Thanks to the rebranding of QVS, the cable shopping channel that no one has ever admitted to watching, let alone using, the letter Q is in the news! Here are a few things I learned this week:
“‘Q’ might be a rare letter in the English language (and even rarer in most Germanic languages), but its unusual nature makes it popular with marketers.
The US trademark database reveals 1,971 records with the letter ‘Q’ on its own, in every conceivable category, from clothing and consumer goods to piezoelectric crystals to food products.”
—NameWire, “the product naming blog.”

“In fact, there are 603 US trademarks either pending or already registered for products and services named ‘Q,’ without any embellishment.
And in the past few years, ‘Q’ has actually become a popular substitute for ‘K.’ This is partly to make names seem more hip and partly to make them easier to trademark.”

—NameWire, “the product naming blog.”“Q is a sexy, cool letter. It’s much better than an L or an A, which are tough to brand.”

—Jeff Charney, chief marketing officer for QVC, at Advertising Age.
“We’d really like to own the 17th letter of the alphabet.”

—Jeff Charney, chief marketing officer for QVC, at The New York Times.
Is this what it has come to? Am I the only one disturbed by this? We can’t let them take, uh . . . any more of OUR letters!