Spirit of Advertising

First launched in 1925, Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has floated more than 300 airships emblazoned with its winged-foot logo and company name. In the past, these blimps have carried names that have leaned toward the patriotic side, such as “Spirit of America” or “Stars & Stripes.”

For its latest blimp, Goodyear decided to open the naming game to the public. Through its Web site and the mail, more than 21,000 unique names were submitted, including such finalists as “American Dream,” “Freedom,” “Liberty,” “Patriot,” and “Pride of America.” 

For more than three weeks in May, the public, not to mention a “panel of Goodyear representatives,” voted for the finalists. Out of all the names, “Spirit of Innovation,” reportedly suggested to the $19.7 billion company by a humble school teacher from Hudson, was selected.

Call us cynical, but we’re guessing that this “panel” might have had a touch more influence over the blimp name than the voting public.

But instead of criticizing, we at IB offer our suggestions for blimp names. We sought help from William Lozito, president of Minneapolis-based Strategic Name Development Inc., a consulting firm specializing in brand names.

“‘Spirit of Innovation’ is pretty dull and boring,” says Lozito, whose firm has worked with Wendy’s, Sprint, American Express and General Electric. “The term innovation has become so overused.”

Lozito and his crew of name experts came up with some more exciting and innovative alternatives for the blimp. Although their entire list was too long to print here, we think everyone of them was better than the yawner the tire maker selected.

Here are our favorites:
Airvertisement
Blimp of the Brave
Floatimus Maximus
flyPod. Cross-marketing opportunities?
Incorrigible Dirigible. We can just imagine Al Michaels trying to get this one out during a long Monday Night Football game.
In Helium We Trust
Spirit of Inflation
Star-Spangled Blimp
Time to Re-Tire. We love puns.
Tired Spirit
Tread Zeppelin. This one was actually from a colleague and is the front-runner among the IB staff.
Waiting to Exhale
Zeppelgänger

We hope these suggestions will be useful to Goodyear in its future blimp naming missions, and maybe next time they will select a “panel of representatives” who aren’t full of stale air.