What’s In a Name?
Utopian Turtletop
Tropicale
Turnpike Cruiser
Two of the three names above were considered for a car name. Can you guess which one made it onto a car?
Starting from the top – Utopian Turtletop was bandied about as the name for the Edsel. Perhaps in hindsight it might have helped the car stave off failure for a bit – or maybe not.
Tropicale was one of the names being considered for the Ford Thunderbird.
Finally, Turnpike Cruiser was the name Mercury gave to a series of cars from 1957 – 1958. One of its unique design features was a reverse-sloping rear window that retracted and was marketed as the “Breezeway”. Over the two years it was off ered, 23,268 units were sold.
Looking at other car names, there is now the debunked story that Chevy’s Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking markets because “no va” means “doesn’t go”, but “nova” has a diff erent pronunciation. Snopes.com does a great analysis of this myth.
We could talk about good and bad car names at length.
But what about the process for naming pharmaceuticals?
While automakers have guidelines to follow, pharmaceutical companies have to worry about a number of additional factors, including FDA approval.
A recent article published by National Geographic goes into great detail how drugs are named. Basically, the process includes “a creative phase, involving an agency or fi rm that specializes in brand strategy and marketing to develop potential names; an assessment phase involving professionals from the drugmaker’s commercial, regulatory, and legal departments; and regulatory procedures involving legal reviews and approval by the FDA.”
The process can be quite daunting. According to the article, which quotes Todd Bridges, global president of the Drug Safety Institute, the regulatory arm of the Brand Institute, and former director of the Division of Medication Error and Prevention Analysis at the FDA. “There are 30,000 drugs on the market in the U.S., and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves 50 novel brand names every year,”
I encourage you to read the entire article, found here: https://on.natgeo.com/3QB0hYe
The article goes into great detail and provides an inside look at the reasons for many of the product names we see advertised on television.
On a personal level, I applaud the work or these marketing people. I’m not sure I would trust Utopian Turtletop to get rid of my allergy symptoms.
Mike Auerbach
Editor In Chief
[email protected]
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