This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz by Darrell Norton. Original Post: Hey Microsoft: No more long product names! Feed Title: Darrell Norton's Blog Feed URL: /error.htm?aspxerrorpath=/blogs/darrell.norton/Rss.aspx Feed Description: Agile Software Development: Scrum, XP, et al with .NET Latest .NET Buzz Posts Latest .NET Buzz Posts by Darrell Norton Latest Posts From Darrell Norton's Blog

From Robert Cialdini's Influence at Work newsletter:

"Gone are the days when the color names were simple. Anyone who opens a new box of crayons will quickly notice that the old common names (e.g., green, yellow, brown) have been replaced by names such as Tropical Rain Forest , Laser Lemon, and Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown. These name changes may seem like child’s play to some, but there is an important lesson to be learned here. How can a color name like Cornflower or Razzmatazz help you keep your company’s chips blue and keep your business out of the red?"

The conclusion is interesting:

"The implications for your business are clear: don’t be afraid to use less-than-straightforward names for certain aspects of your products. Names that fall into the unexpected descriptive category or the ambiguous category create a sense of mystery and intrigue that lead potential consumers to consider the positive aspects of your goods and services."

Let's do a quick check, Apple has products like iPod, iTunes, iLife, Garage Band, and Microsoft has names like "Windows Presentation Foundation" and "Microsoft IntelliSense XML Files for Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System Solution Developers!"

Just say NO to long boring descriptive product names!