When was the last time you said: “I’m going to go use a search engine to look up information on tonight’s event.” The answer to that is either never, or sometime circa the early 2000′s, but since then it’s more than likely that most Americans say “I’m going to go Google more information on tonight’s event.” And that is my friend is brandverbing.

Companies like Xerox, Hoover, and even Google have gone to great lengths to avoid their brands becoming verbs, but why? When a brand becomes a verb you know that it has reached mass market consumer recognition, so wouldn’t becoming so engrained in society that your brand becomes part of the language be the ultimate degree of success for a brand?

So while others have fought hard to keep their brand from becoming a verb others are spending a lot of time and resources to make sure their brand is used as verbs by consumers in everyday life and conversation. Enter: Vanguard; an investment company who in 2010 began a highly visible campaign to turn their brand name into a verb.

The move by Vanguard shows that they too recognize the significance and potential payoff for their brand to be used in everyday language just like Xerox or Google has now experienced. And unlike a brand becoming genericized like asprin, zipper, and escalator (yup, these were all trademarked brand names at one point) a brand that becomes a verb is more appealing than its generic counterpart and has less risk in losing its brand appeal. Seth Godin, American author and speaker, said: “people care much more about verbs than nouns. They care about things that move, that are happening, that change. They care about experiences and events and the way things make us feel. Nouns just sit there, inanimate lumps. Verbs are about wants and desires and wishes.”

So if what Godin says is true, every brand should strive to be a brandverb when appropriate. After all a brand is more than a product or logo, a brand is about an experience and the expectations we have of that brand. So if becoming a brandverb will incite those feelings then what’s the big deal? These days I believe becoming a brandverb is not a kiss of death but the mark of success.

I told myself I wouldn’t get addicted to Angry Birds. But as soon as I demolished those squealing, snorting little pig targets, I knew I was hooked.

I’m not alone in my obsession; there are over 100 million users who play Angry Birds monthly. The game clearly has a loyal following, and has become a staple in American pop culture.

Rovio, the Finnish company who created the game, recently announced plans to take Angry Birds to the Chinese market. The company wants to increase brand awareness with a lofty goal – to become the first global entertainment brand with more than one billion fans.

Instead of creating new games and expanding the master brand’s umbrella, however, Rovio wants to capitalize on Angry Birds alone. Game-themed plush toys, cookbooks, and even merchandise stores are in the works.

“We are betting everything on Angry Birds,” Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka said unabashedly at the Casual Connect game show in Seattle.

Rovio is depending on Angry Birds’ unusually expedient success to carry the company far. According to the aforementioned article, Angry Birds is the third most-pirated brand in China after Disney and Hello Kitty — a remarkable feat, given the game is less than two years old. Even more astonishing is that the game has grown faster than any other technological brand in history in terms of active users, according to Rovio’s research data.

These impressive statistics, coupled with Angry Birds’ addictive and quirky brand personality, make for a promising run in China. If the game is already raking in the kind of demand seen for massive, established brands like Disney and Hello Kitty, it’s effectively conveying a brand image of desirability and high regard.

But is Rovio, as a brand, being overshadowed by the Angry Birds brand itself? The company claims it wants a billion fans as an entertainment brand — but people may only become fans of Angry Birds, and not of Rovio, its creator. It will be interesting to see if Rovio’s tactics will help the company’s brand gain prominence on its own as a gaming innovator, or if it will be always be eclipsed by the Angry Birds game.

Regardless, it’s clear that reaching a wider audience of people is vital to Rovio’s strategy.

“It’s not all about monetization now,” Vesterbacka said. “It’s about keeping the fans coming back and building the brand.”

Contributed by Allison Meeks

Breast cancer has the pink ribbon, heart disease has the red ribbon and prostate cancer has…the mustache? In effort to raise awareness—and money—for the fight against prostate cancer, men around the world will grow mustaches throughout the month of November Movember.

The Movember (sometimes referred to as No Shave November) rules are as follows: start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a mustache (Mo’s, in Australia) for the entire month. According to the Movember website, the mustache is the ribbon for men’s health. Participants can raise awareness and funds for cancers that affect men by sacrificing their faces.

Started by a group of friends in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, the movement has evolved and expanded to become a world-wide effort that raises millions of dollars for organizations such as Livestrong and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

New York Yankee Nick Swisher is growing one, even the Flip Camera is sporting a ‘stache. No word on Tom Selleck, although suffice it to say he serves as inspiration to “Mo Bros” everywhere.

While Movember generates a lot of buzz and is certainly a fun way to raise awareness for men’s health, it’s tough to predict if the mustache will ever achieve the recognition level of the pink ribbon. For now, all I can do is hope to spot a Yosemite Sam-esque mustache sometime this month.

DR. SCHOLL’S has tackled one of woman’s biggest modern day dilemmas: cute or comfortable? It’s no secret that most fashionable shoes aren’t suitable for wearing all day … whether it’s a on business trip or a girl’s night out, we want to look our best but struggle with achy feet at the expense of our high heeled kicks.

A few weeks ago, “Merck Consumer Care announced the launch of DR. SCHOLL’S® FOR HER Fast Flats™, a stylish and practical solution for women who need a break from their uncomfortable shoes.

Fast Flats™ are compact and foldable shoes that fit discreetly in a purse and come with a wristlet for easy storage and portability. This spare pair is perfect for nights out, weddings, traveling through airports and other times when a long trek in heels won’t cut it. Women can even wear Fast Flats™ during their commute, and then slip in to their fashionable shoes just in time to hit the office.”

According to Jay Morgan, vice president of Research and Development for DR. SCHOLL’S®, “While women love their stylish shoes, many feel they have to sacrifice comfort to wear them for an entire day or night. We know that’s not the case, and we wanted to give women a great solution for their feet. Fast Flats™ are fashionable and affordable, enabling women to be prepared for the many scenarios they face throughout the day without having to worry about shoe discomfort.”

As a woman who has spent countless hours in uncomfortable shoes at the sake of fashion, and as someone who has been naming new products for over a decade, I can appreciate both the uniqueness of this new offering, and the simpleness of the name. DR. SCHOLL’S could have taken a variety of directions when naming this new product, but they chose to be descriptive, and emphasize the ease of use and quick-change nature that women prefer. Fast Flats is set up to be a category definer (as illustrated by the current surge in knock-offs). The messaging of the name makes it easy to for the customer to understand the product and the benefit. Alliteration lends to memorability, and the two syllable name construction adds easy recall.

I’m excited to try my own pair. What do you think? Ready for a quick change?