Hi Koloto, Joe is right
dont get personal. There's nothing about ethenicity. Ries told what is right and to launch a brand you need a goodname which sounds good, easy to spell out etc
Laura! The MBT vedio was really good. I feel bad for those company who has got potential but bad at marketing.

Hi Koloto,
I don't know why you felt so offended by Ries's comments on Obama's name. I do find the name Obama awkward and this has nothing to do with race. Amleth, Asger & Torbjorn are all awkward names and they happen to be Danish. Does this mean I have a problem with the Danish people? On the contrary, I love Danish people and I dream to retire there one day. An easy name has to do with the combination of vowels and consonants and how this combination sounds like. When a name sounds good, it is less awkward. Most importantly, awkward names have to do with familiarity; take my name for instance (Joe): is it more familiar than Obama? If so, it means it is less awkward.

Mr Ries
NB:You may excuse my english,i'm a so call francophone african,i decides to write in english because i'm a learner now thank for you understanding

This is my first time to write to you
Im a great reader of your articles even sometimes i din't agree with you lets me tell you that you're one of the Icons in the level of Marketing
Mr Ries i'm angry about your article posted at adage .com concerning the Victory of Barack Obama as the 44th President of USA on the November 4th 08
In this article you say about Barack Obama: With is bad sounding name
Please what this means do you thing that every man must live in this world under the effectiveness of caucassian point of vue concernig civilisations
In which way african names deserves this king of qualification ?
Is it a deservices to the asvancement of the society to have a african name?
In fact what is the criteria to bear a well sounding name