Brands: O'Reilly Kills His, Boorman Pretends To
Famed creator of the term Web 2.0, Tim O'Reilly responds to the controversy over a service mark registration by partner CMP for the use of Web 2.0 in the title of conferences after they sent a Cease & Desist letter to an Irish conference organizer. Lots of details that I just don't want to go into at the moment but they're mostly available via O'Reilly's post linked above.
Here's an excerpt from my response to O'Reilly's response that I left in his comments:
What a mess. You're turning your brand into garbage and, while this post will satisfy some, so many people who picked up the Web 2.0 ball and ran with it will never look to you for inspiration again.
To come up with a term like that, have it become a part of the daily language and be widely acknowledged for creating it is so much more valuable than being the only one able to use it in the U.S. in a conference title, especially a conference that is so well known.
O'Reilly's really squandering his social capital on this one.
In an odd reversal of the O'Reilly situation, Neil Boorman will burn all his branded goods:
I am burning all my own branded possessions, and I will be attempting to live my new life brand-free, but the book is really an experiment to see if it is actually possible to disconnect from branded consumerism.
That's right, he's destroying his branded possessions in a publicity stunt to build his own brand and sell his upcoming book. I think the guy's gonna have a breakdown in the process based on some of his blog posts I've read to date.
Nevertheless, I'm sure Boorman will have great tales to tell of running naked through the forest, drinking water from the babbling brook and hunting game with a pointed stick.
Best of luck, fellas!
Update: Great example at Brand Dialogue of the damage O'Reilly's doing to his brand.
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