Misguided?
Amway has introduced a new entertainment-focused venture called Fanista. According to the NY Times, the service is part online store, part social networking, and part, well, Amway, or "common interest commerce." Looks like as a trademark, FANISTA won't encounter registration issues, which is just ducky for them.
But something about the mark doesn't work for me. Is it trying to spin off from "fashionista"? If so, I don't think that works, because the pronunciation doesn't scan the same way: is it "fan-eesta" or "f'n-eesta"? As far as a mark that connotes entertainment, the mark isn't dynamic enough for me (and I will invite the more marketing and linguistically-inclined among you to flesh out these points!)
Viewed in isolation, though, FANISTA suggests a pharmaceutical product to me — and when I run "*STA" through the PTO database, I am proven correct with EVISTA, AMENDISTA, PREZISTA, JUVISTA, ROLISTA, VALACLASTA, ADIESTA and, of course, LUNESTA, just to name a few recently-issued trademark registrations for pharmaceuticals.
But mostly, and because I have in some ways not yet matured past the age of 12, no matter when I see the letters "nis" in a word, my mind is immediately sidetracked from whatever the trademark owner is trying to convey and dumped right in the gutter.
But something about the mark doesn't work for me. Is it trying to spin off from "fashionista"? If so, I don't think that works, because the pronunciation doesn't scan the same way: is it "fan-eesta" or "f'n-eesta"? As far as a mark that connotes entertainment, the mark isn't dynamic enough for me (and I will invite the more marketing and linguistically-inclined among you to flesh out these points!)
Viewed in isolation, though, FANISTA suggests a pharmaceutical product to me — and when I run "*STA" through the PTO database, I am proven correct with EVISTA, AMENDISTA, PREZISTA, JUVISTA, ROLISTA, VALACLASTA, ADIESTA and, of course, LUNESTA, just to name a few recently-issued trademark registrations for pharmaceuticals.
But mostly, and because I have in some ways not yet matured past the age of 12, no matter when I see the letters "nis" in a word, my mind is immediately sidetracked from whatever the trademark owner is trying to convey and dumped right in the gutter.
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