February 9, 2006
Cell-phones Picking Up Unusual Names: "Chocolate Phone"
An interesting read by Choe Yong-shik, contributing writer to the The Korea Times, on Digiens@u-City.
"Choe Yong-shik looks into Samsung's attempt at creating a buzz by "inventing some unusual promotional monikers such as “Lee Kun-hee Phone,” “Benz Phone” and “Blueblack Phone.” A 2002 model was even named after the Samsung chairman because the product concept was inspired by the chairman himself."
... "Names are undoubtedly an important element in product marketing, which is why Korean companies seem increasingly obsessed with the ritual of applying catchy, cute, and even unusual names to their products.
... It would seem advantageous for a company to market products under unique monikers instead of the more difficult to recall alpha-numeric model names such as the SGH-600z."
Choe Yong-shik continues by saying however, that these nicknames have proven not to be successful outside of Korea.
On a personal note, I wish they were, I've always been frustrated by cell phone models that bear numbers instead of names - because I can't remember them. cf Numbering cell phones.
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