source=rss When I begin a name-development project, I'm open to all possibilities that are relevant to my client's objectives. After all, I'm aiming to develop not one name but a list of 250 or so from which I can identify 15 to 20 strong candidates. Still, there are words and word parts I avoid — and if you're naming your own product or company, I recommend you avoid them, too. Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1851 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1820?utm_source=rss Are comma splices running rampant, or is it just me? I keep seeing them in newspapers and magazines and on billboards and can't help but wonder if they, too, are now becoming acceptable, as have so many once-verboten grammar, ahem, alternatives before them. I sure hope not — as you might guess, I'm agin 'em. Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1820 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1769?utm_source=rss Green, as they say in the fashion world, is the new black. It's the color that conveys a spectrum of happy ideas: environmental health, recycling, alternative energy, and generally doing the right thing. And green business and product names are flourishing. Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1769 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1649?utm_source=rss Everybody knows there are rules regarding punctuation. This article isn't about them. I'm on a lot of e-mail lists; a great many people feel I should be kept abreast of developments at their companies, career milestones of the artists they represent, legislative or electoral triumphs and outrages, and too much more. And though I find some of the news they herald noteworthy, more often than not they compensate for mundane content with an inappropriate, nay, giddy level of enthusiasm. The primary means of expressing this overwrought intensity? The exclamation point. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1649 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1644?utm_source=rss When I'm feeling stuck on a naming project, I like to remind myself of brand names' myriad and diverse genealogies. Companies have been named for their founders (L.L. Bean), products for their founders' daughters (Mercedes-Benz). Trademarks have been created from street names and star names, numbers and neologisms, contemporary slang and archaic vocabulary. Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1644 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1608?utm_source=rss "I've been really happy by how nonplussed they've been by the whole thing." -- Barack Obama on his daughters' response to the presidential campaign, People, Aug. 4, 2008 It seems even Harvard graduate/widely acknowledged smart guy/President-Elect Barack Obama doesn't know the meaning of the word nonplussed. He's in good company. I'd wager more people get "nonplussed" wrong than right -- frequently going so far as to use the word to express nearly the opposite of what they mean. As the misuse of nonplussed threatens to overwhelm the proper use, we feel duty-bound to set the record straight. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1608 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1601?utm_source=rss No U.S. politician who professes to be an agnostic can hope for much of a career: a majority of Americans require their elected representatives to take the deity very seriously and insert "God bless America" into every speech. But in the world of business, and especially in high technology, agnostic isn't just accepted, it's practically — well, revered. Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1601