While in Starbucks today, I noticed marketing signage near the barista’s counter that read, “…your daily coffee and breakfast spot.” The word breakfast jumped out at me—it’s not how Starbucks usually talks about their pastry and bagel displays.

Could Starbucks’ use of the word breakfast be a response to increased competition from McDonalds, the breakfast king?

According to the Seattle PI, Starbucks and McDonalds compete for customers in the coffee arena:

“Starbucks may soon offer free Wi-Fi in order to compete with McDonalds, which started peeling away some customers with less-expensive coffee.”

Is Starbucks looking to counter with increased competition for the breakfast set?

There are 27 items on the McDonalds breakfast menu, including the Egg McMuffin®, Sausage Biscuit and Sausage Burrito. Starbucks is clever (and bold) to put the pumpkin spice scone amid the fray.

As more people use mobile smart phones, it is important to name your company’s wireless network after the name of your company.    

By naming your network, wireless users will be exposed to your company’s name and encouraged to walk in to your business to get on to your network (if your company allows walk-ins).  

“It’s a branding opportunity for businesses,” said telecommunications consultant Brian Wade, who helped a barber shop in the Pike Place Market name its network. “It’s especially beneficial in high traffic areas.” 

If you haven’t named your wireless network, chances are it named itself. Usually, the default name is the name of the company that manufactured the network router. So instead of your company name, potential customers see “linksyswireless1.” It’s also common for the default name to appear as some nonsense list of letters and numbers, such as SHSH7A.  

Rather than promote the name of your router or confuse passersby with a nonsense name, take advantage of an opportunity for brand consistency; name your wireless network.   

Do you have the guts to grind up your new iPhone into a smoking cocktail of twisted metal and dust?

In the name of marketing brilliance, Blendtec does.

There’s been a lot of discussion about Blendtec, the company behind the Will It Blend? campaign. Check out Groundswell for a summary of what’s going on with this company and their visceral marketing campaign that’s generating big buzz.

I want one of these blenders, and I’m a skeptical marketer who sees through most claims of product gusto. I see it as blender therapy, which over time is likely to be way more cost-effective than retail therapy.

You don’t like my copy? Fine. That 50-page Word doc just became bedding for my worm bin. Stuck in traffic for 2.5 hours on a 100-degree Friday afternoon? No worries. This baby whips up double-strength margaritas that go zero to drunk in under 60 seconds. You want to break in my house and steal my plasma TV? Well step right over here. I’d like for your hand to meet my little rotating friend of fury.

Yes. I can really see myself with this product. I could make a movie about this blender.

A shout out to the big new bird flying out of my town, and a great post about the evocative name from NameWire.

I assert that we’re in a rebranding bubble. Here’s some proof. And we all know that bubbles eventually burst.

To add another metaphor to the mix, for the past 3 years the re-branding wave has been gathering momentum and moving in. I say it’s about to crest. Almost all of my work right now is for clients re-branding their companies. Most are 10+ years old. No complaints from me, but I gotta wonder, what’s next? Isn’t there a more even-keeled, dare I say it, “sustainable” way to fund marcomm? Or is this just the way it is: pump a bunch of money in while the consumers are spending, hunker down when the economy tanks?

What if marcomm expenses are viewed like R&D? Durable companies steadily feed their R&D groups, regardless of market ups and downs. Why not do this with marcomm expenditures? Interestingly, this would require design, ad and PR firms to adjust how they price their services, which I believe is often out of whack. Would the value, and relative perception, of creative services go up if clients spend more responsibly, streaming projects and money consistently to creative firms?

I suppose I just long for this scenario because coming down from the peak is hell on my knees.

It’s easy to forget that we’re writing for real people who could use a little sympathy as they hurtle through life.

Visual Thesaurus has 5 pointers on how to be more kind to your readers.

This is also a good reminder about how to improve client relationships. Be likable. Be competent. Hopefully both at the same time.

Last week I got caught up in a small battle over using contractions in web copy. I solicited an opinion from Word Wise, and his response is better, and more diplomatic, than what I would’ve said. Is your copy constipated?

Similes. Metaphors. Analogies. Writing is making connections between dissimilar things.

Lawrence Cheek’s article on Seattle architecture and the “human scale” reminds me of good copywriting. The approach is everything. If you don’t grab the reader immediately with an emotional connection, they’re gone.

Cheek’s comparison of the entryways to the University of Washington’s Suzzallo Library versus the Rem Koolhaas designed Central Library is wonderful. I love the idea of the grand procession upward (Suzzallo) and the size of the risers, which encourage a physiological slow down. It makes one feel an emotional connection to the space they’re about to enter; it makes the person feel important.

Copy today has to do this, usually in just a few words.

By way of John Cook’s Venture Blog comes The Name Inspector. It’s a thoughtful analysis of company names, although the content could apply to any naming exercise, including products.

I love the idea of company names as nanopoems, and agree with his advice that it’s natural to be uncomfortable with a name you pick. I tell this to clients all the time. If the name doesn’t make you at least a little bit nervous when you first start saying it, then it’s not original enough.

When I chose my company name, for months I thought that I made a big mistake. It was too Wild West-y. It undermined the role of well-chosen words. It didn’t sound right coming out of my mouth. But the positive feedback and ongoing recognition far exceeds the negative. I’ve had the name since 1998 and, to this day, people still say, “That’s a great name.”

Back in July I went on a tear about a conference experience I had (as an organizer and participant). Ilya Vedrashko from AdvertisingLab offers a more constructive take on improving the usability of conferences. Nice ideas on content (shift discussion control from panel moderators to attendees, have speakers debate controversial issues) and logistics (a place to leave messages for attendees, larger font sizes on nametags, more useful totebags).