02/14/2005: "Company Names: Columbia House Hush"

mood: Kinda Blue

Sometimes having a name with multiple layers of meaning can work both for and against you.

On January 9th, the New York Post ran an article that read, COLUMBIA HOUSE PLANS PORN CLUB. (To give true credit to the story, we picked it up trolling dazereader.com.)

According to the article:

Columbia House, famous for its "12 CDs for a penny" record clubs, will launch its own adult video club with Playboy Entertainment at the end of this month. The service, called Hush, will sell pornography through direct mail and a Web site.

Hush marketing efforts, apparently, would start with Howard Sternís syndicated radio show, with the company sponsoring contests, and would also include direct mail and ads in adult magazines. If youíve never received one of the Columbia House mailers, you should be warned that they are extremely effective. (In particular, we are looking forward to the little stamps that usually show the CD/Album covers.)

As of January 11th, Concerned Women for America were already complaining that this was another ìwhite collar company willing to soil itself by trafficking in pornography.î What they really mean is that Columbia House is joining such blue collar companies as AT&T, GM and Hilton Hotels, who make millions on adult entertainment.

The Traditional Values Coalition was one of many organizations that joined in to denouce Hush.

We can understand Columbia Houseís entry into the adult entertainment business. Even with 12 CDs for $1, itís hard to compete with the likes of Amazon.com and Ebay.com, plus the proliferation of music and adult entertainment download sites.

In terms of the Hush name. Hereís a case where the name, which is evocative, will really work to their advantage. A number of headlines said, ìColumbia House Executives Hush Hush Over Hush.î While their detractors said, ìHush Executives Blush.î

Hush is the perfect name for this service because no matter how mainstreamed the adult entertainment industry becomes, most people donít want their neighbors to know what is in those plain brown envelopes that the mail man keeps dropping off.

There are some 200 registrations in the USPTO around the word Hush. And besides toy brands like Hush-a-bye Baby, the only real brand usage is in Hush Puppies, which rose from the dead like a phoenix (I couldn't resist) a few years back. (The truth is, it only took a few New York art directors to turn the brand around.)

(We admit, this news item is a little dated. But, we hadnít seen any of the naming blogs write about this, so, we thought it was worth mentioning. Especially since the name is pretty great and appropriate for the product.)