What do YOU think? Is Zappo’s a great name or does it suck? In this video we take the famous online shoe retailer through our TRUE filter to determine whether the name sucks.
Does This Name Suck? ZAPPO’S
Hint: it’s all about that Z!
This video originally appeared in LinkedIn
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TRANSCRIPT:
– Hey guys, it’s Rebeca with BrandTrue and I’m here with another edition of “Does This Brand Name Suck?” And we’re going to do Zappos. So we’re going to apply our framework.
We’ll start with T from True. Does it have a Transparent communication of what it’s offering? No, oh, I forgot to tell you this story. The backstory is that the late Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, was selling shoes. It’s an online retailer of shoes, if anyone doesn’t know. And he went to the Spanish word for shoes, zapatos, which is spelled with a Z, and he contracted that to Zappos.
Okay, so is that a transparent communication? No, even if you’re a Spanish speaker, you don’t see Zappos and think shoes, so… alright. But the next one, is it Real? Does it have some kind of authentic emotion or authentic connection to the story? Eh, not really. I mean, there’s the shoe thing, but you don’t get it. So I would say it’s a no on T and it’s a no on R. Uh-oh, so let’s get to U, is it Unique? Yes, it is unique, it stands out. And then the final letter, E, is it Engaging? Yes, it’s really fun to say.
The Z and the whole zap in it give it a sense of speed and energy that’s also very uplifting, very engaging. Names that begin with some of those rare letters from the end of the alphabet like Y and Z are just a little bit more memorable, they just stand out in your mind a little more. So I would say that this is one of those cases where even though T and R are not there, the U and especially the E are so strong that it makes the name work. Zappos does not suck. Let me know what you think. Bye!
