Playing the Name Game

Taking names and kicking. . . well, just kicking

By Bill Brohaugh

Six months ago, the movie Snakes on a Plane was already a cult hit--odd, given that no one had actually seen it, and its release was months away.

The name presold the flick.

Sold it so well, in fact, that a pre-fan named Brian Finkelstein started a blog devoted to Snakes on a Plane. What was the attraction? Back in April, Finkelstein told Associated Press, "It all came exclusively out of the title, and how honest and straightforward and clear the title was. There was no metaphor, no symbolism. Everything you needed to know about the movie was right there." And in a Time magazine interview, actor Samuel L. Jackson said he decided to appear in the movie solely because of the title: "You either get it, or you don’t.”

So it is with the name of a loyalty program.

With so many loyalty offers pitched to customers, with so many program variants, marketers have in large part kept program names straightforward and--granted--at times a bit bland. Because of such directness--even blandness--a movie-goer using a loyalty card to buy tickets to Snakes on a Plane immediately realizes from the name of the program itself that he's about to get Freebies From a Card.

A direct and effective loyalty name is:

• Easy to remember. To use another entertainment example, a popular TV show got its air name because no one in test audiences could remember its original title, and simply referred to it as "that '70s show."
• Easy to say. Remember that you'll have any number of clerks and call center people using the phrase in every transaction: "Do you have your I-Can't-Believe-You're-Giving-Me-Free-Loot Card with you?"
• Communicative—and let’s dwell on this point for a moment:

Typically, loyalty programs names communicate:

• What you get: You get a Bonus. You get Miles. Points. Rewards. Returns. Barneys New York has the epitome of "what-you-get" clarity here, with its Free Stuff program.
• Who you are: You are Preferred, you are Valued, you are a VIP. (I recently ran across a promotion enticing customers to "Become a Frequent Shopper!" and I'm not sure what incentive that gives them. Too much plane; not enough snakes.)
• Your special status: You're the member of a Club. You are Elite. You are Special. You have Prestige.
• How your retailer/supplier wants to recognize you: They Thank You. They give you Amenities. They give you Perks. (And if there's not a Perks and Points coffee loyalty program operating, there should be.)
• The color of your hair: You are Platinum. (Well, maybe that's not what they mean.)
• Ultimately, benefit: As a member, you have the Edge, a Plus, the Advantage. Or, in a classic and ground-breaking example of clarity meeting creativity, you have the AAdvantage. American Airlines not only pioneered much of how loyalty marketing works with the frequent-flyer concept, it also established the ceiling for naming, with AAdvantage. (Ironically, the term was created by agency Namebase for something other than people that also frequently flies: luggage. Noted on the Namebase website, this tale: "American Airlines needed a name for a line of luggage and other branded merchandise. We came up with AAdvantage with the double ‘A’ presentation. The name as so well received that American Airlines soon adopted the name AAdvantage for its frequent flyer program.")

AAdvantage proved then and continues to prove that there's wriggle room within the constraints placed on the loyalty name game by clarity of communication, without having to resort to "BrandX Points" or "BrandX Rewards." For example, we can wriggle our hypothetical BrandX a bit: how about the “BrandXtra Card”? Granted, the name doesn't exactly sing, yet it demonstrates a solid naming tactic: reinforce the brand (X or not), or the brand's industry. That's among the reasons I like the name of the MBNA NFL Extra Points Credit Card:

• The word Points speaks the loyalty parlance. Consumers who've collected points before knows exactly what they're getting.
• Extra speaks to the world in general. Like a "plus" or an "advantage," it's good to have an extra. (Most of the time, anyway.)
• The phrase combining these words--"Extra Points"--speaks football terminology, linking the program clearly to its parent industry.

Another name I like--coincidentally also with a "kick" to it, sans the football--is the coalition lite Kickback Points program. The word Kickback may be a bit informal, a bit in your face, but the concept comes through loud and clear, doesn't it? I similarly appreciate the name of Bank of America's Keep the Change program. Like AAdvantage, Extra Points and Kickback Points, that name deftly combines clarity, benefit communication, and creativity.

These names are evocative and memorable, and yet they speak plainly. Snakes-on-a-plainly.

Bill Brohaugh, Managing Editor of COLLOQUY, pretends to have not concocted such program names as The BrandX Payola Card, The Grease-Your-Palm Program, the Cashback Cabal, or the Card-Up-Your-Sleeve.