Ford's Change From Futura to Fusion May Be Best For Future.
By Lindsey Muth, Branding Specialist, Namebase, a New York based brand naming consultancy.
 
 
Ford’s recent legal battle for use of the name Futura (they lost out to Pep Boys who use the moniker on tires) certainly illustrates the importance of keeping up on naming rights. Ford made use of the name through the sixties, seventies, and into the eighties. Their failure to retain legal rights to the name caused quite a snafu. Ford has announced its upcoming sedan, previously referred to as the Futura, will be forevermore the Fusion. Well, was Futura such a great name to begin with?

In the middle of last century, when Ford began using the name Futura for its cars, the future meant something very different than it does today. Although bringing back the name would have been a nostalgic nod to earlier days and the cars that drove through them the name Futura may also have been a wet towel hung on the sedan.

The popular modern attitude is that the future is essentially now or tomorrow or at most sometime next week. So would an automaker be likely to name their vehicle the Rightnowa? Probably not. The name Futura possibly would have dated the vehicle within a year of purchase. The last thing a vehicle’s name should do is date itself, even in an ironic sense. For example, driving a 2005 Futura in 2007 would feel especially dated.

Staying power is such an important element in naming any product. Fads lead to names that become dated after a short period of time. Picture a product named in the sixties with a psychedelic ring to it. Paisley, bellbottoms, and anything groovy come to mind. Avoiding fads when naming a vehicle or any product will surely lead to a name that sticks longer in the consumer's mind and doesn’t garner negative connotations as time goes by.

In some ways the future was a fad of the past. George Orwell’s 1984 set the date for the future’s arrival and that date has long since passed. The Artist Occasionally Known as Prince then upped that date to 1999, also gone. Popular culture has come to mock the distant future, such as in Futurama, the cartoon set in the year 3000, which represents the future as a ridiculously advanced and yet hilariously dingy age. Ford may be glad to know the future doesn’t carry quite as much clout as it once did.

Modern name-fads may seem quite up-to-the-minute today, but experience dictates that the modernisms of today will eventually feel as dated as the 8-tracks of yesteryear. Names with words like 'cyber' or 'digital' are meant to reflect a product or company's connection to the most advanced technology. The same can be said for names with little "i" or little "e" preceding them. The fact is - technology evolves quickly and names that can't acclimate themselves to the evolution of technology will be left in the dust.

Having a digital product is pretty much the norm today as compared to ten or twenty years ago. My cell-phone, watch, camera, and egg-timer all use digital technology. So, how long will it be before that word actually denotes a technology that is common and dated? As kids my brother and I thought we were so cool because we owned Electronic Battleship, but today that game would appear simplistic to even a six-year old. Eventually the word digital will mean about as much to a consumer as the words electronic or analogue do today.

Cyber is another affix saturating the name-world based on its connection to modern technology. Cyber, a prefix, essentially means computer and computers have become about as everyday as carpets or telephones in modern homes or businesses. 'Cyber' meant to the nineties what 'astro' did to the fifties; a word embodying the public's newest area of interest. In the fifties it was the space race causing excitement; more recently the internet not only engaged the public's interest but became a major part of modern life. But the word cyber is beginning to feel pretty wilted.

Cyber-punks, the ultra-hip teen hacks of ten years ago, are going on thirty. That about says it all. What was hip before is dated now and it's time to say goodbye to cyber as a word that indicates "computer cool" and look for newer, fresher words to express the same message.

Of course, no rule is absolute. For products intended to have a limited lifespan jumping on a name-fad bandwagon may be the best way to garner as much consumer interest as possible in a relatively short period of time. In the age of search engines, having a name that is highly similar to another, more successful, product's can be profitable. But, in general, a name should serve to differentiate and to express the uniquely positive attributes of a product or company.

A name should not blend in with the crowd. A name should stand out.

Fad's may lead to names that stand out in the short term, but the best names have longevity and manage to distinguish themselves in the long run as well.

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