Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Yellow Snow Ice Cream

Continuing this ice cream thread...

I was recently in Park City, Utah and came upon this establishment named Yellow Snow Ice Cream, complete with an image of a doggie squatting over an ice cream cone.

Doesn't anyone remember Frank Zappa's admonition "Watch out where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow"?

My normal advice when naming a product or company is to try to evoke positive brand associations. This name clearly violates that guideline. But, is it nevertheless effective?

I doubt the name really works well on balance (way too icky), but it does have a high level of what psychologists call arousal. It gets your attention and it heightens your consideration of the establishment. That's good. On the other, this arousal comes at the expense of really awful brand associations.

It's possible that in a resort town with a transient snowboarder population that what you need is a name that gets attention at all costs. It is also possible that if your market is 11-year-old boys that "eeew" and "ick" are exactly the reactions you want from your brand.

I'm raising these possibilities out of generosity. I'm guessing Yellow Snow Ice Cream won't be there next Summer. I'll check and report back.