Friday, January 27, 2006

...a pteradactyl or a brooch...

Jim Beam has bought up so many new brands and is now so international and big-time, they have to change their name. Are you ready for this? It's Beam. Yeah, Beam. "'It's a name that works because it does have a lot of flexibility inherent in it,' [Chief Executive Tom Flocco] said, noting that it could also refer to a beam of light, a balance beam, a support beam or even the beam of a ship." Uh huh.

But you, dear drinker, can still call the bourbon by its birth name: "'The change is not as relevant to consumers as it is to our employees, distributors and retailers,' he said. 'We don't get any benefit from putting Beam on the back of bottle of Sauza.'"

2 comments:

Tony Daniel said...

Guess they didn't include any actual Jim Beam drinkers in their new name focus group. Beam makes me think I've got something in my eye. And Tom Flocco? He ought to change that humdinger to something more global. Like Zarahiri or something.

Irene Done said...

Maybe it's a Rorschach test. You think Biblical verses. I think of that scene in Mambo Kings when Cathy Moriarity asked Armand Assante if she was too broad in the beam.

Drink up.