We talk a lot about reputation risk around this parts. A tarnished brand has increasingly been identified as a leading threat and as BP and Toyota have seen, it can have long-lasting drawbacks to the company.

At this point, most have come to realize the importance of reputation and brand recognition. So while this isn’t really about risk management or protecting the brand, I thought this Freakonomics post about how pharmaceuticals strategically create brand names for their drugs that include the letters X and Z would interest you.

“Reflecting their infrequent occurrence in English words, x and z count for 8 and 10 points in Scrabble, the highest values (along with j and q) in the game. So names that contain them are likely to seem special and be memorable. ‘If you meet them in running text, they stand out,’ is the way one industry insider explained.” The trend, however, is relatively recent, which Stepney attributes to a couple factors. “I suggest that this phenomenon arose because of the fast rate at which new products were being introduced, the fact that the difference between many “me too” drugs was more apparent than real, the immense rewards that were seen to accrue from innovative marketing, and the fact that the ploys available for use in the naming of drugs are so restricted.”

You think this would work for insurance?