What do Lyft and Krispy Kreme have in common? This—and consumers hate it

We’ve long seen that certain companies like to innovate with the English language by misspelling brand names—arriving at names like Lyft and Tumblr. 

Click here to read the story at fastcompany.com.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is branding?
2. How do you think establishing a name for a business impacts the brand?
3. How important do you think a name is to a new business?
4. What is market research?
5. Why do businesses and brands engage in market research?
6. What does market research tell us about how consumers perceive businesses with names that are intentionally misspelled?
7. Why do you think companies like Lyft and Krispy Kreme decided on an unconventional spelling for the business name?
8. How do you think it has impacted each respective business from a branding perspective?
9. In addition to Lyft and Krispy Kreme, can you think of any other examples of businesses with unconventional spellings?
10. How do you personally perceive those business names?
11. If you were starting a business, would you consider an unconventional spelling for the company name, despite the data from this market research? Why or why not? Be prepared to discuss your answers in class.