What’s in the name?

Naming is controlling.

Asian parents during agrarian times named their children ugly, in the hope that ghosts will “reject” them, hence

letting them live.

We have IPO and IP (Intellectual property) wars all the time.

It’s mine. I invented it first.

You stole my idea, my concept, my naming.

So we weed IP law and IP lawyers to defend and protect our interests.

In brand building, a company’s reputation is worth millions, if not billions.

Cingular wireless got absorbed into the ATT fold. The latter spent an upward of 3 Billion dollars just to erase the former’s brand, which had cost them between 4-6 B.

It’s called unbranding.

They know Cingular cannot stay single forever. With land line phone pricing near zero, media and telecom companies need to bundle it in with Video and Broadband (Triple Play) for stickiness.

Now that everything is under one roof, one enduring brand, ATT can charge more than Verizon for similar services.

Theology students have scratched their heads trying to understand the concept of Trinity. ATT could now help them out: three services, one box.

It’s been in the works: first the break-up back in 1984, then the scrambling to buy back under Armstrong (2000). And now, back to everything under one brand

(except this time, the FCC made sure Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon could also offer triple-play – thanks to digital telephone and broadband IP).

LOST, the TV series, commands a huge audience. Its long tail now extends to series video and store merchandise. Its stars I am sure go on to collect from their fame.

(Vietnamese parents won’t like it if their children somehow is famous for “lost”).

But then again, by the rule, you should name your child ugly, so he had a shot at survival. Western and Eastern traditions can both agree on this one: survival comes first.

Mine somehow took a recalcitrant approach: they name me Thang (winner), who was born in the city (with urban traffic, they just want to cut to the chase).  Ghosts (or Lost’s black smoke equivalence) could have left me alone had I been named Bai (loser). It’s all in the name. And now, with Facebook, it’s all in the photo.

So we moved away from superstition to super man, just to come back to the dorm (Ivy League) and see who all the incoming freshmen are. And what their friends look like? What they read, and recommend. And games they play (barn buddy?). This puts us right back to the farm. Now, if we can only come up with nicknames. As bad and as sticky as possible. One that satisfies Asian country parents: see I told you! Gotta name them ugly. That way, they land a better chance to survive college.