The winner if HookorSink.com’s first every contest is Jonathan! His shoe name of “Sync” and a slogan “Because life has a rhythm” was a great idea and caught the attention of my wife. She’s the demographic that would buy this shoe and much more unbiased than I am!

Congratulations to all who submitted their ideas. The input far exceeded any expectations for this contest and you should all be proud to know such talented people. Congratulate the winner but also take a moment to enjoy some of the lesser known awards handed out:

Most Outstanding Product Name & Slogan

Sync
Because life has a rhythm

This is a great concept and really dials into the hot trends of mp3′s and urban attire. Side rant – It’s worth pointing out that Nike+ doesn’t work for runners that sweat on the iPod. Come again?

Most Likely to be Used by Nike

Crius- very cool use of Greek methology. Except the dude wasn’t a main character. Who wants to buy a shoe about someone sitting on the bench?

Most Unoriginal Idea

“Kickers” and “Kicker” submitted by Same White and David. It was cool once but very uncool twice.

Most Likely to get HookorSink.com Sued

SHOOZAM! for copyright infringement. Great idea but HookorSink.com doesn’t have deep enough legal pockets to go to battle on that one.

Best Product for Shoe-Wearers Under 4 years Old

Snap – What parent wouldn’t want sneakers that kids could snap on? Works well with kid-leashes.

Soon to be in a Rap Video

Tie between “Tone Locs” and “Azzphaltz”. Would it be pretentious to just call them “Bling”?

Most likely to have edible shoelaces

“O-Sole ‘O’ Me-o” – Shoes come with Parmessian cheese.

Caught Red-Handed Award

Lew submitted ‘TBX’. Very cool idea but not mine. Lew Sr. crept into the party and tried to score some of his sons cash.

Most Likely to be Worn by Nathan

Rain Walker – flurry, fall, flood with style. It doesn’t have to be raining for that dude to flood.

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The HookorSink.com’s first ever contest! Winner would be guaranteed $25,000 if staff wasn’t short about $24,980. So instead the winner will get a free movie and popcorn at any AMC Theater (still a $20 value) along with eternal bragging rights. So lace up your creative mindset and get ready for some marketing fun!

Background: HookorSink.com has decided to jump into the shoe market with a simple design for every day walking (Nike logo has been replaced with cool Hookorsink.com logo thanks to Jonathan). There are some heavy hitters already dominating the industry so HookorSink.com will need to jump onto the scene with a splash!

Target Audience: The initial design will target mostly males between the ages of 25-35 who are the newcomers to Corporate America. Average household income ranges between $80k and $120k. The most common car driven are BMW’s. Most own an iPod.

Objective: Using the design shown above create a name for the shoe along with a slogan that will help distinguish it in a highly competitive market.

Judging: The contest will be closed at 5pm Friday (11/9). The winner will be announced Monday (11/12). Multiple submissions are allowed and must be entered as a “comment” to this post. Equal value will be given to submissions first all the way through last.

There’s no pressure to do anything great or anything at all so have fun. If nobody submits an idea then HookorSink.com gets to go to the movies all alone and that would be terrible so give it a shot.

DISCLAIMER: THERE IS NO REAL HOOKORSINK.COM SHOE! (image taken from Nike.com’s interactive “Create your own shoe”)

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It has been suggested that perhaps Google is only a catchy name and not much else. That’s a pretty bold statement for a company that’s got a market cap of over $230 BILLION. To take a closer look at this analysis it’s going to be required that you ignore lots of facts and focus mostly on the branding of Google.

Say you were to stumble onto the Google “Labs” page and notice that they have 31 products in the hopper and constantly being upgraded. Ignore that for now. You would have to look past the fact that ONE of those products listed is actually an entire online suite that competes directly with Microsoft’s Office. Please plug your ears to it’s pricing, which is free. A wondering eye might also have to stop itself from noticing that several cool parts of Google aren’t even listed in “Labs” like their Adsense, Analytics and recently announced Android efforts. Just pretend you never heard of a patent listing longer than Moby Dick. Now that we’re in a state of oblivion we can move on.

The name Google has become a household word (who knows why, remember we’re oblivious). Searching for something on the Internet is commonly said “to Google“. But can the name itself be a branding tool? If you were looking for a Honda you might be surprised to see a Google-branded page for used Honda’s. You can check it out here. Indeed Google is a great brand and a catchy name, even listed as the top brand by Millward Brown for 2007. GE, Microsoft and Coca Cola are all eating Google dust.

Google is a catchy name but that’s not all it is. Google makes great products, and lots of them. That’s how they created the brand. Yahoo was already the leader in Search but Google made a product better than anyone else. They continue to push the envelope and have now become the Internet standard for what companies should do on the web. Anyone who believes that Google is just a catchy name should hope to achieve such success. Try not to turn a blind eye to the reality though, Google is walking the walk and the talk is doing their mediocre best to catch up.

HookorSink.com talks about Google’s marketing a lot so it’s no surprise that this article concludes with another “Hook” rating for the “Catchy Name” company.

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American Gangster premiered this weekend with an impressive $46 million box office tally. Based on a true story about Frank Lucas as a gangster did they really need a website to promote the movie? Yes, duh! With budgets in the hundreds of millions producers don’t blink an eye about creating a website dedicated to the movie. Leveraging the Internet burst onto the scene with a tiny film called “The Blair Witch Project“.

The Internet was popular in 1999 but how to use it hadn’t been figured out yet. This period was right on the cusp of the bubble popping. But three film makers and $25,000 proved the power a website can have, earning $248 million for the hit movie.

It wasn’t just the fact that they made a website about the movie but how they did it. Under the guise of releasing an actual documentary the website played on the unknown. At the same time the Sci-Fi channel released a “mockumentary” called “Curse of the Blair Witch” that pretended to give the myth credibility. This marketing brilliance played right into the fear and desire of movie goers uncertain of what they would see.

Now movies can’t open without an accompanying website, as proven by the release of American Gangster. Why on earth would people want to go to a website about that? Obviously they do, proven by the instant popularity before the movie’s premier. Like so many microsites though, it seems to be a lackluster effort as it does nothing more than provide an interactive version of a poster.

The makers of “The Blair Witch Project” figured out that the Internet has a unique grasp on audiences and can itch a strange scratch if done well. If you’re thinking about making a movie, don’t forget the website. If you want the website to help make money don’t just put a poster with sound up. Create a site with value!

*Value does not include wallpapers and AIM icons

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The Internet is about to go through it’s next phase of evolution; networking meet mobile. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google’s long awaited secret project for it’s Google Phone will be made public today. Here’s how today will mark the transition to Web 3.0, mobile Internet.

The popularity of cell phones has exploded in the last several years, just take a look at everyone on the freeway to see how common they are. Smartphones certainly took cellular communication to the next level and Apple gave it a pretty case when it launched the iPhone. The media darling does just about the same thing a lot of other phones do but with a much cooler interface. Revolutionary, hardly. At least until the Google Phone launches.

What we know about phones is about to get turned on its head. Google believes that consumers shouldn’t have to pay for their phone. That’s not a typo, Google started their project with the intention of giving it away for free and earning money through their ace-in-the-back-pocket advertising. This new phone is based on a premise that makes Apple and Microsoft shiver at night, “Open”. It’s believed that Google will announce their new phones capabilities but not be talking about a cool zooming feature, rather the ability for 3rd party software makers to write programs until their hearts are content.

There’s no need to worry about being compatible with Microsoft Office because Google already has an online version that is free. No kidding folks, free software and free phones. It’s hard to imagine that a company would have the brass…. bank accounts to think about doing something like this but Google does. In fact, their focus on advertising has rocked the Internet as we know it and left no one behind. The theme of repetition is worth it here too, the premier Internet company will be offering free phones with free applications and completely free for 3rd party developers to join in the party.

Still not convinced? “But wait, there’s more”. Xohm, a Sprint company, is believed to be in development with Google. Of course you don’t know who Xohm is. Imagine the difference between your home computer switching from dial-up to broadband and then apply that to a mobile network. Voila, you have Xohm. It’s like this super fast, super cool mobile Internet connection. Unless you’re a nerd and follow this stuff you’d know that all the major players have been fighting for this next generation mobile Internet (AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) and Sprint has come out on top with Xohm.

You think communication is cool now just wait until mid 2008 when Google launches a revolutionary phone (and not revolutionary like the iPhone, with it’s neato zooming capability, like seriously revolutionary) on an entirely different mobile Internet and you’ll see what the next level of the web is going to be, Web 3.0.

No award from HookorSink.com, rather a suggestion. “Hook” or get off the pot.

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WashingtonPost.com reports that Sean “Diddy”, “Puffy”, “Puff Daddy”, “P-Diddy” Combs is adding something new to his business award shelf with a recently signed deal to market Ciroc Vodka. At first glance it looks like he’ll be sponsoring this high-end adult beverage but a closer look reveals he’ll be doing a lot more. Sean will be responsible for brand marketing, where to sell it and attracting “movers and shakers” to the line.

For around $100 million.

Once a musician, Diddy branched out to other endeavors like his own clothing line and a reality TV show on MTV. Why not add Vodka?

As one of the few pop-turned powerful African American leaders this recent move can only be for money, ignoring social morality. There are two numbers why that’s so important, 35 and 104. There are 35 million African Americans that need a better example than someone buying clothes, driving fancy cars and drinking lots of Vodka. And how does P-Diddy look past the 104 million people between the ages of 15 and 34 (July 1, 2006 Census Bureau) that are being molded every day into believing this is an MTV world? Apparently with rose-colored glasses worth around $100 million.

Puff Daddy-O is probably happy as a clam to have so much money and an equally impressive amount of power. Lucky for him he’ll now have an adequate supply of liquor to drink his social responsibility away!

Ohhh, big bucks. No. Puff-Puff-Pass on P-Diddy’s new deal, he gets a “Sink” rating from HookorSink.com. The most intoxicating marketing discussion on the web!

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