My neck is sore from shaking my head so much. Why? Branding a new company, product or service using the same name as an iconic brand name that has been around since 1946 baffles my mind.
Procter & Gamble created the Tide laundry detergent brand and its traction in the world and on the web is HUGE. Basically the entire first page on Google is related to the laundry product, with some results relating to the rise and lowering of water in the ocean.
So why in the world would a 2016 startup decide to use a one word term like Tide as its brand name? With so many other unique words in the dictionary? I don’t know but I see it as a big mistake.
Word of mouth, a company goes by and is explained to others by its name. In this case, Tide. Creates some confusion with the laundry product? I know when I hear the word Tide, I think of the iconic brand of P&G.
Does this new company even have a remotely decent chance at securing the best domain name possible for it on the web? The exact match .com domain name? NO. Tide.com has been owned by P&G for a really long time and they won’t be selling it any time soon. So this startup that decided it was a good idea to name itself Tide, has to settle for 2nd best or 3rd best… all creating confusion and potentially lost customers along the way.
They settled with Tide.co, an m away from greatness and a typo away from getting emails they will very likely miss. It’s natural and done daily. People type .com A LOT, not .co! Lost web visitors due to the missing m. Google isn’t going to be much help either, due to the laundry detergents dominance.
App store will even put up a fight due to the water related Tide apps, as well as the iconic laundry soap brand.
I am far from perfect, but I can tell you one thing. If I was launching a company, I sure the heck wouldn’t name it after an existing iconic brand name. It is hard enough getting your message out as to who you are and what you offer. Branding with the same name as a huge brand isn’t going to help you and something that should be avoided.
Don’t name your new company Amazon, got it!
Aside from the possible trademark issues, I think they would have been much better off using something like tide.finance or tide.money because at least that way it would be obvious from the start they are not related to the Tide laundry product.
It would hep explain a bit more to potential customers what they offer by just seeing the domain, if they know it’s a domain. Tons of great brand names are available, with the matching .com.
FISE.com (financial service) or VANK.com (virtual bank) where better names than TIDE.com for me.
Their [email protected] they suggest in their site to contact not even work! No bueno.
Agreed, they should completely away from the word tide. The cost of potential legal issues down the road itself should be a deturrant.