4 ms·

What are you talking about? Google is an extremely large number, Google/Googol was often in those "fun facts books", very apt for a company that searches and i

What are you talking about? Google is an extremely large number, Google/Googol was often in those "fun facts books", very apt for a company that searches and index the unimaginably large amount of websites. Nike is the greek goddess of victory, very good for a company that is about sportswear. BMW is Bayerische Motoren Werke, so a location and motor works, they make cars. that makes a lot of sense. Mercedes is a semi common Woman's name (and used to be more common) named after a guy's daughter. Apple is the fruit. So I will give you Mercedes and Apple, but the other ones were really awful examples of names that don't mean anything.

mytailorisrich 5y ago
Ah yes, Bayerische Motoren Werke, what everyone obviously understands when they hear 'BMW'... Silly me. The reality is that BMW means exactly nothing to people apart from the meaning the branding assigned to it, which is "great German cars". Most car brands are like that, actually. The same goes for the other brands I mentioned. As a word 'Google' is no more meaningful than 'Yahoo' for 99.9% of the population (no-one knows what a Googol is). It means what the branding and product have made it mean to the point that it became a verb.
- nonameiguess 5y ago
  Is this some kind of generational thing? Doc Brown talking about "jiga" watts and "1 in a googolplex" were memes before there were memes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVsWikJ09Dk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVsWikJ09Dk Yahoo also definitely has a meaning.
  - mytailorisrich 5y ago
    If you're going to tell me that "Yahoo" means Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle you misses the point in the same way as the previous poster. The point is that if you take a random person off the street who has never heard of Google, Yahoo, Nike, BMW and ask them what these mean to them the answer will be 'Nothing'. No-one knows that Nike is a greek goddess or that BMW is an acronym for some German words that mean nothing to 99% of the world population. What these names have in common is that they are simple and easy to remember. Success is then to make them mean something, and better yet, own a category like Google owns 'search engine' to the point it's become a generic verb. I would highly recommend reading the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Ries and Trout.
pests 5y ago
That's what BMW means? TIL. Nor do I know it's a location or a motor works.... how would I?
belter 5y ago
BMW was/is at the essence an Airplane Motor Company:-) They put some car around the motor... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BMW https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BMW That is why the logo looks like a propeller if you look carefully.

mytailorisrich 5y ago

Ah yes, Bayerische Motoren Werke, what everyone obviously understands when they hear 'BMW'... Silly me. The reality is that BMW means exactly nothing to people apart from the meaning the branding assigned to it, which is "great German cars". Most car brands are like that, actually. The same goes for the other brands I mentioned. As a word 'Google' is no more meaningful than 'Yahoo' for 99.9% of the population (no-one knows what a Googol is). It means what the branding and product have made it mean to the point that it became a verb.

nonameiguess 5y ago
Is this some kind of generational thing? Doc Brown talking about "jiga" watts and "1 in a googolplex" were memes before there were memes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVsWikJ09Dk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVsWikJ09Dk Yahoo also definitely has a meaning.
- mytailorisrich 5y ago
  If you're going to tell me that "Yahoo" means Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle you misses the point in the same way as the previous poster. The point is that if you take a random person off the street who has never heard of Google, Yahoo, Nike, BMW and ask them what these mean to them the answer will be 'Nothing'. No-one knows that Nike is a greek goddess or that BMW is an acronym for some German words that mean nothing to 99% of the world population. What these names have in common is that they are simple and easy to remember. Success is then to make them mean something, and better yet, own a category like Google owns 'search engine' to the point it's become a generic verb. I would highly recommend reading the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Ries and Trout.

pests 5y ago

That's what BMW means? TIL. Nor do I know it's a location or a motor works.... how would I?

belter 5y ago

BMW was/is at the essence an Airplane Motor Company:-) They put some car around the motor... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BMW https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BMW That is why the logo looks like a propeller if you look carefully.